cambria

Leave a comment Posted on 01/19/201401/19/2014 Beach a Week

Moonstone Beach

Week 30. Of all the beaches, Moonstone Beach is amongst my favorites.

Steve and I had driven up to Cambria to see the Scarecrows and topped off the trip with a late afternoon stroll at Moonstones.

There is a little inlet that runs along Shamel park and empties out on the beach on this day it was full of birdsong and crow squawking. If I was a bird I might also choose to sing and squawk here.

There’s a nice little park at this beach. All that separates the beach from the park is this little fence.

Driving home, we pulled over on Highway 1 to snap the sunset. The view to the south, tho lacking the bright colors of the setting sun, was still pretty, showing the march of the morros down to the rock.

1 Comment Posted on 08/12/201308/13/2013 Beach a Week

Exotic Gardens

Week 21. July 27, 2013. At the end of our July day in Big Sur, we hit up a beach at the northern most point in Cambria.

Above: the path to the beach.

When we got down to the beach there were about 20 turkey vultures circling above (there was a dead harbor seal on the beach). I thought Steve’s kite would scare them off, but they are tougher than that. (The plovers not so much; this is why there is no kite flying on Morro Strand and so many other beaches.).

Exotics could be confused with Moonstone Beach. It’s on Moonstone Beach Drive and it’s across the highway from the old Moonstone Gardens restaurant. But Moonstone is to the south and has a boardwalk that runs along it. Exotics is like some kind of forgotten beach with fewer (if any) people. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

At the south end of the beach was a hearty tide pool teaming with sea anemones. When I say teaming I mean swarming. Hundreds of anemones. This is just one pool with some big anemones… there were other areas with tens and tens of little baby anemones so small and prolific that you might not even know what you were seeing at first. Anemone City.

For a while there was a little wind; not enough really to fly a kite, but Steve gave it a good effort.

Moonstone Beach and the drive are named for the white rocks you can find. I don’t really know what a moonstone looks like. Maybe this is one?

1 Comment Posted on 05/18/201306/17/2013 Beach a Week

Moonstone Boardwalk | Week 10 | Beach a Week

May 12, 2013 (Mother’s Day). My mom and I headed out to walk the boardwalk along Moonstone Beach.

At one cove there were a dozen or so seals, including pups. Nursing pups!

The flowers were in going strong.

This guy was out at the end of the northern most point of the boardwalk after fish-kayaking. What you can’t see are the 25 seagulls behind him, waiting for the fling of fish carcass in their direction.