Point Lobos

Yesterday, Sunday on the west coast of the US, Emily and Greg drove me down to my conference at Monterey, but we left early and took a detour south of Monterey to Carmel (whose mayor is Clint Eastwood!) and Point Lobos. The former was a good place for a cup of hot chocolate and a lemon slice, and the latter is a State Marine Reserve. US national parks often have an entry charge and yesterday was no exception. However, the superb coastline and its creatures were worth every cent. Further south is Big Sur, but we had to leave this hugely popular stretch of coast to another day. The first three pictures show some of the coastal scenery along with the intrepid explorers.

The next pictures show something of the scenery and the wildlife we saw. Much of the water was crystal clear, but some had kelp beds which I presumed were natural and I gathered concealed sea otters, which remined invisible to us. However, we could observe California sea-lions, Harbor seals, Brandt's Cormorants, dolphins in a pod 50+ strong, and, out to sea a km or two, the blowing of whales. There was also an elaborately constructed timber home of the Dusky-footed Woodrat, made by the animal concerned, but we could not tell if it was occupied. The rat is vegetarian by the way.

The middle shows rocks covered in sea-lions barking vigourously,and the top one has seals and sea-lions asleep.

Finally, we walked through one of only two groves of Monterey Cypress left in the world -  a lovely experience as shown by the remaining two photos.

AS