2018 04-25 Big Sur Coastline
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We spent about 3 hours atop our favorite cliff overlooking the nearshore giant kelp beds and waves crashing against the rocks. There was a mostly overcast sky that permitted some warm sun to sucker you into thinking it was going to be a sunny day soon. One large red-tailed hawk and about a dozen turkey vultures rose up from beneath our feet and rode the updraft until they disappeared into the forested mountains behind us.
This spot is our cow-calf gray whale northbound migration lookout spot. There are lots of these pull-outs along the coast here. We like this one because it is spacious and also allows an unrestricted view to the south…so we can see them coming. Highway One was closed last year due to slides, and is still not open all the way through to Piedras Blancas and San Simeon…but it is open through the Big Sur parks and quite a ways to the south. Two years ago we got some great aerial photos of grays in the giant kelp.
This year we had 3 whales each for the first two hours. Each hour had one cow-calf pair and one solo juvenile whale. Each cow-calf pair moved along the edge of the kelp and the solo whales were slightly further offshore. The third hour had no whales, but a small pod of about a dozen inshore bottlenose dolphins moved through the giant kelp from north to south, and Sue spotted a small school of Risso’s dolphins were seen racing along further out.
A lot of plant life has grown up between the edge of the turn-out parking lot that was not so tall two years ago. We worked around it and still got some nice shots. Oh, and out of the corner of my eye, a peregrine falcon zoomed by so fast it was unphotographable, but it was carrying its prey…a swallow.
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Read MoreWe spent about 3 hours atop our favorite cliff overlooking the nearshore giant kelp beds and waves crashing against the rocks. There was a mostly overcast sky that permitted some warm sun to sucker you into thinking it was going to be a sunny day soon. One large red-tailed hawk and about a dozen turkey vultures rose up from beneath our feet and rode the updraft until they disappeared into the forested mountains behind us.
This spot is our cow-calf gray whale northbound migration lookout spot. There are lots of these pull-outs along the coast here. We like this one because it is spacious and also allows an unrestricted view to the south…so we can see them coming. Highway One was closed last year due to slides, and is still not open all the way through to Piedras Blancas and San Simeon…but it is open through the Big Sur parks and quite a ways to the south. Two years ago we got some great aerial photos of grays in the giant kelp.
This year we had 3 whales each for the first two hours. Each hour had one cow-calf pair and one solo juvenile whale. Each cow-calf pair moved along the edge of the kelp and the solo whales were slightly further offshore. The third hour had no whales, but a small pod of about a dozen inshore bottlenose dolphins moved through the giant kelp from north to south, and Sue spotted a small school of Risso’s dolphins were seen racing along further out.
A lot of plant life has grown up between the edge of the turn-out parking lot that was not so tall two years ago. We worked around it and still got some nice shots. Oh, and out of the corner of my eye, a peregrine falcon zoomed by so fast it was unphotographable, but it was carrying its prey…a swallow.
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