It was
another gorgeous sunny morning, honestly whoever says you get tired of constant
sunshine has never lived in England in the winter!!
Our first
stop was at a viewpoint over looking Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, it’s a lovely
spot. Guided tours of the lighthouse
are available.
A little
further along we saw a sign for the elephant seal viewing area, they are
beautiful animals.
We thought
they were huge and that the beach was
pretty full. One of the volunteers told
us they were juveniles and that come December the huge males would arrive and it
would be so crowded you wouldn’t be able to see the sand on the beach. They were pretty noisy but again when the
huge males arrived it’d be even noiser.
This
colony of elephant seals didn’t exist before 1990 and since then it’s bloomed
and now the population is more than 15,000.
There is a boardwalk to keep people off the beach so the seals and the
people are safe. As while the seals probably
wouldn’t hurt you, if they decide you're a threat they move fast and have
teeth!
Some
juveniles play fighting, well at least I think they’re play fighting!
You can
find out more about the seals at http://www.elephantseal.org and they also have a
webcam.
We were
amazed at the amount of pampas grass that grows in places all along the Pacific
Coast Highway.
It’s easy
to see the work that must go into maintaining the road.
In the
cove behind the tree ‘chair’ boats were hauled up the cliff face to keep them
clear of the surf. DB wanted me to climb
up on this ‘chair’ for a photograph, I declined as climbing up wasn’t a
problem, but one slip climbing down……..
We stopped
at Mill Beach Picnic area and watched the surf for a while.
As we’d
driven along earlier in the day sea mist was drawing back from the coast, in
places we could see it still lingering just off shore.
At another
viewpoint, surfers were taking advantage of the waves.
On our way
back we stopped at San Simeon, watched the surf, meandered along the beach,
and walked
to the end of the pier where we took this photograph of Hearst Castle, but
that’s whole other story.
Have fun,
we are!
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