Boatpost_006 - BIG BOAT

This Friday I woke up earlyish, before the wind had a chance to pick up, and took a bus-and-a-bus to the Bay side of Alameda. I had one mission: to go see the USS Hornet.

Built as an aircraft carrier for WWII and used in the recovery missions for Apollo 11 & 12, this ship has had quite a life. It's now permanently docked in Alameda and serves as a museum.

This would be my first time paddling on the Bay side of Alameda. I shouldn't really be in the open Bay in general in this boat, but this whole area is inside of a breakwater. I went in the morning before the wind picked up too much.

me in front of various signs about encinal beach and the bay trail

I set up on Encinal Beach, as the boat ramp is on the outside of the breakwater. This little area is where people come practice their kayak rolls etc, and they have sailing lessons, dragonboat practice, and more.

At the far end of this little enclosure is a dock and maintenance facility for the San Francisco Bay Ferry.

It's also home to this slab'o'seals

seals hauled out on a floating dock, all in a row

The ferry dock turned out to be very busy, and I had to be very careful when I got to the far side, where they entered and exited from the Bay. I ended up huddled against the wall behind this white boat while a few ferries came and went.

my boat approaching a dock with several large ferries. the top of the Hornet and the SF skyline were visible in the background.

The white boat is apparently named The Maritol. It has a website. I parked behind her to get out of the way of ferries coming and going from the maintenance center.

If you look closely you can see a couple of planes on top of the Hornet. The one in the front had shark teeth painted on the nose.

an old white boat, parked across from the much larger USS Hornet. you can see planes on the deck of the hornet.

crusty ass pier, and an approaching ferry

The area under the piers was a popular fishing spot for birds. I could see schools of tiny, shimmering anchovies or sardines right below the surface.

I love the way night herons stand, with their perfect football-shaped body balanced on stilts.

night heron standing on a pipe below a pier

And this snowy egret standing vertical style on the world's most encrusted ladder.

snowy egret standing on a crusty ladder, holding onto it with its bright yellow feet

I'm not sure if this nest belonged to this gull, or if it's a cormorant's nest.

a gull on a pile of rocks, and a pole with some kind of large bird's nest on top.

I paddled around to the other side of the pier, and finally made it to the Hornet.

Here's a bunch of gratuitous ship photos in no particular order:

my boat approaching a large wwii aircraft carrier

huge chains holding the boat to the dock

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the side of the ship curving over a building on shore

the side of the boat, with the city in the background

underside of the deck with a bunch of interesting structures and equipment

the front of the boat, with an impossibly thin keel

my boat looking at the front of the big boat

Shortly after leaving the Hornet, I noticed a bee struggling in the water. After a few attempts, I managed to scoop it out with my paddle. It was still alive, but very soggy.

I gently offloaded it on the front of my boat, beyond the splash zone, and continued paddling (gently) to go check out the seaplane lagoon just beyond the Hornet. (No seaplanes to be found this time, but I saw some big cranes and caught some glimpses of the Port of Oakland further up.)

The bee moved around a little bit, sluggishly, but didn't seem to be reviving. I recalled what I'd read before about how to help out exhausted/lethargic bees - you give them water right? Sugar water? Or is that just hummingbirds?

I tried to pour out a little bead of freshwater from my bottle on the front of my boat, but it rolled off. I took off my water-resistant sun hat, scooped up the bee with the brim, and tried to feed it water in there, even attempting to dissolve an oat from my clif bar at one point to make sugar water?? Look idk, I had taken this guy's life into my hands and I felt a deep sense of responsibility!!

This is when I learned that the seaplane lagoon ALSO has a ferry terminal in it. These ferries are quiet for how huge they are - their hulls are catamaran style so they don't make a lot of noise or displace a lot of water and can quite literally sneak up on you if you're not looking.

Somewhere in the process of fleeing this incoming ferry, I felt a little vibration, and the bee took off! I guess it wasn't hungry or thirsty after all, it just needed to dry out its wings a little.

I paddled back, dodging more ferries, and finally made it back to Encinal Beach. This was a really fun place to explore, even with all the extra care required to dodge large incoming boats. I highly recommend checking it out, if you have some paddling experience and can paddle fast enough to get out of the way.