... Lisa, Dan, and Lua: Ano Nuevo

Before the start of the quarter, Dan and I took Lua to see the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo State Park. It was an exciting time to go, since January is breeding and pupping season. It is, in fact, the only time all year that you can see male, female, and baby seals all together in the park!

Because elephant seals are quite large and can be aggressive, visitors can only see the seals on a guided tour of the park. In some ways, that's more exciting-- the path through the dunes is always changing, and you get to hear the latest news. On the day that we went, there were several large males arriving onto the beach (after a journey of up to 13,000 miles!) and a few small fights and skirmishes. Mostly, though, the seals were lounging around, looking lazy and content and unphotogenic.

We traveled with two of our grad student friends-- Yuan and Daniel. Neither one of them had ever seen the seals before. I probably oversold the animals' appeal (3 Tons of Charging Blubber! Bloody Battles to the Death! A Terrifying Trek through the Dunes!! Danger at Every Turn!! Great White Sharks Plucking Seals from the Surf!!), but they seemed to enjoy themselves. Both of them are avid hikers.

To add to the excitement, we even found a dead whale on a beach on our drive back home. It was pretty decomposed-- about 25 feet long and missing a head. We speculate that it died out at sea and was thrashed around the rocky coastline before coming to rest on the beach. We poked around it for a while (Yuan even touched it!), but we couldn't decide what kind of whale it was. The body was in bad shape. Still, though, it was fantastic discovery-- Lua's first animal carcass!