Russian River: The Russian River is idyllic for both paddle boarding, kayaking and canoeing. With its slow-moving waters, provides an excellent opportunity for beginners and endless scenery and a bounty of birds and wildlife on your waterway journey. Lake Sonoma: Lake Sonoma offers paddle-boarding and canoeing in an exquisite setting with calm waters and stunning mountain views. Bodega Bay: offers ocean kayaking with varied marine wildlife: seals, sea lions, and otters. Tomales Bay: Calmer waters than Bodega, this oceanic microcosm is appropriate for all levels of kayakers with more options for birds than Bodega all the same type of water mammals.