Hiking the Bay

 

Some of you might know Bodega Bay as the set in the Hitchcock movie "The Birds", and there are quite some reminders of this horror movie throughout the little town by the sea. For us, however, Bodega Bay is the sweet little town right on the ocean with beautiful Highway 1 winding its way right through it, no sidewalks and an abundance of places that offer tasty seafood. It has a harbor with a narrow navigable channel and where you can find people looking for clams during low tide. Bodega Head and the headlands separate the harbor from the open waters of the Pacific Ocean - and is a great place for whale watching and hiking.

On one of those rare sunny days in February Kaefer and I drove out to Bodega Bay. The drive from our house to the parking lot on Bodega Head takes a bit less than an hour and passes through the gentle hilly part of Sonoma County with its green pastures where you can see cows grazing. It joins Highway 1 after having passed through the hamlet of Bodega (not to be confused with Bodea Bay) where you can find the famous schoolhouse of the movie. After that it's just another five to ten minutes up to Bodega Head.

The view from Bodega Head over the rocky coastline is breath taking. In the photo above and below you can see the coast of Point Reyes in the distance which is a National Seashore and a very favorite place of mine.

We observed a gull taking a dip in a puddle and every now and then we stopped to watch for whales. However, the sea was rather rough and it is difficult to spot whales in those conditions. Needless to say, we didn't see any. This is the first time during whale migration that I didn't see any whales - probably because we didn't come out here because of all the rain we had. We mainly see humpback and gray whales here.

The headlands are pretty bare, so this "grove" of old and dead trees stood out. We saw a few ravens up here ("The Birds", right?) and that dead tree was a prefered landing spot.

We hiked around the headlands, enjoyed the view of Tomales Bay nestled between Point Reyes and the mainland, and finally saw the harbor of Bodega Bay.

Every now and then we stopped and sat on a bench, chatting and sharing memories of our many trips to Bodega Bay. Or we just sat in silence, enjoying the company of each other. It is so nice to be able to be quiet with a person you love.

On our way back to the parking lot we passed the memorial to the fishermen of Bodega Bay who lost their life out on the sea. Bodega Bay has always been a fishermen's town, but with the fame of "The Birds"  the tourists came as well.

Back in town we got calamari and clam strips at one of the many saefood places and ate our food out on the deck. Although it's not exactly dinner, this is for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date.

Since the weather was so lovely and Kaefer wanted to stick her feet in the ocean, we stopped at Doran Beach. This beach is a regional park and very family friendly because of its location within the bay where the waves are much gentler and not as dangerous. In the second photo below you can see the headlands in the background.

However, even here the sea was quite rough. It's been a wild winter. 

Still, nothing could keep Kaefer from putting off her shoes and wading into the water.

While she was freezing out there, I walked along the sandy beach and enjoyed the many prints the shorebirds had left.

It was a wonderful day that I will not forget.