Our Thanksgiving Walk
Posted by berkeleyscot on November 25, 2007
Before we dined on the Thanksgiving haggis, we walked, as we usually do on Holidays, at the Berkeley Marina.
This was the first time we had been there since 58,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Bay when a container ship ran into the Bay Bridge.
In many ways, it seemed a typical day at the Marina. The kite-flyers were there, joggers, people with their dogs and the wonderful mix of accents from people from all over the world, who were enjoying the clear, crisp day.
Someone had brought a Thanksgiving treat of peanuts in shells for the local ground squirrels, who were merrily nibbling and casting shells all over the rocks. They were squealing with delight.
The waters of the Bay sparkled and the pointy buildings of San Francisco were ‘over there.’
But there were remnants of the yellow ‘Off Limits’ tape and signs forbidding us and our animals to climb on the rocks or to get near to the water.
Aquatic birds were bobbing over an oil slick that was moving with the tide. We didn’t see any dead birds, but the beach and rocks had already been cleared.
There will be no local Dungeness crabs this season. A lost livelihood for the crab fishermen and others affected on our coast.
