Beach going

We went to the beach today. Yesterday was a scorcher, but today was mild and overcast. The rule of thumb is usually that if the weather is good at our place, then it probably won't be at the beach. We decided to risk it and drove to the coast. 

The beach tent went up without a hitch as there was barely any wind (score!), the crossword came out and I put my head down on the blanket for a some shut eye. I wound up staying awake just listening to the waves crash with my eyes closed. At some point Eric ditched the crossword for his binoculars. He thought he'd seen evidence of a blowhole way off in the distance. He was right. There was at least one whale swimming along, perhaps following a school of fish. I sat up and looked on. There was then, of course, no activity on the water for what felt likes ages! Eric went back to finishing the crossword. A whale breached (the same whale?) and I happened to have seen it. It was over so quickly! Eric resumed his binocular duty for most of the rest of our time at the water. 

Last week we saw no marine life out in the ocean. There was, however, a decomposing sea lion down the beach from where we had set up camp. The carcass looked as if it had begun decomposing before washing ashore. Somewhat strangely, I thought, dogs had avoided it and the crows didn't seem to want to poke around the dead sea lion either. The dead mammal was gone this trip, so either a buzzard came along or animal control removed it, I suppose. A buddy of mine was mentioning that the yearling sea lions are having a heck of a time striking out on their own this season as a result of reduced food sources and ever more potent red tides. 

If the sea lions are being impacted, then surely the whales are as well? A possible grim situation.