Down the River, Up the River

The other day I took a trip down the Petaluma River to Bel Marin Keys to collect a couple of sailboats that were donated to the Petaluma Sea Scouts. Since the approach channel is potentially shallow, it didn't make sense to make the trip with the Compass Rose. We also opted out of puttering down there in one of the painfully slow motor whaleboats. Instead, we took this sportfishing boat that was donated some time ago:

(this particular boat isn't much use to the scout program, so if you're in need of a sportfishing boat, this one's for sale)

Once we'd reached the mouth of the Petaluma River, we made the turn into the channel for Bel Marin Keys:


I've never really been in this neighborhood before. Now that I have, I will admit that I like it. There were a few exceptions, but most of the houses we saw were set up like this one:


The enclosed little lagoon here is routinely dredged to maintain its depth. What's better is that there's a lock in place so that the tide never rises or falls. That means you don't have to worry about your boat bottoming out at the dock on a really low tide and you never have to smell that special, low tide smell.

Here's another random house:


I like this one because it suggests to me that the homeowners association doesn't mind if you have naked chicks as lawn decorations:


Once we'd loaded the smaller boat into the cockpit of the sportfisher and taken the larger one in tow, it was time to head back north:


The weather was great and we arrived in the marina safely. The scenery was great as usual:

Now all we need to do is hit the decks with a powerwasher, replace some running rigging, and take some scouts sailing.

Cool.