Bridges of the Napa River

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markpierce

Master and Commander
Joined
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Carquinez Coot
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penultimate Seahorse Marine Coot hull #6
This last Sunday we went up the Napa River; for the second time.* We started at the slack tide just before the flood.

The first bridge, Mare Island Causeway Bridge*is near the northern end of Mare Island Strait.

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The second time making the prolonged-and-short horn signal, the lifting bridge rose.* When passing, the bridge tender asked if we had a radio.* We answered "yes" and the tender asked why we hadn't used it.* We said "because we didn't want to."

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About a half-mile further, is the fixed bridge for State Highway 37.

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Nearby we passed the local rowing club participants.

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The lower reaches of the Napa River, but one must remain in the natural channel as most of the river is one or two feet deep.* The bend of our wake gives an indication where the river turns shallow.* (Mt. Diablo is in the distance.)

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The broad part of the river makes a couple of gentle "S" curves, so one must be very attentive to avoid going aground.* Here are electrical tranmission wires/tower crossing the river.

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Heading north here, having made the last "S" curve of the broad portion of the river.

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Here we're entering the narrower/upper portion of the river.* An eclectic collection of homes and boats are located on the western shore (eastern side of Edgerley Island.

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Here the trawler Ark is docked a short distance down river the railroad lift bridge.* The railroad line is inactive here so it remains open.**(About sixty years ago the engine crew drove*three six-axle Baldwin diesel-electric locomotives*into the river while the bridge was raised, requiring*the locomotives to*be scrapped.* This railroad line once carried tens of thousands of railroad car loads of lumber a year*from northwestern California until strict government forest regulations and landslides.)

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Immediately upriver of the railroad bridge was this boy showing off his large fish.

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Low tide is hard on some boats.

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Moore's Landing, a short distance upriver of the Napa River Marina, has docks popular with fishermen.* On the return trip downriver, both docks were filled with them.* Docking here would seem to anger the fishermen.

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Up the lazy river.

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Here is the Highways 22/29 fixed bridge.

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A short distance further is Rocktram, where the Kaiser pipe factory was located.* We turned around here.* The tide was still low and local knowledge was lacking.* There was a lift bridge, now replaced by a 60-foot-high fixed bridge in downtown Napa.* A bit further upriver in town the low 3rd Street bridge blocks navigation.

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Going downriver we pass the entrance to the Napa River Marina.* When we passed it earlier the entrance was about a third as wide, and I doubt there was two-feet depth there.

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We radioed the Mare Island*Strait Causeway bridge tender to request raising of the bridge.* He thanked us for using the radio.

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A*good time was had by all.


-- Edited by markpierce on Thursday 1st of March 2012 01:03:58 AM
 
Looks like a great lazy day cruise, Mark! It looks like summer in February. Love all the pics.

My friends own one of those houses along Edgerley Island. Theirs is a deep water dock, but apparently some are much shallower than others. Lots of sturgeon in those waters. Can't wait to return to fish for those monsters.

Two thumbs up!! Thanks for the ride.
 
Thanks. Have edited the post to show the right photo for Moore's Landing.* Please forgive.
 
Thanks, Mark. *Cruising pictures are great as well as interesting. *I'm glad you are exercising that boat. *The river banks a very similar to our southern low country areas.
 
Thanks for sharing Mark
 
It's*the now-obsolete,*pack-of-cigarette-sized Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital Elph.
 
markpierce wrote:
It's*the now-obsolete,*pack-of-cigarette-sized Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital Elph.
*That means you bought it yesterday, right Mark? **
no.gif


The camera companies, and most tech companies for that matter seem to issue new models every 30-90 days!
 
I had heard it was shallow but that is really shallow! Guess going up for a weekend is out of the question. Thanks for the pictures!
 
Coward!
wink.gif
* It's not that bad.

I'm still working up the nerve to cruise Petaluma River.
buggered.gif


*
 
The Corps of Engineers is doing some weird things on the Napa River. I gently touched bottom a couple of years ago during high tide. I intentionally powerd up river during high tide thinking that was the safest. Wrong! At least it is wrong for the Napa River. People in the know tell me it's best to navigate the river during low tide because then we can see the actual channel, which will still have about seven or eight feet under the keel, on average. The engineers are messing with the banks and channel to protect against Spring flooding naturally...what ever that means! Of course, it's all poorly marked.
 
markpierce wrote:
Coward!
wink.gif
* It's not that bad.

I'm still working up the nerve to cruise Petaluma River.
buggered.gif


*
*Yeah, I'm totally a coward, just got the props all trued and pretty, don't want to have to do that again any time soon.
 
Eric,

It's not that bad.* If you have a chartplotter, the channel is easy to follow.* The markers are poorly placed and sometimes, missing, so you've got to rely on electronics if you have no local experience.*
 
Cool, going to southern California this spring/summer but will do SF bay next year
 
Have not done it in a couple of years since we took the boat up to the Northwest but you used to be able to take a powerboat all the way to downtown Napa where there was a community float available for day-use while exploring the town. Overnighting at Napa Marina was always pleasant, and if you want the wine-country tour buses will pick you up and drop you off there.
 
av8r wrote:
...*if you want the wine-country tour buses will pick you up and drop you off there.
*There are shuttle busses at the Vallejo Ferry Terminal (a short distance from the Vallejo Municipal Marina) to take you to Napa for boarding*trains deeper into wine country.
 
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