California Delta Photo's

Very nice. Thanks for saring. Many many moons ago I used to swim in the Sacramento river with my dad.

Gee, no pictures of the squalid structures of the Mayberry Slough squatters.

Blender Boy said:

Gee, no pictures of the squalid structures of the Mayberry Slough squatters.

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None yet, haven't made it by there. The truth is this whole region had benefited from being our playground for many decades. When the economy went in the ditch many formerly beautiful, thriving areas didn't fare well. Entertainment and recreation budgets are the first casualties we all know. Bethel Island and Lost Isle come to mind.

This weekend was slow by past standards but a major lift to the area businessman I spoke with. Best Memorial Day weekend in years they universally told me. Times are far from flush but the business that have survived are coming back stronger than before with many ongoing improvement projects in the private sector locally.

Walt, Al will take care of you and show you the shoals to look out for. If you happen to soft ground just wait for the tide or call Vessel Assist if your in a hurry. V/A is only ten minutes away at Bethel Island.

Craig, what a beautiful sailboat!

Thanks everyone for the pictures, love it.


E

I had some, but just searched my files and can't find 'em. It's not like it used to be, though.

Lovin these pics of your cruising area.




Thanks

CPseudonym said:

None yet, haven't made it by there. The truth is this whole region had benefited from being our playground for many decades. When the economy went in the ditch many formerly beautiful, thriving areas didn't fare well. Entertainment and recreation budgets are the first casualties we all know. Bethel Island and Lost Isle come to mind.

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In my soon-to-be past life, we were docked at Antioch marina - we had a Seray 380DA, which is now for sale in Perry's (your home base, I think). Anyway, in the late 90's, we discovered Mayberry Slough, which connects the San Juaquin to Sherman Lake and the Sac River. Just west of the Antioch Bridge, the slough splits into two sections. Very few people transit through the narrow section, so we put some lines on the bank, and most summer weekends it was just us with the blackberries, river otters, and racoons.

That idyllic spot was ruined when some old goat had a number of decrepit lash barges hauled in and secured to the bank, complete with a half-sunken crane. After a couple of years there, he hauled in an old floating restaurant. Then, somebody torched it all, littering the slough with charred fiberglass and rusted supports for the barges. But really, I was out of town when that happened (I actually was in the Caribbean!). Sadly, he brought in a couple of more barges, complete with old trailers on top of them. He eventually grew his junk collection to include an old motorhome sitting inside one of the hollowed-out barges. It's a complete eyesore, and he is obviously dumping sewage and garbage into the river - and Sacramento County lets him get away with it.

I'll search my archives to post a picture of the slew, before and after. That junkpile encouraged other squatters for a few years. Someone hauled in a houseboat at lease two other boats were scuttled. Fortunately those have been gone for a few years. We haven't gone this year, as we are selling the Searay and getting ready to move our Nordhavn up here in prep for our long journey this fall. We'll definitely miss the Delta, we've had some great times there.

Blender Boy said:

In my soon-to-be past life, we were docked at Antioch marina - we had a Seray 380DA, which is now for sale in Perry's (your home base, I think).

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I saw your boat today when my son and I walked down to the sales dock while I enjoyed my morning cup of coffee. Great looking boat btw

Are you bringing the Nordy up to the Delta too or somewhere in the bay?

Mayberry Slough sounds like a real peach. I'll photograph it when we make it by there someday. I was thinking an Antioch run may be our next jaunt. My thought when starting this thread was showing the California Delta as a whole. The good, the bad and the ugly and it sounds like that spot has some ugly.

I returned to Bethel Island last winter, after an almost 30 year absence, while boat shopping(forgot my camera though). To say the difference was stark would be the understatement of the year. Surreal is a more apt description of this modern day ghost town. Once thriving resorts and marinas stripped of any metal worth recycling and littered with stripped fiberglass hulls with VIN and registration numbers ground off. Former docks filled with vacationers now home to some birds with vegetation growing throughout.

Hit me up with a Private Message if you guys decide to come up and use the Sea Ray.

CPseudonym said:

I saw your boat today when my son and I walked down to the sales dock while I enjoyed my morning cup of coffee. Great looking boat btw

Are you bringing the Nordy up to the Delta too or somewhere in the bay?

Mayberry Slough sounds like a real peach. I'll photograph it when we make it by there someday. I was thinking an Antioch run may be our next jaunt. My thought when starting this thread was showing the California Delta as a whole. The good, the bad and the ugly and it sounds like that spot has some ugly.

I returned to Bethel Island last winter, after an almost 30 year absence, while boat shopping(forgot my camera though). To say the difference was stark would be the understatement of the year. Surreal is a more apt description of this modern day ghost town. Once thriving resorts and marinas stripped of any metal worth recycling and littered with stripped fiberglass hulls with VIN and registration numbers ground off. Former docks filled with vacationers now home to some birds with vegetation growing throughout.

Hit me up with a Private Message if you guys decide to come up and use the Sea Ray.

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We're going to be keeping Tropical Blend in Alameda, in the Grand Marina. We'll probably cruise it out to Discovery Bay over the July 4th holiday - we have friends that live there. It'll take a little bit longer than our Searay... but a lot less fuel!

We frequently cruised through Bethel Island on our way to Disco Bay, through Dutch Slough. We nicknamed this area, "The Ghetto Marina". There was supposed to be a new Disco-Bay type development there, but it never got further than setting up the fingers - it was called Delta Coves, I think.

The N43 is a great boat and as a former Grand Marina tenant if you havent been there before you will really like the Marina. The tenants there are excellent and I would not hesitate in returning there again in the future.

If you can get a slip on the outside of A dock it is even better with the rowers going by in the am and most people obeying the no wake rule you wont get rocked too bad.

Petaluma River/Slough last week (taken from Ray's/Giggitori's GB42):

At Lakeville on the Petaluma River, there is a Greek Restaurant. One of these days I've got to dine there. (Navigation gets trickier upriver from here.)

I've wondered where that white work boat to the right of the Coot (in post #41)in that photo was tied up at. If I'm not mistaken it has been for sale for quite some time now. Ex commercial steel boat that can not return to commercial work for some legal/technical reason. Has a pretty large diesel engine and some very heavy duty generators and hydraulic pumps and hoisting equipment.

Believe that is southwest and on the opposite side of the river of Shollenberg Park, adjacent to Landing Way and immediately downriver of some bulk-material industries, and perhaps a half mile downriver of Highway 101.

gwkiwi said:

The N43 is a great boat and as a former Grand Marina tenant if you havent been there before you will really like the Marina. The tenants there are excellent and I would not hesitate in returning there again in the future.

If you can get a slip on the outside of A dock it is even better with the rowers going by in the am and most people obeying the no wake rule you wont get rocked too bad.

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There was only one slip available that would accommodate Tropical Blend - it's B-13. It's pretty far inside, and very close to the parking lot and restrooms. Of all the marinas we visited, we thought that the Grand Marina was the most organized, and we really liked the Harbormaster. Now, if we could just get the weather to cooperate... gale warnings tomorrow around Pt. Conception, winds at 35kts, seas to 18 feet - yowza! We'd like to try to leave next Thursday, but right now, the window is looking good early in the week.

More than four or five more boats and the law would require us to stern tie (Petaluma Turning Basin)! We left before that happened due to good planning.



Subsequently, a large SeaRay stern-tied directly behind the Coot in anticipation of the planned Memorial Day event where more than 60 boats were expected.

Craig pulled in behind us in his Owens. Except it wasn't actually Craig, it was some other Craig! Good thing b'c this guy dropped his anchor right on our stern anchor rode. LOL. We couldn't believe Craig would do that. But he did. But it wasn't Craig.

LOL. You discovered a porthole to the parallel universe.

Looking at that picture makes me wish I had bought a woody rather than fiberglass. Upkeep is a bit spendy but nothing beats the look.

Besides Al will tell you not to worry about me dropping the anchor when someone else already has.