Sea Kayak - Tacoma Narrows

SIGHTED: EAGLE, SEALS, BUFFLEHEADS, CORMORANTS, BROWN HEADED MERGANSERS  

Only the lower part of the bulkheads of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge were visible from Titlow Beach when I arrived.  But it cleared by the time people began arriving with everybody ready to go when we had our pre trip huddle at 1100.  There were a few good questions asked and hopefully all bases covered by the time we launched at 1115.  We headed straight west then turned after about 10 minutes, passing a floating tree, roots and all, en route.  It took about an hour of easy paddling to cover the 5 miles to the Tides Tavern, arriving about 1215.  While there was plenty of shore to land on there is no easy access off the beach  to the restaurant so the dock is really the only way to access it without paddling down to the public commons and walking.  Scott and Bob kindly assisted me and my recovering knee to safely get in and out of my boat at the dock.  We got out of our drysuits and into some dry shoes before going into the restaurant.  A table was immediately available on the heated enclosed deck.  As usual we had a hot and tasty meal as we waited for the tide and current to shift, getting up from our table at 1415 and hitting the bathrooms before heading back to the boats.  Now it was easy to see Mt Rainier covered from top to toe in snow as we got out of the way of outgoing power boats through the tiny entrance to the harbor.  We rafted up and the decision was made to check out the tidal action at Point Defiance and headed on over.  I approached what I thought was a floating log that turned out to be a tiny seal who must have been napping.  She got about two feet from my boat and  her sleepy eyes widened as we stared at each other for a few seconds before she dove under and was gone. There were more where that came from as the Point is a popular seal hangout and we were followed frequently as we went along.  It was barely rippling at the point as we were pretty much at slack.  Nobody needed to get out or wanted to go along the Salmon Beach housing so we headed through the quickening current in the middle of the channel and under the bridge.  Once again the water was chattering softly directly under the bridge but smooth on both sides of it.  We paused briefly for me to advise everybody to avoid the back eddy and stay outside of the cove at Titlow until ready to turn left and head straight to the pilings.  Excellent and very fast teamwork was applied to get the boats up to the grassy area by the railroad tracks.  Most of us moved our cars to make the loading easier.  A brief post trip huddle was held with no complaints and thanks exchanged on both sides.  A nice gentle Class III on a lovely winter day with beautiful scenery and good company!  All paddlers performed well with excellent dynamics.