On Saturday Sam and I decided to get out one last time before the fury of finals week approaches. We went back to Point Dume, all the wiser on where to drive/park/walk this time. We walked up around the point first, pausing to take some photos in a small cave.
Leaping into the light.
While at the cave we could hear the loud bellowing of sea lions, but couldn’t see them. We assumed they were frolicking in the sea somewhere out around the rocks.
After a few hits and misses we found the stairway to the beach on the south side of the point. This area is seen on the right in this photograph:
After making it down there we found a whole new world of crabs, muscles, bollusks and snails scurrying around the black rocks from the dormant volcano/s. There was a high surf warning that day and the surfers took note. The waves were the highest just around the bend of the point. I spent an inordinant amount of time looking for crabs to photograph. Eventually some other hikers clued us in that the Sea Lions were coagulating just around the next ridge. As we hiked over the black and red rocks rising into the sky (which was actually more fun than treacherous) we could tell we were headed in the right direction from the stench of bird and sea lion excrement. We made it to the outcropping where at least twenty sea lions had gathered just after the sun had gone down around the bend. The scene was one of the kind that naturalists think of when they blabber about “nature’s majesty.” Black birds with long necks perched on the cliffs in and around fat black and brown sea lions. All crawled up out of the ocean onto the black volcanic rock. The waves were continuously crashing on the rocks creating a fantastic wooshing sound almost like low flying planes echoing in and out. The spray from the waves would sometimes reach us even though we were at least 40 or more feet up on the cliff. We soon realized that when we’d heard the sea lions before it was because the cave was directly over their perch, we just couldn’t see it. Afterwards, the way up the cliffs to get back to the sand path circling the point was surprisingly easy, just a thick sandy jog, temporarily exhausting but not necessarily perilous.
Getting a decent photo of these guys was hard enough, but I wanted to get a photo with the water swirling around as well.
Surfers, waiting for the next giant wave to come around the point. I could tell when it was coming because a very vocal surfer kept shouting when one would come in.
This guy (like the rest) was hiding in the cracks. Most of the crabs on the rock had adapted to have the same color scheme, a black shell with luminescent red and green areas.
On the way to the sea lion club.
orf orf!
