The south end of San Francisco Bay has two kayak specific launch sites, one in Palo Alto and the other in Alviso. The advantage of these facilities is that you can launch or land your kayak without even getting your feet wet, let alone muddy. Last Saturday I decided to take advantage of both locations in a one-way kayak trip between the two. The shortest kayak distance between the two points is about 8.25 miles, although a more likely distance is closer to 10 miles. Checking out the tide tables for these locations is important since some parts of the South Bay are very shallow at low tide. Other important considerations are currents and navigation skills. The first half of the trip requires compass headings to end up in the right slough at the end.
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| Launching From Palo Alto Baylands Boat Launch |
We chose to launch at the Palo Alto Baylands Boat Launch about 2 hours before high tide to catch the push of the flood tide current as the south end of the Bay filled with water. The floating dock allowed the group to gently slide into the water directly from the dock, which floated only a few inches above the water.
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| Scott Trummer gliding on a mirror with Coyote Hills in the distance. |
As you can see from the photos, the conditions were amazing. The wind was either non-existant or a slight breeze. We identified a channel buoy on the nautical chart for the area and determined a heading to follow towards it. The heading was used to give everyone a landmark to paddle toward in the distance as the channel buoy was not visible at first.
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| Cruising the South Bay, piles of salt in the background. |
By using ranges we were able to correct for drift caused by the flood tide. Our navigation took us across the two-mile crossing right on target to the channel buoy where we turned south to another channel buoy.
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| Moffett Field in the distance. |
We had some incredible views of the features of the South Bay in every direction. To the west we could see the huge hangers of Moffett Field and even hear their wind tunnel working. To the east were piles of salt along the near shore and Mission Peak looming in the background.
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| Seal encounter. |
As we rounded Calaveras Point we spotted numerous Harbor Seals both foraging in the water and lounging near the shore. The high tide seemed to have flooded their haul-out spot.
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| Lunch at the mouth of Alviso Slough |
We stopped for lunch near some power lines at the entrance to Alviso Slough. As we entered the slough the tide turned to an ebb, so we had to stay near the bank to avoid the current coming out of the slough.
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| Great Egrets are plentiful in Alviso Slough |
Alviso Slough is the home to numerous species of bird life. The slough is bordered by the
Don Edwards S. F. Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge is connected to the slough by a couple of cuts through the levees, which create some interesting tide rips during both flood and ebb tides.
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| The hardy kayakers at the Alviso take-out. |
As with the put-in in Palo Alto, the take-out at Alviso Marina Boat Ramp is excellent. It has it all, including a kayak-friendly low launch dock, restrooms, plenty of parking and a good Mexican restaurant nearby.
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| Approximate path of South Bay kayak crossing |
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