I’ve always wanted to spend the night on the boat in Emerald Bay—probably the most popular destination for boaters and sightseers at Lake Tahoe—and on Friday, August 12, Debbie and I went for it. We got up to Tahoe City Marina quite early, then motored our way the 14.8 miles down the lake to the entrance to Emerald Bay, taking exactly three hours to get there. A narrow channel marked by red and green buoys shows the relatively narrow entrance to the bay, as there is sort of a “sandbar” at the mouth of the cove. The water depth plunges to more than 100 feet within a few minutes of entering the bay.

The day we went was quite busy, with everything from personal watercraft to paddle-wheelers plying the waters around Fannette Island and stopping over at Vikingsholm. We slowly toured the bay, then decided to get a buoy for the night at the boat camping park on the north shore of the bay. We tied up at the dock by the buoy field, and I hiked up to the park host’s campsite and plunked down $35 for the last buoy available for that night. When I walked back down to the dock, Debbie was chatting with some campers who’d walked down to admire Splendido. Catalinas are so popular, it seems everyone we meet has owned a Catalina 22 or bigger at one time or another. We motored over to the buoy, double-tied to it (I didn’t want to lose a wink of sleep on this boat-camping trip), grilled a couple of steaks, and sat out in the cockpit as the light dimmed, admiring the rising moon and the surrounding beauty.

The next morning, Debbie woke up with a head-cold, and high winds were forecast for later in the day, so I figured we should get a n early start and head back up north. After a beautiful early-morning motor past D.L. Bliss and Rubicon Bay, the engine started running rough, and eventually quit. Fortunately, a light breeze showed up, so we sailed the rest of the way back to Tahoe City. I called ahead and asked for the buoy-boat to help us get on the hook. The wind died completely when we were 75 yards from the buoy, so young Addison threw us a line and tugged us over to the buoy. The engine problem was quickly resolved: clogged fuel filters, which I swapped out the following day. She fired right up and purred like a kitten, much to my relief.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

When I first moved to Northern Nevada in 1987, one of the first places I discovered was Hidden Beach near Incline Village at Lake Tahoe. Back in the day, Hidden Beach was a favorite spot for au naturel sunbathers, which is one of those things that you think is pretty cool at first and then get used to after about 15 minutes. (“Look! There’s another one!” gets played out pretty quickly.) In the drought years of the late 1980s, my friends and I would swim literally for hours without stopping, because the water was noticeably warmer than it seems to be today. Over the years, though, Hidden Beach became a little less hidden (you can’t help but notice its Caribbean-colored waters from nearby Hwy 28 on the way to Sand Harbor), and frequented by throngs who make the trek from the south end of Incline Village, where there’s some parking, along the guardrail about ¼ mile or more down to the sands of this relaxing little cove. Today, the Parks folks have installed restroom facilities and even a staircase leading down to the beach, so it’s more accessible than ever. On Sunday, August 7^th, Debbie and I decided to motor Splendido over to Hidden Beach on a windless morning to check it out and maybe go for a swim. Tahoe was placid and gorgeous on the way over, and we got a kick out of watching the depth meter go from 20 feet to a blinking “bottomlessness” as we crossed the state line off of the point where Crystal Bay begins and the water color changes from emerald-blue to blue-black.

When we pulled in to the cove, there were five or six other boats already anchored or pulled up on the beach, so we kept to the west side of the cove and anchored near a Catalina 30. I immediately dove in for a swim, while Debbie relaxed on the foredeck with a glass of wine. After not too long, the owner of a wakeboarding boat that was pulled up on the beach decided it was time to crank up Billy Idol’s White Wedding for the enjoyment of everyone within a 1/2 mile. Luckily, someone asked him to turn it down, so we were able to hang out for an hour or so before the wind began to kick up and we felt the pull to get out and sail. Breezes on the way back were in the 15-20 mph range, with pretty decent swells on the east side of the lake, making for a more “sea-going” experience than our earlier sails along the west shore. Splendido handled it all beautifully, and we got back to Tahoe City Marina  around 7:30 p.m.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB