This week’s Vitamin Sea report.

Davenport Landing Beach, Davenport, CA. November 12, 2017.
This is a beach I don’t usually go to. Not for any good reason. Maybe because there is a little development on the cove: a few buildings, an abalone farm. And it’s a small beach, although with the tide out you can walk for quite a ways under the cliffs.

But I had the impulse to stop there yesterday. The loop road off Highway 1 was packed with parked cars which seemed odd. The other beach parking areas I passed were not full. Reaching the sand, I discovered there was a surf contest in progress. Surfers, surf kayakers and surf stand-up paddleboarders ran in and out of the water; horns blasted signaling the beginnings and endings of events.

The weather was sublime: cloudless, windless and warm. The waves were shapely and shimmering from the low afternoon sun. I stayed past sunset, to witness the joyful activity and the natural beauty.