Baylands Sailing Station area

[Dee]

Decided to check out the "sailing station" mentioned by Steve in another post. The first thing I saw was Bayhenge...

I have no idea what it is... something for kids to climb on? Is it save for that? While I didn't circle the structure I didn't see a sign anywhere... be that as it may I'm calling it Bayhenge. The pidgeons loved it... and the squirrels were plentiful in the area.

Otherwise it's flat and hot in the relentless sun.

[Dee]

Here's the entrance to the sailing station. The sign has some information pockets, one of which was a tide table. It was low tide...

[Dee]

Not much of a hike, a floating dock, but it was low tide when I was there. There were little birds all over the place, one man and two young men. A great view of the electrical towers and power lines. I don't think there was enough water to launch anything floatable :D

[Dee]

The two young men decided to leave and I used that decisive moment to swing my camera away from the bird covered mud flats to the men at the top of the ramp.

[ginger_55]

Are you, in a low key way, trying to describe a lost photography day, Dee?:rofl

I like the men leaving. Other than that, well, there are places like that around here, too. And at low tide, things can't get much worse, except maybe the nuclear power plants.:dunno

Thanks for giving us a moment of reflection.

g

[Dee]

Are you, in a low key way, trying to describe a lost photography day, Dee?:rofl

I like the men leaving. Other than that, well, there are places like that around here, too. And at low tide, things can't get much worse, except maybe the nuclear power plants.:dunno

Thanks for giving us a moment of reflection.

g

I got a lot of good photos that day, still processing them, but wanted to share that the Baylands are flat, mostly without trees and usually suitable for only morning or afternoon jaunts. So of course I was there in the middle of the day :-)

I was thinking that without the power lines in the way it would be quite pretty, even if it is so flat. I'd love to be out on a canoe to check out more of the mudflats and little "islands."

It's one of those areas, that at first glance you wonder, "what good is this land." It takes some educating to learn about the bird nesting areas and other residents of the baylands.

There's a boat that gives rides to school groups, They measure the salinity in the water, haul out some mud to show the living things, little shells, etc., the tiny fish that help feed the birds, etc. It's all interdependent. Quite interesting -- I went along with my daughter on a ride through a college class she was taking.

The National Parks has quite a few classes, talks and walks too which has increased my awareness.

With some more patience, I could probably spot frogs, turtles and bird nests. Canoeing in the area would be neat as long as I could just sit and take pictures
:D

Oh and those electric towers? The ones that follow the San Mateo bridge closer to land are nesting platforms for the cormorants!

I saw some blackbirds chasing away a huge crow that was buggin' them, but without a larger zoom it's not even worth uploading :-(

I also shot an interesting mud swirl pattern to use as texture for backgrounds, you'd have to love textures to appreciate it, so I didn't bother posting it. Think I've done enough posting for one day :D

There's actually a lot to shoot if you look and isolate -- but the big overall picture is overwhelming in it's bleakness...

Thanks for commenting...