Tomales Bay
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox body of water Tomales Bay is a long, narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States.
Geography
Tomales Bay is approximately Template:Cvt long and averages nearly Template:Cvt wide, with relatively shallow depths averaging 18 ft,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> effectively separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Marin County. It is located approximately Template:Cvt northwest of San Francisco. The bay forms the eastern boundary of Point Reyes National Seashore. Tomales Bay is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy.<ref name="swrcb">State Water Resources Control Board Water Quality Control Policy for the Enclosed Bays and Estuaries of California (1974) State of California</ref> On its northern end, it opens out onto Bodega Bay, which shelters it from the direct currents of the Pacific (especially the California Current). The bay is formed along a submerged portion of the San Andreas Fault. The fault divides the Point Reyes Peninsula through Tomales Bay in the north, and the Bolinas Lagoon in the south. The Bear Valley Visitor Center in Point Reyes Station is home to the Earthquake Trail, where visitors can see a visible rift formed on the fault during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>
Towns bordering Tomales Bay include Inverness, Tomales, Inverness Park, Point Reyes Station, and Marshall. Additional hamlets include Nick's Cove, Spengers, Duck Cove, Shallow Beach, and Vilicichs. Dillon Beach lies just to the north of the mouth of the bay, and Tomales just to the east.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Beaches
California State Parks department monitored, surf-free beaches on the bay include Heart's Desire, Shell Beach, Indian Beach, Pebble Beach, and Millerton Point. Most beaches require a hike-in, so if visiting, prepare with walkable shoes. Swimming, picnicking, sailing, kayaking, motorboating, and fishing are all popular activities on the bay.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Water sports, oystering, and fishing
Watercrafts may be launched on Tomales Bay from the public boat ramp at Nick's Cove, north of Marshall. The sandbar at the mouth of Tomales Bay is notoriously dangerous, with a long history of small-boat accidents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Oyster farming is a major industry on the bay. The two largest producers are Hog Island Oyster Company and Tomales Bay Oyster Company, both of which retail oysters to the public and have picnic grounds on the east shore. Hillsides east of Tomales Bay are grazed by cows belonging to local dairies. There is also grazing land west of the bay, on farms and ranches leased from Point Reyes National Seashore.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has developed a safe eating advisory for fish caught here, based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in local species.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Biology
The bay is home to many aquatic species, and its habitat diversity is supported by eelgrass beds and intertidal mudflats. In the bay’s waters, bony and cartilaginous fish species including halibut, coho salmon, bat rays and leopard sharks<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> can be found.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Along muddy parts of bay's shore, it is common to find the gastropods such as the invasive False Cerith snail, recognizable from its dextrally coiled shape and brown-gray pattern.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Coast Miwok
The area surrounding Tomales Bay was once the territory of the Coast Miwok tribe. Documented villages in the area included Echa-kolum (south of Marshall), Sakloki (opposite Tomales Point), Shotommo-wi (near the mouth of the Estero de San Antonio), and Utumia (near Tomales).<ref name="miwok">Template:Cite web</ref> The tribe's history is deeply rooted in the bay and its surrounding areas. Fishing and hunting supported their livelihood, and shells and clams collected from the bay's shore served as currency.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>
Francis Drake
Francis Drake is thought to have landed in nearby Drakes Estero in 1579.<ref name="CSP">Template:Cite web</ref> Members of the Vizcaíno Expedition found the Bay in 1603, and thinking it a river, named it Rio Grande de San Sebastian.<ref name=Durham>Template:Cite book</ref>
European settlements
Early 19th-century settlements constituted the southernmost Russian colony in North America and were spread over an area stretching from Point Arena to Tomales Bay.<ref name="Historical Atlas of California">Historical Atlas of California</ref>
Railroad
The narrow gauge North Pacific Coast Railroad from Sausalito was constructed along the east side of the bay in 1874 and extended to the Russian River until it was dismantled in 1930.<ref>Dickson, A. Bray Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods (1974) Trans-Anglo Books Template:ISBN</ref>
Preservation efforts
Tomales Bay State Park was formed to preserve some of the bay shore; it opened to the public in 1952.<ref name="CSP" />
The Ramsar Convention, signed in 1971, listed Tomales Bay as a wetland of international importance.
The Giacomini Wetland Restoration Project, completed in 2008, returned to wetland several hundred acres at the south end of the bay that had been drained for grazing in the 1940s.
Lodge at Marconi
The Marconi State Historical Park (formerly Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park) preserves a small hotel built in 1913 by Guglielmo Marconi to house personnel who staffed his transpacific radio station nearby. RCA purchased the station from Marconi in 1920, and it closed in 1939, though other nearby radio stations on the Point Reyes Peninsula still operate today. It was purchased and used by the controversial new religious movement Synanon in 1964, and given to the state in 1984 to operate as a conference center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Gallery
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View of Tomales Bay towards the north
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Tomales Bay near Marshall, California, looking south
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Entrance to Tomales Bay as viewed from Tomales Point, looking south
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The former grade of the narrow gauge North Pacific Coast Railroad follows the east shore of the bay.The former grade of the narrow gauge North Pacific Coast Railroad follows the east shore of the bay.
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Satellite picture of Tomales Bay
See also
- Hog Island (Tomales Bay)
- Drakes Bay — adjacent to the south
- Nova Albion
- Pacific herring
References
External links
Template:SF Bay Area Template:WestMarin Template:Ramsar sites in the United States Template:Authority control