Lunch Time

Looking down into the ocean from the wharf, leaning a bit over the edge of the railing, to see millions, millions of tiny silvery shimmering fish moving in kaleidoscopic swirls, exploding in multiple directions. Each one of those lines is an anchovy, keep that in mind. It is not kelp. In the middle is a sea lion, presumably scooping up what he can as he swims through. There is an exhibit like this in the Monterey Bay Aquarium--small fish swirl and swarm as the bigger fish come and go around them, but this is here and now and immediate and amazing. Pelicans dive, gangs of young sea lions saunter through the scene, people gawk. It's in the high 80s again and a fine time to go to the beach.

The Extras show our first sighting of Black Skimmers, very distinctive characters. They remind me of Heckle and Jeckle. Their bottom beak is much bigger than the top, so they can lower that jaw and catch fish by skimming over the water like a ladle. There seemed to be some sort of confrontation going on with the seagulls, lots of maneuvering and jockeying for a better position on the sand. The skimmers would take off in the most graceful way, do a couple of laps around the area and come back to hang with the gulls. We got dizzy trying to follow the circles of their flight. Very remarkable and distinctive birds that are not usually seen around here.