elephant seals

Hearst San Simeon State Park

There are getting to be lots of places to see elephant seals on the beaches in the right season, but many are closed except to pass through with a surf board. The official viewing site is atop a short bluff with a fence to keep the people rounded up. It allows surprisingly close up views all the same. We stopped on the way up the road to see them. They have thinned out from the peak, but there are still many females and juveniles relaxing under the sun.

A small bay full of elephant seals beside highway 1.

Lots of happy faces. They can still be fairly thick on the beach. The females do not have quite the same schnoz as the males.

I guess a tail can make a very comfortable chin rest.

Not so happy faces. Fighting, or maybe just bickering, breaks out a lot.

They have kept their fingernails to get that under the chin scratch that is sometimes so needed.

A flick of sand can tone down that sun.

Now there is the nose that gets them their name.

Snowy egrets on the rocks.

A pair play in the water.

Mark spotted another mammal out in the water.

They are alert and sometimes watching us right back.

Another cove with lots of elephant seals on the beach and swimming.

Piedras Blancas Lighthouse out past another beach of seals.

Cormorants on the rocks.

A close look at the tracks the elephant seals leave.

There are even more in the other direction.

Some of the elephant seals really like to curl their backs up.

More scratching.

They are currently molting.

They have some amazing whiskers.

One last pile of elephant seals before waving them good-bye.

It is possible to walk all the way to the lighthouse to the west on bluff paths. The more accessible travel is along the boardwalk to the southeast.




©2015 Valerie Norton
Posted 4 April 2015