What Peggy was seeing was a Doe and her yearling swimming across the river.
Thanks to Peggy for allowing me to share her fun photos with you here.
Mother Nature was a drama queen yesterday. Rain, hail, wind, crashing surf, brilliant sunshine and rainbows. Yes, Sunday had it all, weather-wise. But any day you see rainbows is a good day.
Peggy Berryhill was out walking her dogs at Gualala Point Regional Park mid-morning when she was gifted with this rainbow. Lucky for us, she photographed it and has allowed me to share it with you here.
That's a peek of the Gualala River to the right. Further to the right is the town of Gualala, all embraced by a lovely rainbow.
Peggy is the General Manager of Gualala's newest radio station, KGUA, 88.3 FM.
http://www.kgua.org/ You can hear me on Peggy's Place every third Thursday of the month at 9:08 am.
Gray Whales, mostly mothers with their calves, have been spotted every day this week. On Thursday Rick and I saw spouts from Highway One.
This is what you look for - two spouts seen on the calm ocean.
As we drove into Gualala we saw more spouts just off the mouth of the Gualala River. Here is a big spout (behind the rock) of the mother and a little spout of the calf.
Below the calf has spouted again and you can see the back of the mother Gray Whale
And here is the tail of the calf.
Clouds may obscure our view for a while as several storms are headed towards the Mendonoma Coast. But we know the whales continue on their long journey, the longest migration of any creature on Earth.
The Gualala River has the perfect color for fishing (catch and release) of Steelhead. Just look at the green color!
Steelhead was caught earlier this week. However Saturday the river was closed to the Pacific Ocean.
And there were thousand of Gulls and a few Brown Pelicans enjoying the sunny weather. Those in the river are washing off - you can almost hear the sounds of their flapping!
We have a storm coming in for today. It should reopen the river so the Steelhead can once again make their way into the river.
We had nearly 3 and 3/4 inches of rain yesterday and that was enough to finally open the Gualala River. The river has been closed to the ocean all summer, fall and the first month of winter by a massive sandbar. This is the latest I know of for the river to open. A friend called - thank you, Bob! - and said the river was cresting the sandbar at 10:30 this morning. When Rick and I arrived at the Gualala Bluff Trail an hour or so later the river had opened. And what a sight it was!
The picture below is our first look at the newly opened river. We entered the Gualala Bluff Trail by the Shoreline Restaurant and the Breakers Inn. Yes, it was raining hard and we got soaked!
Halfway down the trail we got a better look at the opening, which is south of its usual opening.
We watched as large tree trunks were swept into the sea. The turbulence where the river hits the ocean was amazing to see and hear. Steelhead juveniles were making their first trip into the Pacific Ocean. They had been trapped in luxury in the Gualala River.
Until this morning this was a lagoon. Now it's an estuary. It was so thrilling to watch the river greet the sea.