Fun Day In Morro Bay!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Quick post this morning before we move on... The Morro Dunes RV Park is costing us $44 a night to stay, so even though we are enjoying the location, we are moving on. In two nights we will be staying with our friends Teresa and Bruce Archer in Santa Paula, so we will move down the coast a bit to Montana de Oro State Park for now, and enjoy the beach some more.

Yesterday I morning Greg biked to ACE Hardware to get a few odds and ends we needed. I concentrated on laundry, and we both took advantage of the showers, after our dry camping in Big Sur! After the chores were done, we walked to the beach, past Morro Rock and down the walkway along the harbor to the Embarcadero. We had a beautiful walk, a great lunch at Blue Sky Cafe, (thanks for the tip, Teresa!), and looked at the sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, brown pelicans, and various other sea birds that were new to us.

We browsed the shops on the way back, and enjoyed the sunshine and wind, not breeze! When we got back to our stretch of beach someone was riding up and down in a sort of non-motorized go cart that was being pulled by a huge kite. We didn't know what the contraption was called, but I'm sure it has a name and it looked fun!

I'll post this quickly before we leave and head south! Enjoy a few pictures of Morro Bay!

The Endangered Day

Monday, February 25, 2013

We packed up to leave the perfect campsite view of Big Sur. (Sigh...) It was time to get connected. No cellphone or internet the whole time in Pinnacles and Big Sur left us needing to connect and check things. When you have no “stix and brix”, as RVer's call houses, you need the internet and phones to communicate with family, pay bills, and find out if the outside world still exists! We also needed some utility connections to recharge all our electronics, dump tanks, get water, shower and do some laundry. We talked with Doug the camphost we got to know during our time at Kirk Creek campground. He and his wife expect to host for the next few summers at Turquoise Lake in Colorado. First they will do some traveling. Doug was a real estate broker of mountain properties in Colorado. They had a two story penthouse in Denver across from the stadium. The stress of his life was taking a toll on their physical and mental health, so they sold out, bought a truck and trailer and have spent the last six months in Big Sur as camphosts. They still have a home in the Breckenridge ski resort that they rent out. He and Greg were encouraged by finding someone else who left the corporate world before actual retirement age.

We waved goodbye and headed south, driving past Sand Dollar Beach and further down the coast. The views were still breathtaking and the road got twistier. Eventually the cliffs began to flatten out and there were more sandy beaches. Hearst Castle appeared off the beach on a high hill. It really does look like a castle. After glimpsing the packed parking lot and checking on line, we finally got connected again, we decided not to pay $25 a piece for a partial tour. It was $50 to $75 a piece if we wanted to see the majority of the castle.

Shortly past the castle we began to glimpse large oval “rocks” all over the beaches. Then we came upon two busy parking lots with lots of cars and people coming and going. Oh, my, the rocks were seals sunning themselves. But huge seals! We pulled in to a parking lot and jumped out into the glorious weather. Upper 50's, slight breeze and intense sun. We walked down the railed walkways along the beach. Just below us were hundreds of endangered Elephant Seals basking in the sun. They were the Piedras Blancas colony of over 15,000. Elephant seals were thought to be extinct having been hunted to death for their oil. A small colony was found on Guadaloupe Island in Mexico and now they have spread up and down the Pacific coast. This colony began in 1990 when a dozen of them were spotted on this beach.

There are placards with information and volunteer docents wandering among the crowd to answer questions. The beach was filled with huge 14-16' long males, (they reach 5,400 pounds!), with long droopy snouts, females, and newly weaned babies. A few were in the water, but the rest were lounging about and using their flippers to toss sand on their backs to cool themselves off. The noises were outrageous! The baby males start to make loud aggressive sounds even when they are tiny, as if they just want to hear themselves. The females were mostly patient as the newly weaned babies still tried to nurse. Sometimes they smacked them with a fin. The males would occasionally lift their heads and bellow. A variety of strange sounds came out of all the seals.

One baby decided to go down to the water to cool off and got close to a male that was lounging in shallow water. When the mother started to go after it, four males came “racing” over and threatened her until she went back to her previous spot and acted subservient. They all left the baby alone. We also observed four males fight and bite each others necks while rearing back their heads and bellowing. A fifth male kept a close eye on them. He looked much older, and had a bleeding gash on his back.

On another section of beach a large male decided to get in the water and steamrolled over a baby that was in his way. We watched as the baby lay still and them moved its flippers, but didn't leave that spot. We don't know if it was hurt. Then another male decided he was ready to mate. Had charged a female and pinned her down. We were watching “seal sex” from 30 feet away! No graphic details here. You can watch a nature documentary. I'll just tell you that she was not happy. She kept trying to get away and making noises that sounded like a weed wacker or a chainsaw starting! He didn't make much noise. He was too busy trying to fulfill his biological imperative! When he was done he “spooned” with her with a big fin lying on her middle. She kept squirming to get away and mostly freed herself. Apparently the life of a female Elephant Seal is tough. They spend their whole lives either pregnant or nursing. As soon as their baby is weaned they are impregnated again.

After all that drama we went back to the RV and had lunch. We checked out campsites on-line and decided to go to Morro Bay, a little farther south down the coast. It has a lovely large bay dominated by Morro Rock, an eroded volcanic plug. It is now a protected site, but was used as a quarry in the past, and is smaller because of that. We found a campsite in a private RV park with all the amenities right across from the beach. We walk past the trailer next to us, go through the gated fence and cross the street to the beach.

After getting the RV hooked up, we took a walk on the beach and over to Morro Rock. We met a young man who had a receiver set up on his camera and was looking for tagged sea otters in the harbor. They are a listed endangered species. We saw three swimming in the harbor. We walked around to the south side of the Rock and found a placard with information about endangered Peregrine Falcons. It said that they nest in the cliff above us. After observing for a few minutes we spotted a nest and a falcon flew out of it to another part of the Rock. Three endangered species in one day!

We came back to the RV and relaxed before dinner. I had a good phone call with my mother and Greg read. After dinner and some TV time to catch up on the news, (heading for the fiscal cliff again... maybe we were better off without TV!), we called it a night.

Tuesday morning- Greg is off for a bike ride. He is going to check out a beach bike path that he found and will also ride for a while on the hard packed beach. I am catching up the blog and looking at Morro Rock out my window. If I stand up and look out, I can see the ocean over the campground's stockade fence. While he is gone, I am going to take advantage of the showers and laundry. The camper needs a good cleaning, but it is hard to get motivated with a beach across the street! 

 

 

 

Water and Whales

Sunday, February 24, 2013

We awoke at 3:15 am and looked out the window. The moon was over the Pacific and illuminating it, a long glistening ribbon reaching from the horizon to the shore! We went back to sleep and awoke again to a clear, windless morning. After having breakfast and stowing the gear, we decided that we would go exploring and probably come back in the afternoon and see if we could get a site. We saw Doug the camphost as we were leaving and said that we were going to Sand Dollar Beach and would probably be back. He said that if we thought we wanted to come back, that the two best sites had just opened up and we should sign up for one before we go. He said otherwise he expected that they would be gone in the next few minutes. We drove to the first one, site 8, took one look at it and filled out the sign in form. It had a view down the coast the opposite direction from last night's site. There was a large grassy lawn stretching to the edge of the bluff and we could sit on our own little stretch of real estate and gaze at the ocean.

We dropped off the form and headed south down the coast a short way to the next forest service campground, the one we were headed to yesterday when we impulsively turned into Kirk Creek. It was a very nice campground with grass and large trees, but it wasn't on the ocean. We pulled up to a water spigot and filled up our tank and a five gallon jug. Then we drove across the highway to Sand Dollar Beach. The first path took us down to an overlook and then down more stairs to a cove with a beach. The tide was up so we were unable to get to the sand. We tried to walk along the base of the bluff to the larger sandy beach, but decided we didn't want to chance soaking our boots, and more. So back up a large flight of wooden stairs we went. At the top we took another trail that took us to another overlook of the large sandy beach, but no beach access. We could see someone fishing down there, but didn't see an established path. We were joined by a surfer who told us about an undeveloped path down the bluff, so we found it and ambled down the steep narrow path to the beach. A few other people found their way down, but it was uncrowded and we spent some time walking in the sand and inspecting the rocks at the base of the cliff. We found several pieces of jade. Jade beach was just around the cliff in the next cove. The waves were calming, the wind died down, the sun was glorious and not a cloud was in the sky. We took off our jackets and soaked it all up!

Climbing back up, we discussed lunch. Normally we would have eaten in the RV, but we had the best campsite on the coast waiting for us, so we got back in the RV. First we drove a bit farther south to a small settlement, named Gorda, to see if we could get cellphone signals. Not a chance. We would spend yet another day and night off the grid. Back at the campground, we spread our lunch on the picnic table with the amazing view. After lunch we took our camp chairs and set them up on our lawn overlooking the sea. Greg read, I sketched and in between time we took the binoculars and looked for whales. The Grey whales and their babies are migrating up from the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, where the babies were born. We could see their spouts and an occasional whale back in the water. Usually their were two spouts next to each other as the mother and baby surfaced together. Late in the afternoon we saw a school of dolphins. Greg took a walk up the mountain behind us while I enjoyed the view. We sat together on our lawn as the sun set and hoped for a green flash. We didn't see one, but it was fun to be able to see the huge glowing orb of sun quickly slide into the sea leaving a citrusy glow along the horizon. The temperature dropped quickly and we went inside to fix our dinner.

The full moon is up as I write this, casting shadows across the campground. I can hear the crashing of the surf below us. We hate to leave tomorrow, but we feel that we need to check our cellphone messages and e-mails. We will need more water, and we are out of lamp oil. We still have plenty of food, so we are better off than when we were off the grid at Big Bend National Park in Texas. Plus, I want to post about all our adventures!

The Best Campsite View Ever!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

After a quick visit to the Big Sur River across from our campsite, Greg did the usual filling of water and dumping of tanks. I took a few moments to wander among the Redwoods. The morning was cool, but the bright sunlight filtered through the tree branches and warmed the woods. I had a chance to appreciate their girth and strength in a way that I missed with the Sequoias. Greg finished up and we drove to the ranger station and dropped off our pass. The ranger told us that we had free admission to the other California state parks for the day since we had paid to camp there. He recommended Julia Pfieffer State Park a short drive down the PCH.

After several stops to admire the view and to give Greg a chance to appreciate it as the driver on the narrow twisty road, we reached the park. After a bit of tricky parking, the lots are not set up for much but cars, we took the trail to the overlook. It went through a tunnel under the road, and then along the side of the cliff. The view was down into a gorgeous cove that had a waterfall cascading over the cliff. As we rounded the corner we saw the foundation of the house built by the original donor of the property. The gardens and plantings are still growing there, and the view the owners had of the waterfall and the Pacific. The wind was strong and the temperature in the upper 50's, but the skies were clear with a small fogbank off the coast, so we had some warming. I overheard a woman say to another that she was looking for a sea otter to photograph. She said, “You got the condor.” Oh, boy, I didn't have the heart to burst her bubble. There were plenty of turkey vultures overhead, but no condors.

We hiked along the cliff to the other side of the cove and could look directly out to the ocean. This whole stretch of coast is a sanctuary for endangered sea otters. After looking through the binoculars for a while we saw one. He was lying on his back eating, while a seagull floated nearby waiting for some scraps. We looked for gray whales as well, as they migrate along the coast this time of year, but the whitecaps were so high from the wind, there was no chance to see them, nor seals.

After lunch in the RV we drove south again. We were heading for a national forest campground a little farther down the coast where we could get access the beach. I made Greg stop once when I thought I saw whales, but it was only kelp beds. Another time we stopped to see a field of California poppies blooming below the road. We reached a construction zone we had to stop for while the traffic filed down to one lane. They are building a covered roadway and bridge in a landslide prone area. As we came around the bend after the construction we saw a trailer on a bluff over the ocean. We figured it must be the first forest service campground that we were going to pass by because it had no water. Greg suggested we just drive in and check it out before we went on.

The Kirk Creek Forest Service campground is a small one with maybe 30 sites. No hookups, no water, no flush toilets or showers, just the most spectacular view for a campsite you can imagine! We drove through and noticed that there were only a few sites left by mid afternoon. Our RV was just small enough to fit the spaces. We decided to drive no further and grab the best site we could. We found one looking out over the curve in the coast to the north. There is just a tent to the side across the road, and the rest of the campers are on a lower loop. I would call it a million dollar view, but given the real estate prices here, lets say a multi-million dollar view! For $22 dollars a night, if we can get some more water tomorrow, we'll stay another night. It is spectacular!

We found a trail to the water and hiked down. After climbing on the rocks a bit we got near the water line and explored the tidal pools. We found snails, limpets, sea anemones, hermit crabs, birds and kelp and seaweed. We looked for more otters, whales and seals, but didn't see any. Maybe tomorrow. We came back up the trail and walked around the campground. We had a good conversation with the camphost. He just retired at 59 from real estate and he and his wife and dog have been hosting there for the last six months. He gave us tips on where to get water so we can stay longer.

We walked back to our site, got out our chairs and just sat and soaked up the view and considered ourselves so blessed and fortunate. We looked for whales and watched the sun go down. There was no green flash tonight like you see in the tropics, but our host says he sees it fairly often. Tonight there was a fogbank off the coast. Maybe we'll see it tomorrow night. We are hoping the weather holds. This is spectacular weather for the winter along this coast.

We went inside and fixed dinner using as little water as possible. We've got half a tank left to use until we can find more water tomorrow. We also need to find someplace to buy more oil for our lamp. We are using it in the campgrounds where we have no electrical hookups. It is soft and relaxing to eat dinner with the glow of the lamp. I am using it to light the table while I type this post, but I need the headlamp to illuminate the keyboard. I hunt and peck, so I need to see the letters! I can word process on the battery, but have no internet connection or phone service to post anything. If we stay another night, it will be a while until I can send out the last several posts.

Before bedtime we took a walk around the campground. The moon is almost full and was illuminating everything. There are lots of tent campers and young people here. Many were having large campfires. We could hear the waves crashing on the rocks below us. The moon was so bright that we could see the hills behind us and the horizon of the sea. Some people say that heaven for them is a beach on a tropical island. I think heaven for me will be a rocky seacoast. I'm having a bit of heaven now...