CIH Launch Sites Sunday October 8

By: Robert Tongen

Peter O'Sullivan and I launched from the CIH EZ Launch dock, at high tide, under overcast skies and increasing breeze. There is a new ramp installed to get to the dock. It is very sturdy and does not tilt to one side like the old one did for as long as we can remember. It worked well. There were 8 young bull seals lounging on the south end of the dock. They woke up and barked at us as we passed coming and going. We paddled over and investigated using the dock where the Mystic Whaler usually is moored. That dock is higher off the water and has a low barrier around the edges that is not a solution for keeping seals off. It could be used to launch and land but more difficult than the EZ Launch dock. It is closer to the ocean though. We paddled out through the pond and saw a large pelican swimming in the channel with what looked like a a broken wing. When we came back the pelican was still swimming but close to the bait docks past the Harbor Patrol office. Kiddie Beach could have had a couple hundred seals either laying or swimming. Hobie Beach now has a chain link fence from the Coast Guard station to the rest rooms at Kiddie Beach to keep people out, or maybe keep the seals out of the street. There were between 50 and 100 seals in or on the Hobie Beach area. Many of the docks had seals laying on them. It is my impression that Bob Glickman, George Ball, and Lance Pillsbury paddled out of Mother's Beach in Ventura. Lance passed me, on the 101, with his kayak on top as we were heading to paddle. That is the way it was this Sunday before Columbus Day.

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