First Annual Bay Day Cleanup in Association with Save the Bay

Sloughkeepers is very pleased to join Save the Bay to celebrate the first annual Bay Day by hosting this cleanup paddle.

Note you MUST have your own kayak and kayaking gear for this location, there are no rentals nearby. Some kayaking experience is required, but this is an easy paddle. We are limiting this event to 25 kayakers. You must sign a liability waiver to participate in this event. This waiver will be posted in the files section of our Meetup group soon. Please print it out and bring it with you to the paddle. As with all our paddles, you are soley responsible for your own safety at all times.

Arrive at the Marina at around 11:30am (depending on how long it takes you to prepare your kayak--if it takes you an hour, arrive by 11am). We will paddle away from the dock by 12:30pm after a safety briefing, breaking into teams, and distribution of garbage bags and trash grabbers. If you're late, just catch up to us. We won't be moving quickly. We'll paddle up Alviso Slough on a 9.3 ft tide (that peaks at 1:41 pm) possibly as as far as 3-4 miles, depending on conditions and which team you're on. Each team will concentrate on cleaning up a different section of the slough. We'll meander up the slough, cleaning as we go.

On the way up, we'll paddle by the South Bay Yacht Club, the flood control gates, and watch the environment turn from saltwater slough to fresh water river. There are often lots of birds to see--one year we were visited by a golden eagle. We may even get a glimpse of the slough's elusive beavers. Once we've stopped for lunch, we'll wait for the tide to turn. We'll be riding the tide both ways. Sloughkeepers will provide garbage bags, trash grabbers, and kayak barges for hauling out trash. If you have a SOT or even better a tandem SOT, please bring it because we need more hauling capacity!

This is a chance to paddle an interesting environment, and is good for all levels of kayakers, even beginners.

NOTE: PFDs and whistles are required on all Sloughkeepers paddles (and are a USCG requirement). If you don't have a whistle, we will sell you one at cost for $3. If you have a marine VHF, please bring it. We will be on channel 71.

The new Alviso Marina is a great place to launch from with both high and low docks, a boat ramp, and bathroom facilities in the lower parking lot. The launching facilities are in the upper parking lot.

Please arrive early and be on the water, ready to depart on time. The current on these Fall tides is substantial, so the launch time depends on being able to ride the tide both ways.

This is a chance for all kayakers to give a little something back to the waterways we all enjoy so much.

There are often clumps of reeds that jam up in parts of the slough. In the past we have nearly always been able to bust through these clumps, but sometimes it is a little work, and there is the slight chance we will not get as far as we would like. But it is very slight. I am offering this in the interest of full disclosure, since on a past paddle someone was quite upset that we had to do a little bushwacking to continue up the slough.

Sloughkeepers will also provide wash hoses, but you can bring your own as well. A T-valve would be great. Plan on using the bathrooms at the lower parking lot at Alviso Marina--there is no place to get out for a bathroom stop along the way.