Just about an hour-and-a-half up the coast from our home, HMB is an odd combination of sea-side town, harbor, Air Force installation, and perhaps just a touch of San Francisco bedroom community. In addition to all these, the huge breakwater affords a nice place for an easy kayak tour. And of course, during certain times of year, there are the epic waves off the coast at the Mavericks geological anomaly.

This visit, instead of a day trip, we decided to give Howie a little outing. Turns out you can stay in an RV at the Pillar Point Harbor parking lot if you are “affiliated with a boat”. Well, we DID have an inflatable kayak, is that a boat? We asked the harbor master this question. He smiled, and said we could even just say that we were going on a “party boat” (fishing trip) and that was good enough. In other words, they don’t care that much.

So for $45 we got to spend a night in Howie (no hookups), and roll down 100 yards or so to the beach next morning to launch Bote for a harbor tour. In between, several nice restaurants kept Howie’s kitchen unused except for morning coffee. Hard to get upset about any of this, y’know? 

As we wandered back from our evening meal, the sunset’s gold glanced across thousands of roosting shorebirds. The breakwater’s stability makes for an enticing night’s shelter for an enormous array of gulls, pelicans, sandpipers, etc.

I did a rough calculation: The combined length of the marina and harbor breakwaters is about 1.5 miles, let’s say 8,000 feet. The breakwater is about 10 feet high and 20-30 feet wide. By very rough approximation, there were probably five birds roosting for every linear foot of breakwater. Maybe more. So that’s around 40,000 shorebirds parked for the night. Pretty impressive.

Also resting up for a day or a year were the harbor’s eclectic assortment of fishing boats, sailboats, and derelict watercraft that hardly deserve the name.

The next morning, a surprisingly sunny day greeted us. Out Howie’s front window, the harbor waited, along with the HMB kayak-rental outfit. We had a leisurely coffee and a nice breakfast at the marina, then inflated Bote and rolled him down to the shore.

As we paddled out and along the marina breakwater, the density of the birds was even greater than I had imagined. They are so well “camouflaged” that it’s hard to pick them out – but the congregation was truly amazing. Look for the tiny orange beaks to help spot the smaller birds (you can click/zoom on these).

Farther north, some colorful rental buildings….

Air Force radar installation and local hiking trails….

And the famous Mavericks seascape, where legendary waves (and their riders) can be found in the stormy seasons. As the swells break around the outcropping, shore-breaks occur from every imaginable angle, colliding with each other and creating incredible turbulence. Even in these calm seas, the shoreline is littered with torn-up plants and animal bodies, unable to survive the anger of the battling waves.

On our way back to base ‘camp’, we try out our new kayak sail. Don’t laugh, it actually works, and it’s a hoot to use. Karin was having a blast, and I was steering with a paddle. It will even allow a bit of cross-wind sailing, but of course this simple airfoil is best at running down-wind.

As we beached Bote below the parking lot, Howie stared solemnly out at a hunting grey heron just above the shoreline.

We bundled Bote up into the cargo hold and took a leisurely bike ride around the area. Up above the parking lot, we got a nice view of the surrounds and where we’d been.

Trundling on down the road toward home, one last stop for a pleasant dinner at the new Highway 1 Brewing company. Then back down CA-1 and home again. A nice little excursion.