Over the summer the family and I went on a week long vacation to the Oregon coast. One of the major highlights was the time we spent kayaking in the Nestucca bay.
Our setup
The average temperature of the water off the coast of Oregon is in the low to mid 50’s F. Everyone was dressed for immersion. Beth got to try out the NRS Venus wetsuit I had given her a couple months before for her birthday. She was very impressed with how well it fit her and the difference it made from her previous experiences being out in water. Patrick and I were dressed in our NRS Farmer John wet suits, while Aaron was sporting a second hand 1mm suit. Although his was by far the thinnest wet suit, Aaron seemed to enjoy the cold water as he rushed into it while we were setting up and taking breaks.
For our boats Beth paddled an Ocean Kayaks Peekaboo while I had a Necky Looksha T. The Peekaboo has a jump seat in the front with is perfect for Aaron (3yrs old) to hang out. Patrick sat in the front of the tandem with me. Due to our weight difference it looked like I was doing a wheelie in the kayak most of the time. Loading more weight in the front with Patrick would have evened out the boat, but for these easy day trips in perfect conditions it was not a big deal.
The outing
The Nestucca Bay is a nice sheltered body of water just south of Pacific City and bordered on the west by Bob Straub State Park. We put into the bay on the north side of Bob Straub where they have a parking lot. In the south east corner of the parking lot is a foot path that leads down to the waters edge. We carried our boats down to the water, loaded up, and set out south towards the mouth of the bay. We started out just before the flood tide. Patrick alternated between helping with paddling and dragging his paddle in the water. Thank goodness for rudders. Aaron kept a lookout on the bow of Beth’s kayak while dragging his hands in the water. He loved watching the water peel away from the boat as it was propelled forward by Beth’s strokes.
As we floated over the shallow mud flats we were greeted by thousands of little nickel sized holes in the water bottom. There were clams every which direction we looked. Both Beth and I lamented the fact that neither of us had a shell fish harvesting license with us. Beth’s kayak gave her an excellent view in the shallow water as she has a window in the bottom of her kayak. Patrick was impressed that every one of these holes was the home of a clam living in the bay. As we traveled around the bay we also encountered harbor seals, bald eagles, various minnows in the shallows, and numerous water birds.
Near the mouth of the bay we all pulled up on a beach which is part of Bob Straub State Park for a chance to stretch the legs and have lunch. We had been engaged in a bit of a water fight up to this point. No longer bound by the boats all squriters came out blazing. We were on a warm sunny beach and alone to explore as far as we wanted. Our battle and lunch were finished in time to catch the peak of the flood tide for a ride back.
Beth had never experienced the joy of a well timed tide. We paddled out from the shallow water into the deeper channel where the river of water was rushing back in from the ocean. She was impressed by how fast we were traveling back into the bay with little to no effort on our part. We were easily going as fast as or faster than when we were paddling out. Our kayak fleet arrived back to our starting destination without incident. The best part of the outing is that everyone wanted to know when we were going to do it again.
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