Winter months bring surfers, bird watchers, seal pups and more...
by Nancy Barth

   More and more visitors each year come to Mendocino County during the "off season," the winter months from January to April.  Some are surfers who com to ride the big waves at Point Arena Cove or the gentle waves at Caspar Beach.  Others come to watch the tundra swans at Garcia River just north of Point Arena, or observe the seal pups at MacKerricher Beach.  Others enjoy the dramatic winter skies and seek solitude on beaches and headlands.

   During the winter, boats bring Dungeness Crab into Noyo Harbor and Point Arena Cove.  The 2004 Crab and Wine Days festival is scheduled for January 23 through February 1.  Crab fanciers can sign up for crab and wine cooking classes, crab and whale watching cruises, crabbing demonstrations and a crab cake cookoff with celebrity judges.

   During the winter, residents and visitors can often buy crab directly from fishermen in the Noyo Mooring Basin.  For a complete schedule of Crab and Wine Days, visit the web site: www.goMendo.com.

   By February, days are noticeably longer.  By mid-February, daffodils and calla lilies bloom along roadsides and in gardens.  These flowers were introduced by early settlers and may mark the sites of houses which no longer exist.

   Early in March, bright yellow mustard flowers bloom in the vineyards and native redbud blooms along inland roadsides.  Visitors to coastal redwood forests can find flowering trillium and calypso orchids.

   On April 1, sport abalone season reopens after a four month closure.  The weekend of April 3 and 4, and minus tides during the following week are certain to attract many visitors in search of the elusive mollusks.  Non-commercial abalone picking and diving is regulated by the Department of Fish and Game and limits are strictly enforced.

   Early April also attracts visitors on "spring break," and those who celebrate Passover, which is on April 11.  Local churches and synagogues welcome visitors to religious services.

   During April, wildflowers bloom on coastal headlands and in sand dunes.  Apples and pear blossoms appear in inland valleys.  Wild rhododendrons begin to bloom in coastal forests and cultivated rhododendrons of many colors can be seen in plant nurseries.  April is a wonderful time to visit the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens just south of Fort Bragg.  Here, visitors can seen many kinds of "rhodies," then buy a plant to take home.

   On the last weekend in April, wildflower lovers gather at the Boonville Fairgrounds for the annual wildflower show.  The variety and quality of the displays are truly impressive and all species are labeled.  Wildflower books and potted plants are available for sale.

   The flowering of April is nothing less than a wondrous change from the chilly, short days of January.

*Mendocino Travelers Guide, Spring 2004.  www.MendocinoGuide.com