The Big Night Side of the Big Year

After I posted last nite I checked the internet bird sites to see if there was anything I might want to try to find today. As it turned out, I found a report of a pacific golden plover that was seen with 200 black-bellied plovers near Gustine, CA. This is a very tough bird to find in the lower 48 states, so I thought about going after it. But it meant driving 2.5 hours south to an unclear location and the bird was seen 3 days ago. It also meant I would have a 4.5 hour drive back to be in Ft. Bragg tonite.

The alternative was to have a nice relaxing day with much less driving. I slept in, shopped for the food I need for the pelagic trip tomorrow, and decided to drive by Hog Island Oyster Co. to eat some totally fresh oysters. For those who have been following this blog, you may remember that I had found this place in March. I was 1/2 way thru eating 24 oysters and drinking most of a bottle of Roederer estate champagne when I remembered to take the photo above. When I was here in March I did not have any wine to go with the oysters so today when a young couple walked in with a tray of oysters but no wine I gave them the rest of my champagne.

I then decided to try to stop in at Peay Vineyards which is just off route 1. I discovered their wines a couple of years ago and thought it would be fun to see their vineyards. I found Nick Peay home already hosting a guy in the wine trade who was in from Savannah, GA with his wife and daughter. We had a short tour of the vineyard, and then tried some of the syrah and pinot noir that Peay makes. After a couple of hours of talking about the wines and Peay's history, we all went our separate ways.

I finished my drive up to Ft. Bragg to be here for tomorrow's pelagic trip. The weather report is looking good, so I have high hopes for another good day out on the sea. Stay tuned!