Bodega Bay: Things You Can Do with a Fishing Rod Besides Catch Fish

1. Fly a kite
2. Catch crab

Who knew?

We found this out at Bodega Bay where we saw both of the aforementioned activities taking place. With a  little shrewd marketing, this could be come the pizza warmer of the millenium -- the next great idea! Don't tell anyone. We're gonna make a fortune. Unfortunately no one thought to document these extraordinary activities with photographs. But it's all true. And we can probably come up with even more useful things you can do with a fishing rod. I'm sure we can. Maybe.

As you will have noted above, after Point Reyes we took Hwy 1 north along Tomales Bay to Bodega Bay. It is a beautiful stretch of road, only an hour's drive, incredibly scenic, through fluttery stands of eucalyptus, past cozy little enclaves, and along the shores of the bay with oyster farms and charming restaurants on one side and rolling hills on the other. (Unfortunately, none of us are big oyster fans, but Peter assures us that for those who are, it's culinary heaven.) If it's you driving, you may find those tight curves and narrow bits a little unnerving, but if someone else is driving, it's a visual smorgasbord of delight.

Bodega Bay is a favourite spot of ours -- a legendary haven for those sailing south from Vancouver to Mexico, a working crabbing port, and a lovely spot to park the RV for a few days. We stayed at Doran Beach, a regional park on a sandy spit that stretches out into the bay. When the wind blows, it can be a bit breezy (understatement), but it has a beautiful shallow sandy beach and open ocean on one side with a small breakwater providing a bit of shelter from the offshore blasts. On the other side is the harbour, with a marina on one side and another at the head of the bay, so you can sit on a bench there and watch the boats going in and out and the birds doing what they do best -- mergansers, gulls, turkey vultures, surf scoters, buffleheads, sandpipers, grebes, loons, and others, all looking for dinner or enjoying a nice bob on the bay. A wetlands also stretches along part of the bay where we saw hawks, brandts, terns, western sandpipers, mergansers and egrets. (One merganser pair were fearless, pulling fish literally out from under an egret's legs. Exasperated, the egret moved to the other side of the stream and was more exasperated when the mergansers followed him over, continuing to poach and grab. Kind of like the Republican presidential circus. Not appreciated by the egret, but amusing for us. )A short drive around the bay and up and you're at the Bodega Headland, which offers spectacular view of open ocean and tall red cliffs and, occasionally, migrating whales. We didn't get to see any whales, but it's a stunning view and we got up there when the wind was very gentle, so it was all very nice.

There are no hookups at Doran Beach, which is a challenge for four in an RV, but we managed. However, we left Bodega Bay when the winds became tedious, only after lots of time on the beach for H, a little birding, some great clam chowder, and a nighttime marshmallow-toasting campfire before we packed it in. Northern California along the coast is really a wondrous place.

We're at the KOA in Willits now. The drive up yesterday was another pretty one, through Bodega, Sebastapol, and Santa Rosa. Despite a petting zoo, a mini western town, four playgrounds, mini-golf, hiking trails, and who knows what all, the advertised heated pool isn't open until May, the hot tubs are only available at premium sites and they aren't open either, and the wifi is the pits. I think the business model for KOAs is to add on as many amenities as you can think of, jack up the price as much as you possibly can, then add 10 per cent on top of that. We avoid KOAs as much as possible, but the Skunk Train is here, and one of us is nuts about trains, so here we are. Nonetheless, the wifi is the pits and so uploading photos is iffy. (Hmm, seems I've said this before.  Note to RV parks ... ) So sometime, some photos will appear.