Kevin and I had a wonderful day of nature today. We are so thankful to live in such a beautiful place.
We went to Ellwood Beach and visited the monarchs. The docent that was there said the estimate was over 21,000 butterflies and more to come. They have a fascinating life. This is their wintering ground. It's amazing that three to four generations from these, they'll return next year. How do they do that?? Read about monarchs here.
Clumps of roosting butterflies in the eucalyptus trees.
Closer view of clumps
A little sun on this clump.
After enjoying the butterflies, we went to Coal Oil Point. We had a mega-low tide today at a perfect time: 3:30 in the afternoon. It was a -1.6 tide, which is about as low as it goes!
Here are shapes and critters.
A miniature geology lesson
Tracks. Crab? I don't know.
A surf crab.
In a few hours, the surf grass will be gracefully waving in the water.
Anemoneeville.
Self-portrait
A couple little hermit crabs.
A chiton
A big limpet
Kevin in one of his favorite spear fishing spots! He loves to wait for fish along this rock! It's a little different when it's high and dry!
A sea cucumber
A field of sea grass and many other tide-poolers enjoying the beautiful fall day
I love that you can have a gnarly mountain hike in the back-country one day and a relaxing time, soaking in the rays at the beach, the next day! It was a spectacularly beautiful weekend!
Here are pictures from the trailhead of my hike yesterday. It was down, down, down about 2.5 miles, and then --ulp!-- up, up, up again. Good hike. My buns feel it today!
We hiked down the north side, away from the ocean.
View of Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Channel and the Channel Islands.
View of the Dick Smith Wilderness
And today, beach day! It was fun to see some marine mammals. Here is a video of them. The first bit is of some dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).
They were very active and splashy. I think they were having a feeding
frenzy. I wish I had had my regular camera with me. But I took video on
my iPhone anyway. You can't see them very well, but I really enjoyed
watching them! You'll be able to recognize the species in the second
bit. And you can see the cruise ship that is parked nearby! Yay cruise ships!
We enjoyed splendid weather in early February! On two separate occassions, I got to walk on the beach with my pups and my kids. It is one of my favorite things to do here in Paradise!
They like to run!
Kibble found a deceased, decapitated seal. We examined its guts.
And after Kibble's love session with the body, she had to have a good bath. Thank goodness for Wripples Pet Spa!
Get. me. out. of. here.
(All the pictures below were taken by the resident photog.)
Getting there is half the fun!
Yay! Beach time!
If I could just get these open, I can haz sushi!
It was a wonderful low tide, so there was lots of nature to enjoy!
We met lots of doggie friends, including this guy and his stick.
