More rejects

I don't know who wants to look at lousy photos, but here are some more.

A sea lion popped up a couple of yards from the kayak, and almost gave me a few opportunities to get its picture.  This one is the least wretched of the shots that I managed to get.

Good ol' Golden Bear.  The sky and the bridge aren't overexposed (as they so often are), but the ship is bright enough to be seen from space, and the Casio can't handle it.

Not such a lousy photo.  I think I threw this one out because I had a very similar shot that I liked more.

My hand is in focus, and the sky looks good, and everything else sucks.  What was this supposed to be a picture of?

Kayak shots from the recycle bin

Most of the shots I take from the kayak are crappy.  The most usual problem is overexposure, because the exposure compensation on my old compact camera has to be adjusted for almost every shot that has the sky in it.  Problems handling the camera in the waterproof bag cause framing and other problems.  Sometimes the shot would have been junk anyhow, but I'd rather blame the camera than myself.

The waterproof bag's lens cap thing needs to be held open.  The wooden structure is identified as "dike 14" on the NOAA charts.

I guess I need a brighter flash.

Framing and focus problems.

Overexposed.

Water spots on the bag, and an edge of the part of the bag meant for the lens is showing.

A bit overexposed.

Out of focus, overexposed sky.  This was a blind shot, so I guess I'm lucky I got anything at all.

Overexposed.

I can't remember why I put this in the recycle bin.  It seems like a decent image in spite of its problems.

The casio has a special feature called "digital zoom" that it uses to ruin images.  Digital zoom is very easily activated by mistake.  Digital zoom really, really sucks.

This is from the one time that I saw a harbor seal in the strait.  I got a couple of other pictures of it, but they weren't as good as this one.

I don't know why I threw this one out.

Almost every picture I took of the Peace Lucky was overexposed, like this one is.

Overexposed.  It might have been an interesting anyway if I had been able to zoom in more.

Has glare from the camera bag.

Nothing's in focus.  What was the stupid camera looking at?

10 minute loading zone, new camera bag

It seems like the 10-minute loading zone at Eckley pier is popular with people who can't tell time, but maybe they are just so baffled by the twin concepts of "10-minute parking" and "loading zone" that they can't cope - the driver of the car in the picture was so confused that he wasn't able to navigate between the parallel white lines, and apparently wasn't able to find the car again once he had left it.

There's usually a place to park in spite of all that.

 

Parking for the intellectually challenged.

New camera bag.

The (supposedly) waterproof camera bag that I've been using keeps the camera dry in the kayak, but water on the bag over the camera's lens messes up the photos, and there's never anything dry to wipe the water off with. 

The new (actually old, but unused) Aquapak waterproof camera bag has a lens cap thingy, so that the part of the bag that covers the lens isn't constantly wet - if you remember to snap it completely shut after each time you use it, and you don't drop the camera in the water, and the camera doesn't get splashed when you're taking a shot; you also have to remember to hold the cover back against the front of the bag.

The old camera bag.

The best way to shoot from the kayak, it turns out, is to take the camera out of the bag when it's safe to do so, and put it back in when it's not.  This is at least as much a pain in the keister as shooting with the camera in the bag, but the images tend to be better this way.

Various photos from the Carquinez Strait

Glen Cove, not shot from the kayak

 These are from-the-kayak photos (except the Glen Cove shot) that I didn't like enough to post on flickr.

I think this is part of a sunken boat near the Crockett marina

Crockett marina and the south end of the bridges

A ship at the C&H dock

Downstream from the bridges

Crockett

At the second oil terminal west of the bridges

Approaching the Crockett marina

Looking upstream from near Glen Cove - it's not all tankers, C&H, and bridges

Kayak cart 2.2

The kayak cart might finally be ready to take on the dirt trail at Lone Tree Point.

The unfolded kayak cart

 The kayak now stays put relative to the cart, and the cart still folds and fits easily in the car.

The folded kayak cart

 Total cost: about $10.  The original cart cost $5 at Urban Ore, the new bungees cost $4 (some cheap dips**t stole the old ones off the cart while it was on the beach), and the wood scraps, duct tape, and foam thingies probably cost around a buck.

Edit, 10\8\11:  The cart has been successfully tested on a sandy beach, on a gravelly beach, and on the tiny steep rocky weedy trail between the pier and the beach at Eckley.

5\11\12:  I've made a kayak cart for camping, and details are at http://tedhamiter.blogspot.com/2012/05/stowable-kayak-cart.html.

More Eckley pics

The pier again; these are the images that weren't posted on flickr.

Eckley pier

Waitin' for a train.  The stupid train actually stopped for several minutes, blocking the crossing, and it took so long to pass Eckley that two Amtrak trains passed it while I was waiting.

Kayak on the cart at the crossing

I saw other kayaks at Eckley for the first time.  I didn't get a chance to ask if they were locals or not.

Near the abandoned oil terminal upstream from Port Costa

Wharf bones near the pier

Stopped near Port Costa

Shots from the kayak on the Carquinez Strait

I've been bringing my old compact digital camera in a plastic bag when I go paddling on the strait, and sometimes the pictures aren't completely ruined by glare or water on the plastic.  (There are more shots of the area taken with the Pentax in my flickr photostream.)


The south shore on the Carquinez Strait has the remains of old wharves from Port Costa to the C&H property in Crockett.  There are hundreds of pilings, like these:

Wharf bones

More wharf skeletons

The Eckley slalom course

Eckley ruins

C&H is downstream from the wharf skeletons.  Sometimes there's a ship at their dock (this one is the Moku Pahu), but I think the view's interesting whether there is or not.

The Moku Pahu at C&H

The Moku Pahu, with the Carquinez bridges in the background

The kayak Kayak and the Moku Pahu

Port Costa is upstream.  There's a sometimes-shady beach that makes an ideal place to pull out and look for camera batteries, provided there's aren't a bunch of people fishing there.  (You morning people may have to do without shade).  That's Mt. Diablo in the background.

Port Costa shore

These last two weren't shot from the kayak - I'll let you guess why.