La Jolla Cove

This post is from my trip to San Diego back in June, 2018.

Jack and Cooper

I have more from San Diego to post about, but let's start with the fantastic breakfast my mother and I shared at Shorehouse Kitchen in La Jolla with Chris and his family.  I'm hungry now just thinking about it!

Decadent French toast

 With our bellies full we headed over to La Jolla Cove to see the seals and sea lions, but not the sun on that day.

Something that is good to know in advance is that the Children’s Pool (Casa Beach) where they tend to congregate is closed from December 15 to May 15 to protect the newly-born seal pups. 

Tourists on La Jolla Cove seawall

Whether in the water or on the shore, it's smart not to get too close or take photos with the animals, wave selfie sticks in their faces, or yell at them. Even though the group at the Cove is better socialized than most groups of seals and sea lions, they will still bite if they feel threatened.

Mom was excited to walk out close to them on the seawall

I've mentioned seals and sea lions a few times this year already, including the ones in Astoria and my recent post about the white one I had as a gift when I was a child.

Here's a neat fact I didn't know before today: when seals poop the nutrients and nitrogen from their deep ocean diet are made available to feed planktons and algae that other animals eat. Without seals, these plants would not get enough nutrients and would die, along with many other species including leopard sharks.

Cutie patootie

It's all about balance in an ecosystem, right down to the poop! 

We enjoyed watching the would-be surfers who had to be rescued, it's so easy to feel superior dry on the shore.

And spent a weird amount of time watching a particular seal trying to catch a wave onto a rock.  I've spent longer watching prairie dogs though, so who am I kidding?

Cooper and I traveled along ahead of the others looking for adventure, but mostly stood around watching all the activity on the water.

Seals are much more quiet than the vocal sea lions like I heard in Astoria and only move on land by wiggling on their bellies, whereas sea lions are able to “walk” using their flippers.

If you plan to visit, be aware that parking is scarce and though street parking is available you may have to walk a bit.  That's alright as there are things to see along the way besides seals.

Seals and surfers weren't the only ones hanging around, cormorants were plentiful and didn't seem to mind sharing a rock with the seals.

Brown Pelicans were common as well, and it was cool seeing a line of them soaring across the water.

We tried to do a little tide pooling but didn't have a ton of luck.

A few critters were found in the sandstone crevices, but I'm guessing the best pools were still underwater.

See the crab on the upper right side?

If you want a better look at a crab like the one in the tide pool, here's one that was crawling on the rock.

For the most part the rock was easy to walk on, but look out for spots that have algae as that is always slippery!

Even my mom walked all the way out to see the wave action! It was good clean fun, don't pass up a visit just because it looks busy if you're in the area.  And have some of that French Toast for me!