For years I've heard the saying "out in the tule's" which means in the middle of nowhere. Today, I really learned the true meaning. It turns out a tule is "a large bullrush that is abundant in marshy areas of California." We are truly in the tule's. In fact, we are anchored directly in the tule's.

This morning we left the new friends that we had made in Pittsburg and headed up the San Joachim river towards Stockton. For the first 10 miles heavy industry was everywhere. Steel plants, electric plants, coke (for steel) plants, and more. I felt quite stressed piloting the boat up the channel with so much going on. Of course, full size freighters also use this narrow channel so at any moment I could be called on to get the hell of the way. Today, no freighters, yeah!

Eventually, the heavy industry thinned and disappeared leaving both sides of the channel lined with farms. The funny thing is, however, you can hardly see the farms because they are below you. This is all reclaimed land with high levees. Beyond the levee, the farms were 10-20' below the level we were at.

We wound our way westward, dodging large floating islands of water hyacinth and eventually turned off onto an even smaller channel leading to Potato Slough, locally called the bedrooms. This is one of the favourite anchorages in the Delta. What you have here is a meandering channel between rock levees with a few tule & palm tree islands in the middle. Because there is always a strong West wind, the East side of these islands are great anchorages. There are three islands in this slough, creatively named bedroom #1, #2, and #3. Who would have thought...

Bedroom #1 was full of boats that looked like they were there for the season. We moved onto bedroom #2 which was empty. Now, anchoring here is quite different than at home in BC. The first thing to know is that it is all very shallow - a keelboat has limited options. Not much of a problem for our cat we draw less than 4'. The second thing to know is that the wind always blows from the west without exception - that simplifys things quite a bit. Third, you anchor by ramming the shore, dropping your bow anchor in 1' of water, or on land, and then back off and setting a stern anchor. Of course, you can also set your stern anchor first and then ram the shore. Your choice! I wasn't exactly sure why I had to ram the shore, but because it is quite soft in the tule's it was an experience that we didn't want to miss. We rammed the shore very well - and softly. Backing off was a bit more of a challenge and I definitely "polished my props" a bit with all the mud I churned up. But, it did work very well and we are sitting with the bow just off the tule's, like the other boats.

Once we were settled, we notice that it was stinking hot, about 95F and were ready for a swim. It's a real bonus that we are well up river now and the water is completely fresh! We had a lovely swim with no need to rinse the salt off after.

The land around us is flat as pancake so this is definitely not Desolation Sound. But, its really warm, the water is clean and refreshing, and looking at reeds, palm trees, and tropical birds is quite a treat.

Tomorrow, dinghy excursions are on the agenda as we explore the counrtryside at high speed.