[Background: A bunch of us were part of a "Walk Club" in the Long Beach, CA area in 2006. One day that summer we planned to go kayaking after our walk. Our leader, Val, asked me to write about the experience and this is the result. I have some picures of my badly burned legs which took almost a month to heal, but they're too gross to share.. so content yourself with the jellyfish below.]
Moon jelly - Monterey Bay Aquarium
Last Friday was a special edition of the Walk Club - Walk 'n' Kayak! Several of us met in front of the Leeway Sailing Center to start our walk. We went on the wooden boardwalk in between the beach and the lovely beachfront condos. After a relaxing stroll, we headed back to Alamitos Bay and met a few other members to go ahead and rent some kayaks.
If there's anyone reading this who hasn't kayaked yet, you've gotta try it! It's a lot of fun, and the type of kayaks we rented ("sit-on-top"s or SOTs) are easy to use but hard to tip over :) . The kayak rental place is sort of a tent next to the blue Leeway Sailing Center and has its own website: Kayaks on the Water . Reasonable prices, but come early before they're all rented out. And be sure to bring sunscreen. I didn't and well.. I'm not going to gross you out with the details, but I am NEVER going to forget my sunscreen ever again.
A lot of Alamitos Bay is accessible with kayaks; the rental place has a map in front with some suggestions where to go. Last year we went thru the canal around Naples Island and gawked at the expensive houses (about 45 minutes paddle). This year, some of us paddled around near the beach for an hour, while I and some others decided to paddle to Spinaker Bay to see the moon jellyfish.
Moon jellies are beautiful, clear, disc-shaped brainless animals that slowly contract and expand while drifiting on the current. Unlike most other jellyfish, they can't sting us and are safe to touch (there are about 200 species of sea jellies and only 70 are known to sting humans). Picking one up feels like slimy jello. We found ourselves in the midst of large groups of them, ranging in size from the bottom of a coke can to the diameter of a dinner plate. I also saw a medium-sized fish I think was a bonito (small member of the tuna family). It was amazing to be in the middle of a concrete channel, surrounded by boats and houses, and still be able to look down and see critters living there. Dave thinks the moon jellies were bred and released by the Long Beach Aquarium for tourism. That might be right, as I saw the exact same jellyfish on display last time I visited. They are native to California though. I also found out that moon jellies are found world-wide and very hardy; they can live just fine in polluted and oxygen-poor water. They are edible and are harvested for food in some parts of the world (China and South Asia). Sea turtles love them too.
Addendum: In 2007 we went kayaking again, but this time it was under the California Association of the Deaf Orange County Chapter (CAD-OC). It was promoted on the website and flyers were handed out. As a result, more people came.
The choices were: (copied from the flyer)
"1 hour trip - Go through famous Naples Island canals along beautiful waterfront homes.
OR
2 hour trip - Go to cove with "moon-jellies" which are live jellyfish you can see and touch because they do not sting."
I was particularly amused to read, in large type on the flyer, the following:
"BE SURE TO USE SUNSCREEN ESPECIALLY ON YOUR LEGS!!!!"
Glad to see somebody learned from my experience.
Anyhoo, I went kayaking again with that group and it was a pleasant experience. As I later emailed to a friend:
"Decided I'd better type you a msg today before my arms give out. Right now my forearms and wrists are aching a little, but I'm sure by tmw it will spread to my shoulders, chest and back.. but worth it. Should do this more often tho so I can get used to it :)
There was a good number of deafies showing up; I bet if you made it here you would have had a chance to meet more long-lost high school friends :) Most of them seemed to prefer the shorter trip around Naples Island, but Robin, JC, and I decided to take the 2-hour roundtrip to see the jellyfish again. There weren't as many as last year, but all seemed fairly large.. I guess it depends on the time of year or day. After that, we decided to paddle to the opposite side to get to Jamba Juice. There are docks on the back side of the shopping ctr where you can tie up.. after we went to the front side, I realized it was the Marina Pacifica center on PCH. Now I know even more about Long Beach <g>. There is a nice-looking apt or condo complex right there on the water.. imagine being able to have your boat moored right outside the window. Yeah, if I ever win the lottery.. saw 5 or 6 yachts for sale too. When we started back to the kayak rental place we started seeing sailboats.. the Leeway Sailing Center is right next to the kayaks. Best part about today is I managed to avoid getting sunburned!"
Will we go kayaking again in 2008? Well, let's see.. :)
Kendra