Santa Cruz layover

Another rest day, after an overnight with Rita, a host from WarmShowers.org She was most gracious and works at a bicycle cooperative called the Bike Church.

I told her of the pelican congregation, and she said there is a large school of sardines in the Monterey Bay. Layer in Capitola I see more evidence of the bounty. Pelicans and gulls are joined by four humpback whales, sounding and breaching.

Then dolphins! So close to the shore. People rush out across the beach, and I am running too. Many dolphins, just yards away in the surf. One begins to slap its tail while swimming, perhaps to force the sardines to the surface? Kayakers are tracking the whales, so close they must be in the spray of their spouting.

I’m so glad to see this phenomenon, nature’s abundance, the cycle of life. The ocean, as it should be.

c360 2013 10 22 15 52 17 949

c360 2013 10 21 14 14 59 327

c360 2013 10 22 09 56 06 932

c360 2013 10 21 15 49 10 550

c360 2013 10 22 08 45 21 153

c360 2013 10 22 10 16 01 004

c360 2013 10 22 14 35 27 513

c360 2013 10 22 15 52 06 337

c360 2013 10 22 15 52 29 009

c360 2013 10 22 15 53 14 256

c360 2013 10 22 15 53 31 569

c360 2013 10 22 16 43 51 824