The adventure… part 19; Cruisin’ the crazy coast of California with your tour guide, Me!!!

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The adventure… part 18; We say goodbye to the Elephant Seals, and continue our way North…

Is that a battle cry, or a yawn?

Is that a nose scratch or a sunshade?

Nature is full of mysteries. For example, I said in an earlier post that the otters were cleaning themselves. My older daughter Jessica corrected me. They were actually spreading oil from a gland all over themselves to help insulate against the cold.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

You want a piece of me?

Come at me, Bro!

Whatever man.

Almost there… just a little farther…

Has anyone seen my moisturizing lotion?

And the battle rages on.

It is time to move on. We have seen a lot of animals, but now we will explore the coast of California.

As I drove North, I stopped at every viewpoint I could get to. Sometimes I didn’t even shut the door of the car, just got out and snapped a photo in each direction.

So goodbye, sleepy females and pups.

See you later, you not-big-enough-to-fight males.

And good luck, you aggressive, testosterone-laden magnificent male mammals.

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The adventure… part 17; Elephant Seals; it isn’t all just a giant seething cauldron of testosterone…

Sorry, I used almost that line in the last post, and I liked it, so I added it to this post’s title. But it isn’t… just a mass of battling bulls. Last years pups and the females are just sleeping on the beach, waiting to see who wins the battles.

It is a battle to pass on their genes, because a few winners will end up with huge harems, and the losers… well…

They get none of this action.

Those are young pups, but not too young.

I don’t know if it is called shedding… or molting… or whatever, but many are still sluffing off the old skin, now that the water is marginally warmer. Somebody should Google that.

And the fight goes on.

Leaving the ladies less than impressed.

The birds stay well out to sea.

I don’t know if those guys are just resting between fights or are too young to participate.

Because the younger males wisely stay out of the way.

And who can blame them?

Not me.

Not in the least.

Looking for a fight.

No doubt he will find one… or more.

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The adventure… part 16; Moving on to some more mammals…

I left Moro Bay early in the morning… so this would be the start of day 4 on that handy map I posted in an earlier post… heading North.

So we say goodbye to the adorable otters.

Look! I did get one shot of a mom with her pup on her tummy. That is a big pup, so probably from last year. A late bloomer, so to speak.

Bye, clean, sleepy little sea mammals.

Goodbye ground squirrels or whatever you are, although I saw many more on my adventure.

Goodbye Moro Bay, with your huge looming rock and triple smokestacks that I don’t think are making smoke anymore.

Goodbye, teeming flocks of seabirds.

Highway 1 veers inland for a short while, and I stopped to take some pictures, like this one of an old building.

And some of trees covered with Spanish Moss.

I like Spanish Moss.

Hello, Mr. Bull.

Then, we are back on the jagged Central California coast. There is one beach where the elephant seals breed. I always stop there when I do the much longer coast route.

I have no idea if this breeding season is already over and the bulls are just letting off residual energy and staying in practice, or are starting to fight for dominance.

But either way, that is one seething pool of testosterone right there.

Join me later as we get to know these fascinating creatures. I like them so much I even created a character in my sci-fi novel series that looks like them.

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The adventure… part 15; Moro Bay and some otters… part 3…

This is that video I promised you of that group of otters doing the synchronized cleaning routine after the synchronized napping part of the day.

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The adventure… part 14; Moro Bay and some otters… part 2…

This little otter is having lunch. I sort of fell in love with him… her…

He appears to be eating a scallop. Frankly, scallop, I don’t give a clam!

But what was really endearing about this otter…

Was the way that the gentle current was spinning him slowly around as he ate.

It was so cute.

Now, I know otters will put a flat rock on their tummies, and use it to crack open shellfish by banging them on the rock. What I didn’t know about otters is that they seem to be strangely synchronized. I saw this small raft of otters sleeping in the boat harbor. They were still there, sleeping, anchored by the seaweed, a few hours later after I had wandered around town taking more pictures.

Then, they woke up at the same time, and started cleaning. They started off scrubbing their faces.

Then they did their back feet.

Then they did their faces some more.

They have to keep that fur clean to insulate them from the cold water. They also did synchronized rolling around to get wet, before more cleaning. I think I have a video of that which I will share next.

Scrub-a-dub-dub.

Then they all went back to sleep.

Moro Bay is sort of magical. If you want to rent various types of boats and kayaks, they have you covered.

There is a lot of nature to see.

But in the morning, it was time to move along. Which we will do… right after I post that ottter video.

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The adventure… part 13; Moro Bay and some otters… part 1…

I love otters. My only regret is that this time I didn’t get to Moro Bay when all the pups were little. They sleep on their moms’ tummies, and when the waves gently rock them, it is the most adorable thing ever.

I used to think that they wrapped themselves in the kelp to keep warm. But I have a new theory, which I will share soon.

Moro Bay has this huge rock out on the end of a point. It looms over the whole area, and is covered with nesting sea birds of all types. For scale, you can see cars parked along the bottom front of the rock.

I mean that rock really looms.

Okay, my new idea is that the otters wrap themselves in the kelp to keep from drifting away from their friends while they sleep. It also probably hides them from sharks. Somebody should Google that.

Moro Bay is also where that crazy seagull kept swooping at my head, which is how I got three awesome pictures of it.

There are so many birds in Moro Bay that it has become a birding hotspot.

It is chock full of nature.

Let us pray!

I also took some of those flower pictures here.

Fancy lizard.

Boat dog.

But mostly, it is the otters.

Face washing time.

That guy is having a snack. More on that later. Oh, I also saw a cormorant bird dive down, and then come up beside an otter and peck it before darting away to dive again. Oh, nature.

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The adventure… part 12; Breaking it down…

For those of you unfamiliar with the coast of California, and because I am, as usual, not doing these specifically in chronological order, I will give a brief overview.

Day 1. Still in San Diego. Did that zoo experience and got to pet a zebra, feed flamingos, and feed a rhino…

Day 2. Spent all day near Los Angeles with my cousin and her husband and the three delightful little cousins. I ran out of pictures, so here is a random flower picture from the adventure…

Day 3. Up early, Met a miniature horse and had breakfast in the Danish town of Solvang, then on to Moro Bay, which is where all the otter photos were taken…

Day 4. Up early, traveling the coast going North. Stopped and got pictures of the elephant seals. I also pulled over at every scenic outlook and took photos, so this is where most of the wild cliff pictures are from. Had lunch in Big Sur in the redwoods. Reached Monterey…

Got up early, had some adventures, slipped on a slimly rock taking tidepool pictures and twisted both ankles and my right knee. Hey, nobody said adventurers were easy…

Moved on to the Bay Area, met some old friends, both expected and unexpected…

The rest. I spent a couple days in the Bay Area, and that covers the overview. Now we just need to finish up with all the photos and stories, but at least you will have an idea where it all took place.

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The adventure… part 11; Miles and miles of crazy cool California coastline…

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The adventure… part 10; Miles and miles of fabulous flowers…

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