Lake Martinez

 

The view from Wes' deck

The Crew

Ann and I owe Wes and Audrey a lot. That's why we made it a priority to meet them and further over-extend our hospitality tab. This is the first time we met Carly. She is awesome, too.

We also met UltraBabe and her husband, James. They are outstanding people and a lot of fun. They, along with Wes and Audrey, treated us to a fantastic boat tour of Martinez.

Scouter and his wife stopped by on Saturday night. I think Scouter was concerned we were Russian political officers, there to re-educate the community.  He was nice to us, despite his concerns. Don't believe everything you read, Scouter. Our views probably don't differ by nearly as much as you think.

A particularly interesting social phenomenon is UltraDog, Molly. She's a beautiful dog with unabaited energy for playing and socializing. Molly's coolest social tick is backing into you so you can dig your fingers into her back side, at which point she will repeatedly jump with her rear legs to initialize a scratching sequence. She sort of meets you half way, on the rump scratch deal.

This is how I define love: Wes and Audry sharing a lip balm

Lake Martinez

“Swamp” has always had negative connotations to me. So begins the education of my ignorance.

Lake Martinez is a swamp. Wes took us down the crooked finger of a swampy area with broad leafed overgrowth brushing the boat gunnels and our arms, while leaving a coffee colored, sediment rich, prop wash in the otherwise crystal clear water. It was a swamp that Disney would design: fun, exciting, silty fine sand bottom, and unquestionably beautiful.

I would love to explore every one of those mystery fingers and coves with a small outboard boat. Perhaps something like a 12' mini-Daytona.

Ride to the sandbar with Mel and James following

Martinez is the Colorado River. In all the years I've been reading about the river, I never understood it. Not really. Standing around on a sand bar, drinking beer? What's so great about that? Ann and I left the sandbar wishing we could spend every weekend there, for the rest of our lives.

I've never been so completely teleported to an alternate time and reality before. An hour on the sandbar seems like less than ten minutes. Dogs playing in the water to keep cool. Tiny children relentlessly smashing twigs into inch deep water so they can watch patterns of swirling sand. Adult strangers approach, with demeanor as relaxed as Stephen Hawking on quaaludes, to engage in conversation as though you have been life long friends. Heaven.

There are plenty of gorgeous properties on Martinez

Martinez is a lake. We explored this aspect of Martinez the least, although we did cruise through a portion of it. The lake portion of Martinez is awesome.

I estimate river water temperature in the mid to upper 90*F range. On the sandbar, where water has washed over the shore into small, shallow, depressions in the sand, water temperature is probably mid 100*F or higher. It was so hot, we had to ease into it.

Mel and James on a fly by

I've never had a more diverse boating experience than Lake Martinez. Everything is there and all of it is terrific. We were so far under the Martinez spell, we took very few pictures.  While this is a bit of a shame, our memories of the experience are intoxicating.

Ann and I are very thankful to everyone who spent time with us at Martinez.  Thank you!