At The Backroads

San Diego Bay from Hornblower Cruise, Thursday, Jan 8 2009

Last Thursday was my birthday, and since I am still on vacation, I told myself I will give myself a birthday treat by hopping in a boat to the middle of the sea and celebrate birthday with the wildlife in the ocean . I bought my whale watching ticket through Goldstar, which is only a total of $19.50 compared to $30.00 regular price. However, when Thursday came, it was overcast! I was thinking of not going anymore since I won’t be able to take good pictures because of poor visibility. But then, as I already had promised myself to enjoy that day no matter what and that was how I wanted to enjoy the day, I jumped in the whale watching cruise still. And here was my birthday party :))

My Birthday Guests ( hahahaha, I’d like to think that way, poor me )

Greeter Number 1

Greeter Number 2

Greeter Number 3 and 4

Greeter Number 5 and 6

Actually, there were still a lot of other greeters, however, the pictures did not come out good at all with all the haze from the marine layer. Sometimes, we got lucky to be on a fogless spot, maybe like this one where we can see clearly the Hotel del Coronado

Hotel Del Coronado and Coronado Bridge

But a lot of the times, it was like this

Abandoned Deck, @ 3 pm in the afternoon

It is not that there were not other people on the boat, there were a lot! At first, the tour started with almost everyone outside, having a merry time, then, with the very chilly breeze blowing, despite having warm jackets, after an hour, slowly the people were moving inside seeking the comfort of an indoor seating! But it was fun, despite the gloomy weather. I had fun watching the dolphins watch the whales. it is easier to look for the whales since usually the dolphins would come circling around them.

Dolphin and Whale

Though the picture may look like it is the whale following the dolphin, but actually, the dolphins were kind of moving around the whale and when I caught this picture, the dolphin was in front of the whale. Dolphins are very curious and intelligent marine mammals, they love to observe what is going around the whale as much as men study the behavior of the whales too. In fact, some dolphins and sea lions are trained by the US Navy for military intelligence. If we have police dogs on land, we have the the navy sea lions and dolphins in water. We also saw the military carrier which shoot down the defective spy satellite last year to prevent it from hitting the populated part of the Earth.

Military Carrier that Shoot Down the Defective Spy Satellite

Whale watching is not only fun but also educational, I think it’s not only the kids who light up with excitement when they see jumping whales and dolphins, but adults too. How many whales do you think are in this picture? Is this only one whale or two?

Gray whales are most frequently seen off San Diego from December to March as they trek from the frigid arctic waters to the warm water lagoons of Baja, California, where females give birth to their calves. Each year, about 26,000 whales would make the 10,000 mile journey from Arctic to Baja and back.

Gray Whale’s Tail

From the gray whale, bye for now

Gray Whale’s Tail

Until the next post, hope you enjoyed this gloomy whale watching trip. Though a gloomy day, but I had a happy birthday

La Jolla Shores

Distance: 5 miles one way, 10 miles round trip

Elevation Loss/Gain: None if you just walk along the beach, 300-350 ft if you take the trail up to Torrey Pines State Reserve

Parking: to be safe that the strong surf of high tide won’t be sending you to the side of the cliffs on your return trip, arrange for 2-cars parking for only a one way walk to avoid the high tide on your way back. At La Jolla Shores, free parking is at the parking lot at La Jolla Shores Beach. At Torrey Pines State Reserve, free parking on the shoulder of North Torrey Pines Road or Old Coast Highway 101, North of Torrey Pines State Reserve Entrance, or along Carmel Valley Road.

Best Times: All Year, but time your walk at low tide to avoid walking right next to the base of the cliff (cliff erosion can happen anytime without warning, so it is always best to walk safe). Also, at high tide, there would be some portion where you may have to wade in the surf. However, at negative low tide, the low tide window is usually long, if you start 1.5 hours before the low tide, you can do a round trip hike for 10 miles safe enough. To check for tide conditions, please visit http://ocean.peterbrueggeman.com/piertide.html

Probably one of the longest if not the longest walk in San Diego for 5 miles one way along the beach side without catching a sight of a highway, tracks or railroad. Starting from La Jolla Shores, you walk North towards Scripps Pier.

In more than a mile, the wide sandy beach gives way to rocky shore.

From this point, for about three miles, you would be walking alongside sharp sandstone cliffs. The rocks would soon disappear to give way to another long stretch of wide sandy beach and strong surf.

On your lucky day, aside from seeing surfers on the water, you may get to glimpse pods of dolphins too,

a lot of sea birds fishing in the water or simply relaxing on the shore,

and sometimes, sea lions on shore.

In about 3 miles from La Jolla Shores, you will pass a nudist section in Black’s Beach, though nudity is unlawful in San Diego beaches, but old traditions in this short section of beach had been kept. This beach however can only be accessed either with a hike down and an steep ascent back to Gliderport, or a long walk, 3 miles from La Jolla Shores, or 2 miles from Torrey Pines State Reserve. In after another mile, the wide sandy beaches would turn into rocky zone again. Tidepool life can be observed from these short section of rocky zones.

As you look up the cliffs, you would see paragliders enjoying their free flight, and notice some birds also resting on the cliffs.

In about 4 miles, you reach Flat Rock, and if you wish to climb up the cliffs, you can take the trail up after Flat Rock which starts with a steel staircase. When the cliffs disappear, you arrive at the entrance of Torrey Pines State Reserve along North Torrey Pines Road.

Torrey Pines State Beach