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My Destination
Among other unique features, Santa Barbara is home to some oil deposits. In ancient days, there were warm shallow seas along the coast. The soft parts of ancient plankton settled to the bottom. Heat, time, and pressure converted these little critters into oil. We have quite a bit of oil exploration off the coast. In many of my photos, in fact, you can see Platform Holly.
One of the charms of living near oil-rich waters is the natural seeps that occur. Oil and tar leak out of the ocean floor and is often washed up onto the beach. Here you see a rock on which the tar has draped itself over the years. That is wild mustard on the hill behind.
Of course, a walk on this beach leads to the inevitable:
The housekeepers used to keep a good supply of tar remover solution stocked in the UCSB dorm bathrooms. These days, a little baby oil does the trick.
The Chumash Indians used the tar to make their canoes (tomols) and baskets water tight.
Some of the other treasures of my walk:
Brown Pelicans were recently nominated to be removed from the Endangered Species List. You'd never have known they were listed...as you can see, they are plentiful here!
I saw a couple of these pretty snail shells.....they are about 6 inches across at the base. I'm not sure what they are; I couldn't identify them with my Seashore Field Guide. It is a top snail of some sort!
It was low-tide, but I didn't stop to tidepool. Coal Oil Point is a great place to tidepool. It was one of the spring field-trip destinations in Mrs. Winn's Kindergarten class.
I did spot some surfers. This is another favorite spot of Kevin's.
After my walk, I went and had my favey potato taquitos for lunch! It was a good Friday! (a-har-har; it was Good Friday!)
One of the charms of living near oil-rich waters is the natural seeps that occur. Oil and tar leak out of the ocean floor and is often washed up onto the beach. Here you see a rock on which the tar has draped itself over the years. That is wild mustard on the hill behind.
Of course, a walk on this beach leads to the inevitable:
Izzy becomes a Tar Heel.
The housekeepers used to keep a good supply of tar remover solution stocked in the UCSB dorm bathrooms. These days, a little baby oil does the trick.
The Chumash Indians used the tar to make their canoes (tomols) and baskets water tight.
Some of the other treasures of my walk:
Sand Pipers Piping
Brown Pelicans were recently nominated to be removed from the Endangered Species List. You'd never have known they were listed...as you can see, they are plentiful here!
I saw a couple of these pretty snail shells.....they are about 6 inches across at the base. I'm not sure what they are; I couldn't identify them with my Seashore Field Guide. It is a top snail of some sort!
It was low-tide, but I didn't stop to tidepool. Coal Oil Point is a great place to tidepool. It was one of the spring field-trip destinations in Mrs. Winn's Kindergarten class.
I did spot some surfers. This is another favorite spot of Kevin's.
If you can see little black dots, those are surfers.
After my walk, I went and had my favey potato taquitos for lunch! It was a good Friday! (a-har-har; it was Good Friday!)
3 comments:
What a beautiful and informative travelogue! Some day I hope you can take me on such a hike! The ocean is really fascinating.
Thanks for the kind words, mmeutsler! It is nice to know that you liked it.
I'll take you there anytime!!
I need to get to the ocean to take a stroll some time. But it's so far away. I'll just have to take my quiet walks on the beach vicariously for now.
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