Kayak tour of San Diego Bay

Six weeks of no kayaking and no fishing. The coronavirus pandemic will likely continue the rest of the year, but we had some good news this past week when San Diego opened up its beaches and bays. The surf forecast for La Jolla looked a little rough, so I planned out an epic tour of San Diego Bay. My goals were to catch a fish (so I could post about it on this blog) and do my longest paddle to date. I started in South Bay at the Pepper Park boat ramp in National City.

I launched at 7:00 am, and the water was calm and flat for most of the morning. My fishing gear was the bare minimum to catch a fish: one trolling rod and a couple of crankbaits. I trolled a Rapala Xrap Magnum 15 in about 20 feet of water and quickly hooked up with a spotted bass.

Spotted Sand Bass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus)

With my first goal out of the way, I packed away the fishing gear so I could focus on the longest paddle goal. If everything went well I'd be in the open ocean before noon and make it back to the boat ramp by 4:00 pm. It didn't take long to make it to the Coronado Bridge.

I've kayaked both ends of the bay plenty of times, but this was my first time doing the middle section, so checked out all the touristy sights. There was a farmers market in Seaport Village and a couple of kayakers and checking out the USS Midway. It was a good day to be out.

A Disney cruise ship was docked a few spots down from the Midway. I wonder what its story is with everything going on.

The outgoing tide was moving along at a pretty good clip, so I was able to paddle the length of Harbor Island and Shelter Island very quickly. My Garmin shows my two fastest miles averaging 4.4 mph through that part of the bay. When I planned my route I told myself I'd stop at the end of Shelter Island and decide whether or not to continue to the end of Point Loma. Conditions looked good, and I was ahead of schedule, so I gave myself the green light to keep going.

Around 11:00 am I reached the end of Point Loma. After taking the photo I paddled out a little further so I could be sure that I was in the open ocean.

There was another cruise ship anchored offshore. I looked it up when I got home - it's the Celebrity Eclipse, and it has 63 coronavirus patients currently on board. The Disney ship I saw earlier is the Wonder, and it has 46 patients. That's awful!

I waited for several fast moving yachts to go past before I crossed the channel. The boat traffic was picking up, especially the sort of vessels that have slips in the marinas. The rule that only people from a single household could be on a boat was definitely not being followed.

The other side of the channel has a (mostly) submerged jetty that was becoming exposed at low tide. Pelicans were taking advantage of the rocks. I paddled north towards the Navy base on Coronado, and the going was a lot slower than in the morning. Slack tide plus chop from the wind and boats meant I could only maintain about 3 mph.

As the bay curved to the east my pace improved. Having the wind at my back helped, and there were fewer boats once I was past the busy marinas. I stayed close to the Navy base to avoid the boat traffic while staying far enough away from the docks and shore to avoid having one of the Navy boats come over and yell at me.

I'd like to say it was easy paddling for the rest of the trip, but it actually got quite miserable once I passed the Navy docks. Having the wind pointed directly at your back is good. If it's coming from any other direction and strong enough, then it becomes almost impossible to keep a rudderless kayak going in a straight line. I paddled from the Coronado Ferry Landing back to Pepper Park pretty much only using my right arm. When it really got bad I would paddle for a few strokes on the right side and then use the blade on the left side as a rudder to correct course. My average speed for the last few miles was 2.5 mph.

Eventually I made it past the Navy fleet and Mile of Cars and rounded the corner into the channel leading to Pepper Park. The wind was at my back again, and I paddled hard, keeping the fish finder's GPS speed at 5 mph until I reached the dock. It felt good to get out of the seat and stand up straight.

Miles: 27.50
Hours: 9:03
Water Temp: 68 F

With a rudder I think the crossing to Catalina is completely doable. Who wants to join?