A BIG sandbar has closed the Gualala River to the Pacific Ocean for months. Of course the river seeps through the sandbar, but much of the water backs up in the lagoon. Steelhead and other fish that were trapped in the river can now enter their next stage of life. I went by to check the river Thursday around noon and this is what I saw - a closed but very full river!

Others reported the river breached the sandbar at 4:45 p.m. and I went early on Friday to check it out. Here's what I saw.

A friend joined me, Vicki Robinson, and she asked, "Is that a Bald Eagle?" Sure enough, an adult Bald Eagle was on the sandbar to the left of the new opening - was she watching the newly opened river? ha, she was probably looking for a tasty fish.

Here's a video I took:

Open Gualala River 11.14.25 by Jeanne A Jackson

It was a gentle opening this year. Here's what Dave Jordan wrote on Friends of Gualala River's website: "The river mouth started to breach around at 5 pm Thursday, on a rising high tide, which equalizes tide and lagoon water levels quickly, minimizing the gradient and energy . . . quiet breach conditions. It’s the low tide breaches that are like dramatic dam bursts. Surely the fish were satisfied with the relatively low-turbulence but turbid breach."

To learn much more about the Gualala River, here is the website for FoGR: https://gualalariver.org/

On their website home page is an up-to-date weather report, a feature that might come in handy for some of you.

It's sunny and warm today - 74 degrees - but the barometer is low and falling. Another storm is headed our way for tomorrow.