Recent Trip Highlights
Gorgeous morning out there on the bay. Between two trips we saw bald eagle, osprey, lots of nesting great egrets, great blue herons and double crested cormorants. Sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions. Tons of ducks out there - scaups, red breasted mergansers. Several common loons in full breeding plumage, horned grebes in breeding plumage, western grebes. And, bonus, a beautiful leopard shark! Just a lot going on out there!
Lots of sea otter babies around and about today. And the beach was covered with velella velella "by the wind sailors."
Sea otters, lots of harbor seal pups, beautiful breeding plumed common loons making wonderful loon calls. Red breasted mergansers is full breeding plumage. Lots and lots of great and snowy egrets wading in the shallows. Beautiful warm day.
Tons of harbor seal pups! Also, saw the eclipse from the sandspit - so cool!
Baby harbor seals calling for mom, lots of sea otters!
So many birds about! And many sporting their beautiful breeding plumage - common loons, horned grebes, great egrets, red breasted mergansers. Ospreys about as well. Lots of sea otters including a very young pup.
Gorgeous warm day with lots of wildlife to see. Low tide, so we headed north and saw multiple sea otters, including some pups. Tons of common loons and several have their full breeding plumage.Still seeing grebes and ducks on the bay, as well as the first brown pelicans and terns of the summer. Lots of herons and egrets! Also a beautiful and big sea hare!
Beautiful morning that began with sea otters in the marina, lots of nesting activity at the heron rookery and ended with a leisurely meander with the incoming tide and our Morro Bay juvenile gray whale, who's been with us for almost three weeks now.
Another sighting of our juvenile gray whale in the bay!
Incredible evening with a gorgeous sky and wildlife galore. This evening's sunset paddle we saw sea otters all over the place, sea lions, harbor seals and, the juvenile gray whale who has been making the bay it's home for over 2 weeks now!
The whale and rain tour this morning! Lots of cormorant nest building at the rookery. And then we saw the whale multiple times! Light rain on and off, beautiful skies. Lots of wildlife.
Seeing the first baby harbor seals now! Gorgeous day on the bay today. Lots of bird life and sea otters as well.
Every day we are seeing more nesting activity in the heron preserve. Great blue herons and egrets have been seen on nests and today we also saw the first double crested cormorants on nests. Common loons are in the middle of their molt to their intense breeding plumage. As soon as this molt is complete they will start to migrate away from Morro Bay to their summer breeding areas. Hundreds of brant geese are still on the bay. And... our FIRST BABY HARBOR SEALS of the season were spotted today. Yay!
Baby harbor seals!
The young gray whale is still in the bay! Saw 14 adult sea otters and several babies as well. And, a beautiful adult brown pelican in all it's breeding plumage was seen.
Gorgeous glassy morning! No whale sighting today, but lots of other bird life and sea otters.
Had the most excellent and unusual sighting of a juvenile gray whale IN Morro Bay, just off the sand spit where we had landed our kayaks. Feeding in the shallows there! Very exciting along with all the other great wildlife!
The Brant geese were out in full force again today. Sea otters, loons, buffleheads, harbor seals. Lots of activity out there!
So many Brant geese out there today!
Lots of sea otter activity around the bay today. Also, tons of harbor seals hauled up. The gaggling of Brant geese could be heard in the distance and we caught a glimpse of a massive flock of them relocating to a different spot on the bay.
We spotted three big sea hares again today!
Two red throated loons spotted this morning! The family on the trip today were birders and no one else was on the trip so we modified the trip to be more focused on bird watching. :)
Action packed wildlife morning! Three sea hares spotted, screeching red tail hawks, lots of tiny sea otter pups, rainbow colored sky, diving pelicans, hunting/feeding osprey. Great morning!
Got a morning trip out today before the big storms. Beautiful calm water under gray skies. So much wildlife out there - at least 20 sea otter sightings, sea lions, mating red tailed hawks, osprey on multiple masts. Saw a ton of common loons and one lone and not normally seen red throated loon. Great egrets and great blue herons, snowy egrets, turkey vultures, pelagic cormorant. Caspian terns, kingfishers. Just an awesome morning!
First Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival trip of the weekend! Very successful high tide bird sightings. We spotted 35 different species while out on the water, with some cool and somewhat unusual ones, including a black skimmer! Lots of sea otters and harbor seals about as well.
Beautiful! Otters in the marina, lots of harbor seals.
We saw an octopus in the bay today!! That's a first!
Stunningly beautiful conditions. Very glassy and a nice high tide. Leopard shark spotted as well as an enormous quantity of shorebirds in the back bay.
Great sightings of dolphins in the bay today! Bald eagle too! Plus all of the usual suspects - sea otters, harbor seals, tons of shorebirds and migratory ducks.
Gorgeous sunset! Tons of wildlife about - seals, sea otters, white pelicans, shorebirds everywhere.
Got surrounded by harbor seals quietly making their way back into the channels. At least 5 sea otter sightings. So many shorebirds in the back bay.
Highlights this morning included a black skimmer actively hunting out by the oyster farm. Sea otters, lots of harbor seals, tons of great shorebirds in the back channels.
What a gorgeous evening. So many great harbor seal encounters, beautiful sunset and tons of bird life.
Leopard shark spotted this morning!
Mating sea otters observed today!
So many sea otters!
Glassy bay this morning and warm weather again. Lots of marine mammals about - harbor seals and sea otters. More and more winter migratory birds every day!
Bald eagle fishing overhead this morning! Also, a mating pair of harbor seals and several sea otter sightings. Tons and tons of shorebirds in the back channels!
Absolute perfect morning out on the bay! Sun breaking through the clouds made for some gorgeous lighting on the bay, dunes and Morro Rock. We saw at least 5 different sea otters feeding on crabs, lots of harbor seals lounging on the pickleweed, great and snowy egrets, great blue herons, lots of shorebirds in the pickleweed. Oyster farm was hopping with activity and the water was so clear you could see clearly about 10 feet down.
Oh my! Sooooo much wildlife today. We are starting to see early arriving winter migratory birds like common loons, bufflehead ducks and brant geese. We also had an encounter with a sea otter that was a little too friendly (paddling slapping on water and yelling convinced the otter not not climb on our kayaks). Two peregrine falcons were hunting over the bay. And perhaps the most noteworthy sighting were literally dozens of the very rare and endangered western snow plovers on the sand dunes. Wow!
Gorgeous weekend, with lots of wildlife on the bay, sunshine and glassy waters. Sea otters all over the place, harbor seals, shorebirds, egrets and herons. Great days!
Beautiful evening on the bay. High tide tour, all the usual suspects on the bay and a coyote out on the sandspit!
Gorgeous evening! Sea otters with pups, harbor seals all over the place, glassy water, lots of bird activity.
Tons of harbor seals in the channels, osprey, sea otters, lots and lots of herons and egrets out and about. Diving terns and kingfishers as well. Big bonus this morning was a bald eagle perched right by the natural history museum. Beautiful day!
Another bald eagle sighting today!
Lots of harbor seals back up Chorro Creek as well as a ton of white pelicans hanging out back there. Sea otter moms and pups spotted today as well!
Absolutely stellar day out there! Bald eagle was spotted again today out on Wednesday island in the middle of the bay.
Bald eagle spotted today! Flew low over the kayaks and then landed a short distance away where we could check it out.
Highlight this evening was a peregrine falcon dive bombing birds on the bay!
We continue to have day after day of lovely weather and great wildlife sightings. Bat rays spotted today! We also got to watch a large flock of white pelicans feeding together as a group.
Unbelievable amount of wildlife out there right now. Sea otters all over the place, grooming, sleeping and munching away on all sorts of food (and it's Sea Otter Awareness week too!). Pelicans dive bombing schools of fish, sea lions getting in on the action, harbor seals doing their thing amongst the rest. White pelicans are back as well. Great morning!
Beauty of a sunset. The feeding frenzies continue at all times of the day. Dozens of sea lions surrounding schools of fish, with all of the diving birds getting in on the action - pelicans, terns and cormorants. White pelicans out on grassy island and sea otter moms and pups spotted as well.
Feeding frenzies all over the place! Tons of pelicans, cormorants, terns, seals, sea lions and sea otters all mixed up in the action.
We watched an osprey skimming close over the surface of the water with talons dangling. Also a "porpoising" sea otter pup! Tons of otter sightings, sea lions and so many birds.
Crazy amounts of anchovies in the bay and crazy numbers of sea lions, harbor seals, pelicans, cormorants and terns feeding on them. What a show!
Feeding frenzies all over the place today. So many anchovies in the water and everyone diving and hunting them from all corners of the bay. Sea lions, harbor seals, brown pelicans, terns and cormorants galore! Lots of sea otters throughout the bay. So many sandpipers!!
Beautiful days for the end of summer time. So many sea lions spotted in the bay these days, hunting all the anchovies that are there. Brown pelicans diving all over the place!
Amazing day on the bay. There are so many small fish in the bay right now that we see near constant feeding frenzies involving pelicans, cormorants and seals. We are even starting to see se lions venturing into the back back to get in on the fun!
Bat rays and leopard sharks this evening! Plus all the pelicans and mammals.
Gazillions of brown pelicans! Feeding frenzies all over the place with pelis, cormorants and terns (all screeching away). Harbor seals, sea otters and sea lions.
It was just a big day of sightings today! Hundreds of pelicans, cormorants and terns diving over continuous bait balls of fish. Sea lions hunting all across the back bay in and around the birds, harbor seals, sea otters, shorebirds galore, osprey, peregrine falcon and black skimmers all spotted.
Great evening! SO many fish that the birds and marine mammals are just going off right now. Bat rays spotted, tons of brown pelicans.
Gorgeous evening! So many sea otters including one young pup. Saw lots of bat ray wing tips in the shallows. Tons of pelicans!!
Some really cool sightings today in glassy waters - several leopard shark fins gliding through the water! We also were very lucky to see a short eared owl over the salt marsh!
So much to see today! Very large bat ray seen swimming along the surface of the water. Splashing around, wingtips breaking the surface. About 3 feet across! Sea otters, harbor seals, osprey, brown and white pelicans, lots of shorebirds about, especially sandpipers, egrets, herons, cormorants, and a few random Caspian terns. Gorgeous!
Black skimmer skimming and we saw it catch a fish!
Great morning out there! One of the most curious seals ever. Dolphins off the sandspit in the ocean. Anchovies everywhere! And birds taking advantage of the feast.
Playful seals, mating sea otters and a very unafraid juvenile double crested cormorant who thought the kayak was a good place to dry out his wings.
At least five sea otters spotted!
Lots of great bird sightings today. SO many herons and egrets about hunting in the mudflats and shallow waters. Kingfisher diving, red tailed hawk and so many others!
Bat rays spotted by Grassy Bar! Several sea otter sightings and lots of harbor seals.
Amazing evening! Gorgeous sunset with monsoonal clouds. Seals, sea lions, pelicans diving over bait balls. Glassy water. Couldn't have been better.
Gorgeous evening with so many birds, seals and sea otters to be seen.
So many harbor seals swimming around the kayaks back in the channels this evening. Also lots of sea otters hanging about the oyster farm at least 5 or 6. Gorgeous clear and warm evening.
Cool, mystical foggy evening on the bay. Still lots of wildlife to be seen all along the way.
So many sea otter sightings we lost count! Lots of cool birds out and about as we've been seeing this summer.
White pelicans are back! Lots of sea otters, including a mating pair. Cool bat star at Fairbanks. It was a wildlife day out there! Great closeup of a great blue heron hiding underneath a cypress tree. Christmas tree with great egrets as the ornmaments. Vultures eating a dead cormorant, juvenile black crowned night heron watching over the scene. The adult was standing nearby as well. Very cool morning out there! Lots of additional sea otter sightings as well, including a very small pup. Harbor seal was frolicking nearby. Feeding frenzy of cormorants and a few brown pelicans on the way back. Osprey in the harbor. Action packed!
Three bat rays and a leopard shark on one of our morning trips!
Absolutely gorgeous morning with so much wildlife to be seen. In the bird world, we spotted our first white pelican this year, lots of brown pelicans diving over a bait ball along with a ton of cormorants. Black bellied plovers in full breeding plumage - unusual to see this time of year. One solitary Ross or snow goose in flight overhead - also very, very unusual! Shorebirds in the back bay. Two osprey on boat masts. Lots and lots of sea otters sightings all over the place and multiple harbor seals as well. Basically candy for the eyes all morning!
Saw a red necked phalarope on the bay today. Very cool bird. We only see them very occasionally in the late summer in some years. They eat the bugs that feed on decaying clumps of seaweed and eelgrass that float in the bay.
Super peaceful out there this morning. Lots of bird activity in the back channels with huge flocks of shorebirds flying about, cormorants and pelicans diving, harbor seals and sea otters.
We watched a sea otter pup today transitioning from being buoyant, as they are for several weeks after birth, to attempting to dive and swim toward its mother when she came up from foraging. Kind of resembled the movement of a slinky!
In addition to all the otter sightings, lots of pelicans diving into mini feeding frenzies. Foggy morning!
Otters, otters and more otters!
At least 7 or 8 sea otters by the oyster farm - a veritable otter obstacle course, trying to keep our distance from them and not disturb their rest!
Black bellied plovers (and in their breeding plumage! Unusual this time of year. Sea otters, harbor seals and just a great day!
Wonderful foggy morning with lots of wildlife to be seen. Probably 10-12 sea otters snoozing in the eel grass, a young sea lion in the channel, harbor seals popping up multiple times throughout the tour. Lots and lots of great egrets and great blue herons. A few snowy egrets and black crowned night herons about as well. Toward the end of the tour we had a nice little cormorant and brown pelican feeding frenzy. Lots of activity wherever we went!
Yet another gorgeous evening! Lots of sea otters along the route. We saw a bat ray and a big beautiful California sea slug - awesome!
Lots and lots of birds out there. Many shorebirds flying in large flocks. Sea otters and harbor seals about as well.
What a gorgeous evening. Started out foggy and was magical and then cleared into a warm, clear evening with an amazing sunset! Otters spotted all snoozing in the eelgrass.
LOTS of otter moms and pups today. One older pup was making its first attempts to get itself under the surface of the water. Sea otter pups are completely buoyant for several weeks after birth until they finally can dive down and forage for food with their mom.
Osprey caught a fish near us and flew off with it!
Lots of otters and seals today!
Another day of seals and sea otters. Lots of shorebirds in the estuary. Flyby of dozens of killdeer!
Beautiful warm day! Sea otters, a few harbor seals, an osprey hunting, a bat star.
Sea otters and seals and a couple of cool cormorant and brown pelican feeding frenzies. Bat star on the rocks at Fairbanks.
Fantastic morning with lots of cool sightings. Multiple sea otters seen today. Harbor seals as well. We also watched a juvenile peregrine falcon trying its hand hunting. First attempts were on some cormorants, but then it moved back into the estuary channels and was dove bombing large flocks mixed with willets and sandpipers and godwits. Unsuccessful while we were watching, but it was certainly an amazing aerial show out there!
SO many sea otters and seals!
SO much otter activity today. Mother and juvenile together for an extended time right in the marina. Loads of sea otters back in the channels near the oyster farm as well. Harbor seals all over the place. Also, tons and tons of great egrets and great blue herons in the salt marsh. Shorebirds in large flocks awaiting the low tide for feeding. All around great out there!
What a gorgeous evening! Great sea otter sightings out there, plenty of herons and egrets, brown pelicans and cormorants about. Harbor seal spottings as well.
Bat rays in amongst the eel grass today! Active sea otters grooming and feeding. Sun, fog, sun, fog, nice glassy waters.
Sea otters, harbor seals, osprey, so many egrets and herons all over the bay. Cormorants leaving the nest at the rookery.
Lots of seal activity in the shallows today. Chasing each other around, slipping and sliding along in the mud. Very active!
Lots of peregrine falcon activity today! Juveniles have left the nest and are learning how to hunt from the adults.
Tons of harbor seals hauled out as well as in the water around the kayaks. Multiple sea otter sightings. It was a foggy evening! Lots of herons and egrets feeding in the shallows.
Harbor seals, sea otters, lots of brown pelicans out and about and fledgling cormorants, egrets and herons.
Bald eagle today! Sea otters napping, sea otters grooming, sea otters eating. Harbor seals, lots of bait fish jumping out of the water today. Good news for the dozens of newly fledged cormorants, herons and egrets! S many great egrets feeding in the shallows.
Three peregrine falcons dive bombing over the heron rookery! Sea otters, birds galore.
Lots and lots of brown pelicans arriving every day. Cormorants and egrets and herons are fledging and appearing all over the bay. Sea otters, sea starts, sand dollars!
Another beautiful morning. A bit breezy. SO many birds feeding on the bay and in the shallows. Sea otters, harbor seals as well. Bonus, lots of whale activity spotted from the sand spit!
Sea otters, harbor seals, bat starts, lots of brown pelicans and cormorants and herons and egrets about on a beautiful sunny evening.
We've been seeing some wonderful large feeding frenzies of cormorants and harbor seals off of Fairbanks Pt. Caught a glimpse of a ray also! Sea otters as well.
Some really cool sightings this morning! Very low tide, so lots of cormorants hunting in the eelgrass. Harbor seal with a small leopark shark!! Not sure if it could actually eat it, but it had it in its mouth and was actively trying to. SO many sea otters spotted today. Lots of grooming and sleeping going on.
Gorgeous day! Lots of sea otter sightings, harbor seals and more cool nudibranchs as well!
Lots of deals chilling in the back bay. Several sea otter sightings and a great brown pelican and cormorant feeding frenzy. Tons of purple shore crabs!
Gorgeous and tiny nudibranch seen out at the oyster farm!
Lots and lots of harbor seals hauled out this evening.
Leopard shark sighting this morning! Always so cool to see those guys.
Along with all the sea otter sightings and harbor seals and cormorant and pelican feeding frenzies, we've been seeing some super cool stuff under the water. In particular beautiful rainbow nudibranchs.
Second day in a row of a huge feeding frenzy of seals and cormorants!
Great feeding frenzy of cormorants and harbor seals surrounded us this morning. Super cool! We saw a round ray as well. Great day!
SO many harbor seals and pelicans! Sea otter spotted at the end of the trip as well.
Sea otter spotted at Fairbanks Pt. She was looking pretty skinny, but diving for food and grooming herself. Lots of cackling of baby birds going on at the heron rookery! Lots of harbor seals hanging out in the channels! By the Wind Sailors continue to be spotted within the bay floating around. Some still alive and some upside down. Also saw a large leopard shark and two bat rays were seen by clients as well.
Saw a very large leopard shark by the dunes today! Super cool. also a sea otter grooming herself near the heron rookery. Harbor seals hauled out. Lots of brown pelicans and birds nesting in the rookery. Three sea stars at Fairbanks Pt!
We had two trips out this morning and each some some really fun things. A couple of bat rays in the shallows, a very hungry sea otter, lots of harbor seals, including some youngsters that were having a bit of trouble getting up onto the mud haulout with all the adults, but finally managed it. So many nesting birds, with lots of babies popping their heads up and begging from their parents - egrets and herons and cormorants.
Sea stars! Sting ray spotted, lots of crabs on the rocks at Fairbanks Pt. Harbor seals and sea otters.
Bat ray! Harbor seals! Sea stars!
Beautiful evening on the bay with so many birds. Brown pelicans are starting to fill the sky on their northern migration. Sea otter and pup spotted as well as harbor seals.
Saw a huge sea hare above the high tide line. Gigantic raft of sea otters, both adults and pups.
It was an otter fest out there today! Moms and pups. Harbor seals hanging out all over the bay. Gorgeous late spring day!
Almost 40 harbor seals were hauled out in the back bay today!
Loads of sea otters and a couple of pups out there this morning! Lots of curious harbor seals as well. A few fledgling cormorants out there testing their wings out on the rocks by the rookery.
Black skimmers spotted on the tour today! These are really cool birds that have an unusual feeding strategy. They have a long lower bill and fly low across the water with the lower bill sticking into the water. If they run into a fish they snap it up. Also saw several sea otters.
Cloudy but not windy today. Still lots of mom and pup harbor seals about. The nesting activity at the heron preserve is in full swing. Cormorant, heron and egret babies can all be heard calling out for the adults to BRING ME FOOD! Just a few winter migratory birds left but more and more brown pelicans arrive every day. Loads of by-the-wind-sailors are in the area and many of these small purplish jellyfish-like creatures can be seen in the bay.
By the Wind Sailors all over the bay and on the beach!
SO many sea otters!
Bat rays in the shallows around the oyster farm today!
So many baby harbor seals! Bald eagle spotted today!
Baby seals galore! White pelicans, tons of great nesting activity at the heron rookery. One lone sea otter on the move. The water is nice and clear these days!
SO many baby harbor seals!!
Lots of sea otter spottings today! Plus, tons of harbor seal moms and pups out there. Brown pelicans are starting to arrive in greater numbers every day. Western and Clark's grebes are also out there in large numbers.
Fog turned to sun over the course of the morning. Napping sea otters, one solo napping seal surrounded by cormorants and a lone brown pelican, although more brown pelicans were spotted later. nice cormorant feeding frenzy. 4 bat stars! Osprey and lots of great blue herons and egrets hunting in the shallows.
Sea otters and harbor seals and sea lions! We had a couple of young sea lions pop up not far from the boats at one point. Lots of good bird life out there as well.
We found a gigantic and very cool looking moon snail case out on the sandspit! As big as the palm of a hand. Lots of wildlife out, including otters and seals and even a solo brown pelican early arrival.
Great trip with the fog coming in and out throughout the morning. Seals in different spots around the bay, sea otters as well. Lots of white pelicans feeding!
Gorgeous morning! Lots of cool sightings. Sea otters, harbor seals, a bald eagle (!), lots of nesting cormorants, egrets and herons. Cool low tide tour!
We watched a cormorant eat a gigantic fish! Lots of sea stars at Fairbanks Point, which is heartening to see. Sea otters also!
Beautiful morning, sunshine mixed with wisps of fog coming in and out. Sea otters and pups, tons of herons and egrets feeding in the exposed mudflats. We saw an osprey dive and catch a fish!
So many baby seals popping up everywhere! Great egrets displaying their beautiful breeding plumage. Lots of nesting activity going on out there!
Yet another great day! Sea otters, harbor seals with new pups, egrets with their beautiful breeding plumage, lots of western and Clark's grebes floating on the bay, white pelicans, double crested cormorants, snowy egrets, a few shorebirds off in the pickleweed.
Another great morning out ahead of the wind! Lots of sea otter and pup and harbor seal and pup sightings. White pelicans, lots of western and Clark's grebes, a few loons getting their summer plumage, horned grebe with it's beautiful mating plumage. Nesting activity continues to ramp up at the heron rookery. Osprey and red tailed hawks!
Another amazing day. Lots of variety out there, including harbor seals with their new pups, sea otters, lots of turkey vultures, double crested cormorants (with crests in view!), nesting great blue herons, snowy and great egrets; belted kingfisher, peregrine falcon, red tailed hawk, white pelicans, terns, a few shorebirds; a gorgeous male red breasted merganser.
More baby seal pups and sea otters today!
Amazing morning on the bay! Bald eagle soaring overhead with a little red tail hawk harassment happening as well. Cormorants and herons and egrets are really starting their nesting at the heron rookery. Lots of sea otter sightings, including a pair in the midst of mating and a mom and pup sea otter take a breather on the back of a moored kayak. White pelicans soared overhead also. Great day!
Lots of sea otters cruising all over the bay today! Harbor seals hauled out. Lots of activity at the oyster farm!
Super high tide trips this morning and the bird life in the way back part of the bay was amazing. The Brant geese were gaggling away back there, tons and tons of shorebirds, ducks and geese. Herons and egrets, harbor seals and sea otters.
Super fun day out there. Lots of harbor seals hauled out in the estuary. Sea otters all over the place including a mom and pup. Great weather!
Gorgeous day! So many birds in the back part of the estuary - got back there on the really high tide. Highlight was a mama sea otter with her newborn pup. Kept our distance, but got a good look at them through binoculars.
Chilly, but gorgeous evening! The sky was gorgeous and the water calm. We saw tons of amazing bird life and were followed for a large part of the tour by a curious harbor seal. Also saw a couple of coyotes cruising around on the sandspit..
Amazing king tide kayaking over the salt marsh. So many white pelicans and large flocks of snowy and great egrets back there. The sandspit has a large inland fresh water pond that's formed!
Gorgeous morning out there and so many birds to be seen. Lots of lots of the usual shorebirds, terns, loons, grebes of all kinds, peregrine falcon, osprey and northern harrier, which was a bonus! Lots of seals out and about also.
Our trips have been enjoying gorgeous breaks between weather. Crystal clear waters, king tides, lots of bird feeding frenzies. So many birds - huge flocks of sandpipers and their gorgeous murmurations. Lots of harbor seals and sea otters. Just great out there!
King tide again today! Watched sea lions eating a large bat ray. Sea otters, harbor seals and so, so, so many birds!
Gorgeous, gorgeous! Lots of sea otters, so many birds out there on the bay. Harbor seals!
Lots of sea otters out there today, including a mom with a pup. Sea lions, osprey, brown and white pelicans.
Insanely gorgeous. Seals and sea otters, tons of herons and egrets. Olympia oysters being planted at grassy bar oyster barge!
Lots of bird life out there as well as sea otter spottings and harbor seals. All the usual suspects with shorebirds, egrets, herons, cormorants. A few lingering elegant and Forster's terns, lots and lots of shorebirds!
Fantastic morning! Sea otters and harbor seals, an amazing white pelican feeding frenzy with great and snowy egrets onshore nearby reaping the benefits as well. Osprey with a fish, kingfishers, hundreds of double crested cormorants. A leopard shark in the shallows near the sand spit. Crystal clear waters!
Sea otters and a nice viewing of a mom grooming her very young pup. Brown pelican and tern feeding frenzy followed later by a white pelican feeding extravaganza! Probably 30 plus white pelicans feeding off the sandspit.
Today was another whopper of a day! Another peregrine falcon sighting and right after we saw that a bald eagle flew all the way across the salt marsh overhead. Bonapartes gulls at the oyster farm along with all the hundreds of Forster's, elegant and royal terns out there. Plus, humpback whales right outside of the surfline on the ocean side of the sandspit. Wow!
It was a pretty phenomenal morning. Started with a massive brown pelican, white pelican, tern and cormorant feeding frenzy that went on for ages. Rode the high tide back into the salt marsh to view hundreds of shorebirds, countless egrets and herons and at least 40 harbor seals. Watched a mom and juvenile sea otter together and also saw a peregrine falcon. Great morning!!
Tons of sea otters and tons of birds!
Leopard shark sighting!
Sea otters, harbor seals, feeding frenzies of pelicans and terns, calm water, warm skies, wow!
Gorgeous evening on Morro Bay. Brown pelicans continue to soar in squadrons overhead, lots of terns diving for fish. Sandpipers, great and snowy egrets, great blue herons, sea otters mating and lots of harbor seals laying about.
Whale watching from the sandspit again today! At least 30 harbor seals hauled out in the back bay. Lots of white pelicans and a feeding frenzy with brown and white pelicans, terns, cormorants. Some more migratory geese and ducks arriving as well.
The wildlife continues to be amazing on our trips! So much baitfish in the bay that the brown pelicans, white pelicans, terns, cormorants, and harbor seals are having epic feeding frenzies. We have also been seeing humpback whales and dolphins from the sandspit!
It was one of the most amazing brown pelican days ever! It felt like every brown pelican on the west coast was on the bay with massive feeding frenzies everywhere. Combined with all the other regulars it was a fantastic day!
So many sea otters! And lots of otter pups as well!
Gorgeous weather and crazy feeding frenzy of pelicans and terns that engulfed the raft of sleeping otters. Wow!
Soooo many pelicans everywhere. Lots of terns diving all over the bay. Harbor seals popping up all over as well. Great day!
Incredible morning on the bay! So much wildlife these days. Brown and white pelicans everywhere, multiple osprey sightings, several sea otters, harbor seals all over the place, shorebirds, some winter migratory birds arriving as well. Glassy waters!
Amazing evening, super calm and clear. Harbor seals, sea otters, kingfishers, lots and lots of terns and pelicans.
What an amazing evening! Warm and clear, glassy waters, beautiful sunset. The stream of brown pelicans flying overhead at sunset was extraordinary. Hundreds of shorebirds, pelicans and terns in the back bay and a few harbor seals on the mud flats.
Fantastic, morning paddling on glass. So much to see out there these days - hundreds of brown pelicans, dozens of white pelicans, shorebirds everywhere, elegant and Forster's terns, sea otters, harbor seals. We even saw an opossum!
Big bat ray! Peregrine falcon, osprey, tons of brown and white pelicans, terns, oysters, beautiful day!
Awesome, warm day. Such glassy water and great wildlife sightings. Multiple sea otters, harbor seals, hundreds of terns diving, white pelicans and brown pelicans everywhere!
Sea otters, harbor seals, pelican feeding frenzy and lots of shrieking terns!
What an amazing and gorgeous evening! Waters were glassy, hundreds of brown pelicans and terns everywhere, white pelicans on grassy island. Rays and small leopard sharks spotted in the shallows.
Gorgeous day! Lots of seals and sea otter spottings. The bird life is fantastic also!
Warm and sunny, sea otters, harbor seals, tons and tons of birds, oyster farm visit. All good!
Bat rays, sting rays, sea otters, harbor seals, diving pelicans, diving terns, another gorgeous morning!
Gorgeous evening, lots of wildlife - pelicans and terns diving, harbor seals, sea otters and a leopard shark!
Lots of great underwater sightings today - sting rays, bat rays and leopard sharks! Lots of sea otters and harbor seals. Gorgeous warm day on the coast.
Saw our lone sleeping sea otter today again! There must have been 40 harbor seals in the back channel.
Lone sea otter wrapped up in the eel grass taking a snooze.
Lots of sea otters, an epic battle between ospreys, harbor seals and so many pelicans! Bat ray spotted as well.
It was a abundant morning for wildlife. All the trips started off with an amazing feeding frenzy of diving brown pelicans, terns and cormorants that just kept on going! Around the periphery of the frenzy there were harbor seals and sea otters popping up as well. Osprey with a fish flew over head, peregrine falcon was seen dive bombing birds, lots of small round rays and bat rays spotted by everyone as well. Great day out there!
Lots of harbor seals popping up around the boats this morning!
Lost track of how many different sea otter sightings!
Lots of cool under the water stuff today - multiple rays, including bat rays and sting rays. A really big guitarfish! Lots of harbor seals and a sea otter rolled up in some eel grass sleeping.
We've been having epic wildlife days on the bay all week. Harbor seals, sea otters, including moms and pups, bat rays, sea stars, moon jellies, tons of bird life - osprey, herons and egrets and cormorants, lots and lots of brown and white pelicans, shorebirds have come in huge numbers and are murmurating through the skies.
Another fantastic wildlife day out there on the bay! So many sea otters, feeding resting in the eel grass, curious harbor seals, tons of terns and brown pelicans diving for fish, white pelicans flying over. Osprey diving near our boats for fish.
SO many brown and white pelicans. Massive brown pelican feeding frenzy. Foggy and mysterious morning. Bat rays popping up, tons of shorebirds murmurating in the sky. Beautiful and peaceful.
Sea otters, bat rays, harbor seals, tons of pelicans, jellyfish, bat star, another great day on the bay!
Magnificent ending to an already great wildlife tour. As we returned to the docks there were hundreds of brown pelicans circling overhead and diving into the waters around the docks. Massive feeding frenzy. Like a grand finale!
Sea otters, so many pelicans, sea lions, harbor seals and Pirate Steve!
It almost felt like someone released a whole aquarium in the bay! So many seals, sea otters, bat rays, jelly fish. Tons of pelicans, egrets, herons, two skimmers(!), 3 bat stars. Amazing!
Two bat rays! One sting ray! Beautiful day. All the rest of the regulars out there as well.
Lots of feeding sea otters in the bay part of the bay near the oyster farm. Super clear water today! Had an amazing flyover by lots of white pelicans. Beautiful day.
Lots of sea otters. And lots of jellyfish!
Lots of white pelicans feeding in the shallows. Plenty of great harbor seal activity!
We saw lots of marine mammals today - harbor seals, sea otters with pups, sea lions. Tons of great bird life on the bay. Got caught up in a wonderful cormorant feeding frenzy. Super fun!
Sea otters and pups!
We saw two bat stars at Fairbanks Point - always a good thing to see the recent die off of sea stars! We also got lucky again in seeing the two tiny buoyant sea otter pups floating freely while their moms foraged for food. Keeping a good distance as always!
Free floating tiny sea otter pups with mom nearby!
Peregrine falcons hunting over the back bay. Lots of harbor seal activity. The shorebirds in the back channels have just been amazing. Tons of willets, curlews, godwits. Even spotted a yellowlegs! White pelicans and brown pelicans galore.
So many sea otters, including at least three pups with moms. Lots of white pelican and brown pelican activity. Cool huge orange tunicate!
Sea otters and sea lions!
It was a bird extravaganza today - so many birds in the back channels - shorebirds flying in big flocks overhead, including willets, marbled godwits, long billed curlews and sandpipers. We also saw tons of white pelicans and brown pelicans and double crested cormorants. The harbor seals were spread out on the mudflats resting for the day as well.
It was another wildlife extravaganza day. At least 30 different sea otters spotted. Sea lions and harbor seals. Four individual peregrine falcons sightings also, including three juveniles divebombing a sandpiper in the back bay. White pelicans feeding, brown pelicans and terns diving. Lots of shorebirds stirred up with the falcon activity.
It was a crazy sea otter extravaganza day and a fantastic wildlife day in general today. Sea otters all over the place, napping, grooming and generally frolicking about. Harbor seals here and there, sea lions, brown pelicans diving. Lots of osprey activity also, juveniles with parents, fish being caught. Baby gulls spotted and lots of fledgling herons and egrets and cormorants.
So many sea otters!
Harbor seals, sea otters, leopard sharks, pelicans!
Another big sea otter day, including mom and baby, lots of adults feeding and floating about. Harbor seals lounging. Tons of white pelicans, brown pelicans, a screaming peregrine falcon stirring up the shorebirds. Gorgeous day out there.
We have been regularly seeing sea otters on our tours, many feeding, some nursing babies, others sleeping in the eel grass. Harbor seals and sea lions all over the place. Brown and white pelicans feeding, fledging cormorants and herons and egrets all out and about!
Saw an osprey catch a fish in the harbor today!
Juvenile peregrine swooping around the marina!
Tons of harbor seals hanging about in the water off of Fairbank Point. Sea otters, tons of brown pelicans. Gorgeous day!
Leopard shark and rays seen today. Along with huge numbers of brown pelicans, sea otters and harbor seals.
Foggy and cool on the coast today. Saw hundreds of brown pelicans and probably 75 white pelicans as well. Cormorants diving for fish, sea otters eating crabs (multiple sightings), harbor seals, sting ray. Great out there!
Great morning! Cool spottings along the tours as well. Harbor seals, sea otters were abundant. Black skimmers as well - so cool! Lots and lots of brown pelicans, terns, cormorants. A couple of small sting rays seen also. Lots going on.
Peregrine falcons and sea otters highlighted the morning!
Along with all the usual amazing wildlife sightings we saw a bald eagle on the sand spit this morning!
Temperatures we a bit cooler today in Paso Robles compared to yesterday, but still in the 90s. Fun was still has by all!
Foggy, but calm evening, warm and tons of wildlife. Pelicans and terns diving for fish, several sea otters sightings, harbor seals. Gorgeous!
Hot day in Paso Robles, but the crew had fun anyway! Tasted at Le Vigne, Via Vega (always a favorite) and Riverstar.
Gorgeous evening, glassy water. Widlife was all out and about. Beautiful sunset.
Nice foggy morning, mysteriously hiding and exposing landmarks. Raft of sea otters, lots of fishermen, both human and pelican.
The loudest squeaking sea otter pup of the year!
Pirate Steve was wishing everyone a Happy Memorial Day! Sea otters and pups out and about.
Sand crab and mole crab season! They're everywhere. Harbor seal pups had a flyover by a black skimmer in the back bay. Super cool! The cormorant nests are full of hungry babies. Sea otters!
Tons of harbor seals with their quickly growing pups in the back bay.
Great ride down the northern SLO County coast today. Thousands of elephant seals on the beaches for the spring molt. Lots of zebra were seen on Hearst Ranch near San Simeon as well!
Huge numbers of resting sea otters in the eel grass on these low tide tours. Harbor seals and sea lions as well!
Gorgeous morning out there! We saw at least 30 sea otters lounging in the eelgrass, some with pups. Harbor seals, sea lions, tons of great bird life, including lots of baby cormorants and herons.
Beautiful day out! Saw a group of about 18-20 sea otters sleeping in the eel grass. Harbor seals lounging on the sandspit and sea lions resting on the barge. Lots of nesting activity at the heron rookery. Saw a crow hunting in the super low tide exposed mudflats catch a fish!
Crows dive bombing a blue heron nest, heron fighting back!
Lots of really big bat rays out there these days.
Brown pelicans are coming back in greater numbers! Tons of sea otters out there. Baby harbor seals!
20 plus sea otters spotted today!
Sea otters, harbor seals abundant! Crows dive bombing a red tail hawk. Lots of nesting activity!
Bat rays, osprey, lots of heron rookery nesting activity, baby harbor seals!
Bald eagle! Sea otters, harbor seals and seal pups.
Baby seal pups super active. Lots of great shore birds and herons and egrets in back bay!
Harbor seals (lots of pups out there!), sea lions, sea otters and a bald eagle!
Leopard shark spotted today!
Bat rays! Been seeing them quite a bit lately. Baby harbor seals also.
Glassy and very warm. Harbor seal pups out and about. Beautiful sunset!
Very warm and breezy with offshore winds! Tons of sea otters!
Watched a big bull sea lion chasing something good to eat! Lots of sea otters out feeding in the channel.
Lots of birds hanging out this evening in the channels, along with harbor seals and a feeding sea otter.
Sea otters and sea otter pups, new harbor seal pups!
What a day, peregrine falcons and harbor seal pups!
It's a pup-a-palooza out there. Harbor seal pup numbers growing every day, sea otter pups in all stages as well. Still seeing a lot of our winter birds with their breeding plumage coming in as well as early summer time visitors in brown pelican arrivals.
Lots of baby harbor seal pups today!
We saw some cool stuff today. Lots of sea otter moms and pups. Plus under the water, living sand dollars, nudibranchs and what we think was a huge keyhole limpet!
So many nesting egrets! Harbor seals and sea lions. Lots of spring activity going on.
SO many sea otter moms and pups! From new babies to juveniles. Also spotted a harbor seal pup with mom and lots of sea lions on the sea lion barge. Tons of great bird life. Brown pelicans starting to show up, osprey, nesting cormorants, herons and egrets, the grebes and loons are getting their breeding plumage.
Fantastic morning! Amongst other things we saw some super special wildlife - bald eagle, peregrine falcon and two black skimmers. Tons and tons of cormorants and egrets. Two brand new baby harbor seals and sea otters!
Peregrine falcon spotted in the back channels today!
Spotted the first seal pup again this morning. We could actually hear it suckling!
First newborn harbor seal pup!
Glassy waters and tons of wildlife! Seals, sea otters, herons and egrets. Gorgeous!
It was a wow day! Sea otters, including a mom with a pup, harbor seals, some of whom look like they might birth at any moment also! Tons of great birds out there. The heron rookery is starting to become a hot spot for nesting. Spring has sprung!
White pelicans out today!
Gorgeous sunset!!
Great birding morning! Started off with a peregrine falcon, making a lot of noise. Back channels of the bay with loaded with egrets, sandpipers, godwits, curlews and cormorants. All around a bunch of harbor seals hauled out.
Sea otter moms and pups!
Peregrine falcons! Sea otters, harbor seals, countless cool birds in the back bay.
Gorgeous weather and wildlife to match it. Found two fresh horned shark eggs floating out there!
Beautiful evening! Mama sea otters with pups, lots of great bird life. The beginnings of some breeding plumage appearing on great egrets and double crested cormorants!
Got out before the winds picked up and were rewarded with excellent kayaking in the back channels at a high tide. Dozens of great egrets, great blue herons. Sandpipers flying all over the place. Beautiful!
It was a foggy morning, but glassy water and a ton of great wildlife. Highlights were two different peregrine falcons resting in the back channels. One on a post and the other sitting a bit farther off on a piece of driftwood. Great close up views! Lots of harbor seals hauled out back there also. Many many sea otter sightings! Lots of crunching on crabs to be heard with the still calm day.
Big sea otter evening! We saw several moms with their pups and a raft of about 15 sea otters! Sea lions, osprey, herons and egrets. Beautiful evening!
The days have been warm, sunny and beautiful. And filled with wildlife from harbor seals to sea otters, tons of amazing bird life.
It was another sea otter extravaganza today, including a mom with quite a large pup on her belly! Lots of incredible bird sightings, harbor seals. Great day out there!
Amazing, amazing, amazing. Spotted 15 plus otters in different places around the bay. Tons of fantastic bird life out there. Gorgeous day on top of it!
Loads of cool stuff again out there. The bird life is fantastic as are the abundance of harbor seals and sea otters. Notable birds, aside from the sheer numbers of grebes, ducks and shorebirds, were a couple of peregrine falcons, snow geese, osprey and northern harrier!
Lots of great sighting today! Snow geese and Brant geese in the back bay. Two peregrine falcons sitting side by side on a boat mast in the harbor area. Sea otters galore!
Bald eagles! White pelicans! Harbor seals and sea otters!
We've been seeing a sea otter mom and her pup regularly. Plus sightings of a pair of bald eagles. This amongst the incredible abundance of the rest of the wildlife out there and gorgeous weather!
We continued into the evening with an amazing sunset, tons and tons of wildlife, including multiple sea otter sightings. So many sea stars at Fairbanks Pt also!
Tiny newborn sea otter pup today!
We've been getting out there amongst the rain drops and having great wildlife sightings! SO many birds! Sea otters all over the back part of the bay these days. Harbor seals.
Fantastic wildlife out there on the bay these days! Lots of sea otter sightings, tons of shorebirds, winter migratory birds, harbor seals. All kinds of stuff going on out on the bay!
Big news again today - dolphins! Check out our Instagram and Facebook pages for videos. The dolphins came up all around the kayaks on their way into the back bay. Very exciting!
Crazy sighting today! Short-eared owl flying over the pickle weed in the back channels! That was a first for us! A peregrine falcon was nearby hanging out on a pole. Hundreds and hundreds of shorebirds also. Had a great sea otter sighting, munching on crabs. Beautiful morning!
Absolutely stellar morning! Not only gorgeous, but the wildlife sightings were over the top. We watched two sea otters mating for about 10 minutes, watched over by two peregrine falcons that were sitting up on a mast above, along with an osprey eating a fish on another mast. Tons of harbor seals in the back channels and with the high tide all the peeps were congregated on the small areas above water waiting for the tide to subside a bit. Amazing!
What a gorgeous day for riding in Paso Robles! Light traffic, clear skies, warm weather and the vines are adding a touch of fall to the area in their yellows, reds and oranges. Great tasting today along the route as well!
Absolute stunner of a morning! Warm and sunny, tons of wildlife. Morning tours were low tide, so the shorebirds were out in force. A peregrine falcon was watching over all the activity from it's post in the back channel. Sleeping sea otters, lounging harbor seals were all part of a great morning.
Highlights from this morning were incredible murmurations of shorebirds in the back channels. Gorgeous!
We didn't even have to leave the docks before seeing a sea otter chowing down on two very large crabs! And more were spotted throughout our Boy Scout group trip this morning! Tons of harbor seals in the channels, peregrine falcon spotted. Another awesome day.
Gorgeous day biking in Paso. Light traffic, grape vines all harvested and wineries nice and quiet. The late fall lighting is beautiful!
We've been enjoying amazing late fall weather - sunny skies and incredible sunsets. Tons of wildlife out there! Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions; many of the winter bird species have arrive recently - Brant geese, loons, grebes, buffleheads. The shorebirds are abundant as well as osprey and multiple peregrine falcons sightings!
It was a big WOW day today with dolphins in the bay! We watched them cruise past Grassy Bar oyster farm toward the back part of the bay. Also, low fly by by a peregrine falcon, tons of harbor seals, gorgeous weather. All around great day!
Bald eagles and sea otters were highlights this morning!
Unbelievable sunset, combined with fantastic wildlife including a peregrine falcon, sea otters and tons of pelicans!
It was a sea otter and harbor seal extravaganza!
Sea otters, harbor seals, hundreds of elegant terns by the oyster farm. peregrine falcon fly by, many black crowned night herons, great blue herons, great and snowy egrets. Beautiful day!
Weather perfect, wildlife amazing all around, water glassy. Gorgeous out there!
So many sea otter sightings! Tons of wildlife out there in general.
Peregrine falcons hunting, otters swimming, seals popping up all over the place, hundreds of shorebirds in the back bay.
Lots of fun sea otter activity out there today, including a mating pair.
Amazing, huge murmurations of peeps in the back bay today. Super cool.
Sea otters galore! Harbor seals! Tons of white pelicans, brown pelicans, shore birds. Great morning.
Otters all over the place! Harbor seals! Lots of birds of all kinds.
Otters, otters and more otters!
So many otters!
Beautiful evening with lots of sea otters and harbor seals swimming around the boats.
Gorgeous morning. Glassy and amazing. So much life out there. Sea otters munching on crabs, harbor seals lounging about, brown pelicans diving, white pelicans on the mudflats. The red necked phalaropes are literally all over the bay feeding on critters in the floating pieces of eelgrass.
Peregrine falcon spotting today and it had plenty of prey to choose from because there were shorebirds of tens of species all over the back bay!
Lovely day in the Paso Robles wine country. Not very crowded at all, but hot in the afternoon.
Great evening! Sea otters and harbor seals. Birds all over the place. Shorebirds, pelicans, cormorants, terns. Lots!
Wow, we saw 12-14 sea otters on one tour today!
Phalaropes galore! Those little guys are all over the back bay doing their eddy creating spinning to bring food up to the surface. Super cool! Sea otters and harbor seals. Tons of shorebirds in the back bay right now as well. Huge flocks of sandpipers flying all over the place.
Bald eagle spotted today at the heron rookery!
Four black skimmers spotted today - super exciting! seals and sea otters also.
Full moon on the water. Tons of birds flocking around the boats. Sea otters and harbor popping up all over!
Sea otters, harbor seals, tons of birdlife. Glassy waters.
Epic sunset and moonrise!
Animals everywhere! So much wildlife out there. Sea otters galore, harbor seals, tons of feeding white pelicans. Brown pelicans, osprey, lots of shorebirds, egrets and herons.
Lotsa sea otters out there! Osprey at Fairbanks Pt. Plus all the other usual locals.
Sea otters, harbor seals, lots of osprey sightings, white and brown pelicans, tons of shorebirds, including godwits and curlews and sandpipers and willets. Bat star! Herons and egrets. Great morning!
Tons of sea otter sightings today. They were a hungry bunch too, munching on crabs. Gulls got lucky and stole a few crab legs as well. Brown and white pelicans, herons and egrets. Beautiful morning.
Foggy and mysterious evening with lots of wildlife activity! Sea stars, sea anemones, juvenile and adult black crowned night herons. Several feeding behaviors of sea otters and harbor seals and sea lions.
Custom tour focusing on Hog Canyon and Ranchita Canyon Roads in the Paso Robles area. Very remote, very little traffic and great views! Finished with a great lunch ordered off the menu at Villa San Juliette winery.
Lots of sea otters everywhere today!
Kingfishers are back!
Lots of sea otter sightings, all of them were chowing down on food. We could hear the crunching! Peregrine falcons, osprey, brown and white pelicans, herons and egrets, harbor seals.
The BIGGEST hermissenda nudibranch! Super cool! Along with that we had another night of super amazing phosphorescence on the water. Lots of sea otters feeding on kelp crabs.
Lots of cool stuff out there. Sea otters and harbor seals, tons of bird life - hundreds of shorebirds including godwits and curlews, sandpipers, willets, dunlins. Terns, white and brown pelicans, cormorants. Oyster farm was harvesting today.
Great morning again today! A crab munching sea otter cruised by, harbor seals all over the place, white pelicans, brown pelicans, sea hares, bat stars, sea anemones, moon jellies, terns and egrets and herons. Good stuff!
Ospreys all over the marina area with lots of fish catching and eating!
Moon jellies, sea otters, kelp crab, harbor seals, white and brown pelicans!
Sea otters hanging about Grassy Bar oyster farm this morning. Plus tons of white pelicans in the bay bay. Seals, osprey. Great day out there!
Moon jellies everywhere! There was a huge white pelican feeding frenzy right of the bat that was so cool to watch as they dipped their heads underwater and came up with lots of fish. Cormorants got in on the action as well. Brown pelicans were hanging about checking it out also. Lots of sleeping sea otters. Checked out the sinking fishing boat. Sea lions, tons of shorebirds. Great day.
Seeing a bat star again on the bay! Sea otters, harbor seals, lots of amazing birdlife as always!
Lots of cool stuff in the bay these days - bat stars, lots of moon jellies, crabs all over the place, including kelp crabs. Sea otters and sea lions and harbor seals!
Lots of birds everywhere - many newly fledged! Nudibranchs and living sand dollars!
Otter spottings throughout the trip, including right at the marina entrance. Lots and lots of bird life out there right now!
Sea otters, harbor seals and bat rays!
It's been an extravaganza of wildlife on our tours these days. Many many sea otter sightings, hundreds of brown pelicans, white pelicans, peregrine sightings, osprey, harbor seals, sea lions.
Fantastic evening! Gorgeous sunset, plus some very cool wildlife sightings. One of the coolest was a large bat ray flying out of the water! Sea otters spotted a couple times. Harbor seals followed us all over the bay.
Lots of great sea otter sightings including one munching on a crab toward the end of the trip. Great views of white pelicans feeding in the low tide shallows. Harbor seals, tons of fantastic bird life. Great morning!
Lots of sea otter sightings today! Plus harbor seals, tons of brown pelicans, egrets and herons. Living sand dollars too!
Sea otters and harbor seals! Couple of osprey out there today.
Six sea otters this evening by our evening appetizer spot!
SO many brown pelicans and white pelicans! Harbor seals, sea otters, black skimmers doing their skimming, shorebirds, egrets and herons everywhere. Great day out there.
Extra special sighting today of a young coyote exploring the ocean side of the sandspit today! Hundreds of pelicans flying overhead, hanging out on the mudflats, diving for fish. Harbor seals and sea otters. Great day!
Fantastic day on the bay! Black skimmer spotted. A very actively grooming sea otter, harbor seals popping up everywhere. Lots and lots of brown pelicans and white pelicans all over the bay.
Saw black skimmers on the bay today!
A female sea otter has been hanging around in the marina. Today she came up with 2 crabs at the same time right by the docks!
Great day on the bay. Lots of very active sea otter activity today. Eating, grooming, rolling around in the eel grass. Lots and lots of harbor seals all over the bay. Skates under the water, jelly fish. Brown and white pelicans. Great day!
Great tour down the coast today! Lots of zebras out at Hearst Ranch and big male elephant seals fighting in the surf at Piedras Blancas.
Lots of cool stuff in the water these days. Today we saw a couple of bat rays, a skate, a bunch of jelly fish. Also sea otters, harbor seals and lots of birds hanging in the back bay.
Sea otters, seals, jelly fish, lots and lots of brown and white pelicans and whales off the sandspit!
Gorgeous morning. The water in the bay is so clear and there’s eelgrass everywhere. Sea otters, harbor seals, moon jelllies, tunicates, white and brown pelicans, shorebirds of various kinds and lots of almost ready to fledge double crested cormorants!
Whales off the sandspit, sea otters in the bay, pelicans and fireworks over Cayucos!
Lovely day and not as busy as one might think in Avila Beach given that it was Independence Day. We've been doing picnic lunches at Kelsey See Canyon Winery instead of the Avila Barn lately and it has worked out really well!
Four sea otters hanging about Grassy Bar oyster barge. Lots of humpback whale activity off the sandspit!
Sea otters, brown pelicans and white pelicans, tunicates and jellies. And, oh yes, whales!
Lots of invertebrates in the bay these days! Sea otters, humpback whales off the sandspit.
Whales off the sandspit! We were lucky to see all kinds of spouts, flukes and flippers of several whales feeding right off the sandspit! In the bay, sea otters, lots of harbor seals, tons of brown pelicans, egrets and herons all over the place. Great morning!
Yet another great wildlife life. The sun came out the latter part of the morning as well. One very tiny baby sea otter with it's mom, plus lots of other snoozing sea otters all about. Very noisy sea lions. Lots of bird activity all over the bay! Brown and white pelicans; almost fledging cormorants, egrets and herons. Lots of birds hunting in the shallows. Ospreys spotted several times as well!
Awesome wildlife day! Tons of sea otters including a mom with a very small pup. Very noisy sea lions! Lots of activity at the heron rookery with babies flapping and flapping their wings for exercise.
Regular sea otter sighting! Today we also saw the small dorsal fin of a tiny leopard shark! Super cool!
A couple of sleeping sea otters in the back bay and a few harbor seals hanging about. Lots and lots of brown pelicans!
Breezy evening. Headed north and were rewarded with sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions. Tons of brown and white pelicans on the bay also!
Fun loving group of wine industry people today. They really enjoyed Via Vega!
Amazing sunset this evening with the almost full moon coming out at the end of the trip. Pretty magical!
Another great day! Highlight was the appearance of two black skimmers doing their classic skimmer feeding in unison in the back channels of the estuary. Watched by lots of resting harbor seals. Tons of brown pelicans, white pelicans, shorebirds. Sea otters hanging out, terns, diving, pacific stinging jellies in the water along with some cool nudibranchs. So much to check out these days!
Another gorgeous day on the water. Fog cleared up and we had sunny skies. Sea otters, harbor seals, tons and tons of brown pelicans, white pelicans. We saw a large moon jelly that was super cool also.
Tons of harbor seals hauled out in the estuary channels, plus a snoozing sea otter by the oyster farm. So many brown pelicans diving all over the place, plus a cluster of white pelicans on grassy island. The nesting cormorants at the rookery are beginning to practice their wing flapping and standing on nests edges. So much fun to watch!
We had a very long lasting and spread out brown pelican feeding frenzy going on all around the kayaks today. Amazing watch hundreds of pelicans diving for fish all around us.
Great day in the Edna Valley! Now that the summer season has begun, Paso Robles can be hot in the afternoon, but the Edna Valley is usually quite nice and often has more moderate temperatures.
Lots of fantastic wildlife today! Several sightings of leopard sharks in the shallows near the sandspit. Three snoozing sea otters near Grassy Bar oyster farm, white pelicans and brown pelicans both feeding there as well. Double crested cormorants getting lots of bait fish! Sea lions porpoising in the back back, harbor seals in and around the boats all morning. Great day!
Foggy, but amazing out there this evening. We watched an otter eating a few small crabs, chopping noisily and happily away. The heron rookery was absolutely packed with birds and super noisy.
It's a brown pelican-a-palooza out there these days!
We got to see a brand new sea lion pup being born today! Very excited to watch the newly born pup starting to nurse.
Saw a leopard shark fin heading out toward the sandspit, which was pretty cool! A couple of sea otters were hanging out by Grassy Bar oyster farm. Lots of harbor seals.
Lots of sea otter sightings today along with a few kind of shy harbor seals and many not at all shy sea lions! Brown pelicans, nestlings cormorants, herons and egrets and a beautiful day!
We got out early to beat the wind and headed north. The rookery is full of babies right now and we were lucky enough to also see a mother deer and her two, still spotted, baby fawns there as well. Lots of cormorant moms feeding babies in the nest. Brown pelicans are all over the bay now and little feeding frenzies were happening in various spots around the bay.
So many harbor seals and sea otters! The egrets and herons are also out in great numbers feeding in the mudflats. Leopard shark spotted today also!
Another sea otter palooza day! Sea lions as well. Osprey with a fish, peregrine falcon soaring above the heron rookery. Lots of egrets and herons feeding in the mudflats today.
We headed out in fog and calm waters, and the sun came out to make it a beautiful day for kayaking. Tons and tons of sea otters resting in the eel grass, plus a very active mom and older pup frolicking together. Lots of sea lions, a few harbor seals, tons of egret and heron activity all over the bay in the low tide exposed mudflats.
Absolutely gorgeous day riding down the coast from Ragged Point to Cambria. Tons of elephant seals on the beaches, clear skies, pelicans arriving in big squadrons, tail winds.
Gorgeous biking in Paso at the moment. Warm but not hot, green vines and golden hills.
There has been so much going on in the bay - harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions. Skates and rays, gargantuan sea hares (sea slugs), nesting birds and babies. Great out there!
Got to see a cool ray skim by during our appetizers on the dunes! Great wildlife evening today.
Red necked phalaropes! Lots of white pelicans with their breeding nose "bumps."
We headed way back into the channels today and saw a lot of harbor seals (still a couple of younger pups with moms), brown pelicans, tons of great egrets, double crested cormorants, turkey vultures. Beautiful morning on the water.
14 sea otters seen on today's trip!
So many herons and egrets feeding in the mudflats! Living sand dollars, cool moon snail casing, osprey, seals, sea lions and sea otters!
Super low tide trips this morning, with light winds and sunny skies. It was a great day to see lots of sea otters! Including one mom with her new pup. Sea lions and harbor seals as well. So many great egrets and great blue herons hunting on the exposed mud flats.
Celebrated a 60th birthday with lunch on the dunes and lots of great wildlife! Harbor seals, several sea otters, including one with a brand new pup, sea lions. Lots of common loons still hanging around the bay with their almost-full summer breeding plumage. Two bald eagles spotted as well!
Another sighting of two black skimmers in the back bay catching fish in their extraordinary way. Sea otters spotted as well as harbor seals!
We saw a sea otter mom with a brand new pup!
Lots of harbor seals and their pups in the back bay. Sea lions and lots of sea otters in the northern part of the bay. Seeing lots of black crowned night herons these days as they are in full nesting mode and out during the day more often. Terns, sanderlings, osprey, willets, herons and egrets, cormorants. Even some over winter birds are still here and showing off their summer plumages - mergansers, common loons, eared grebes, horned grebes, ruddy ducks.
Started out a bit wet, but ended up being a beautiful calm morning on the bay. Headed north and spotted a mom and pup sea otter and a mating pair of sea otters a little further along.
Beautiful sunset this evening and lots of wildlife to be seen. Harbor seals, sea otters and sea lions. Birdlife included osprey, sandpipers in big flocks. egrets and herons, cormorants and loons.
Bald eagle spotted again today! Osprey, lots and lots of great shorebird sightings. Baby harbor seals and sea otters. It was an overcast morning, but perfect kayaking conditions.
Gorgeous morning before the winds kicked up. Lots of baby harbor seals cruising around calling for "Mom!"
Saw a bald eagle and osprey hashing out territory today over the harbor! Pretty amazing to watch!
Saw a few sea otters today, including one of the tagged sea otters that was released back in to the bay last year after being orphaned and raised by the surrogate sea otter moms' at the Monterey Bay Aquarium!
Lots of marine mammals spotted on today's trips, sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters (including one heartily munching on a crab). Tons of shorebirds and a few grebes and loons still about. Red tailed hawk and ospreys as well.
Great day on the bay! Sea otters, harbor seals, lots of egrets - great and snowy, great blue herons, common loons, double crested cormorants. A long spotted sandpiper, marbled godwits and willets. Peregrine falcon, osprey and red tailed hawk! Bat stars, sand crabs and cool (albeit, dead) shovelnose guitarfish. Caspian and Forsters terns diving for fish. Lots of others as well!
Chilly morning, but lots of great wildlife sightings today. Sea otter with a pup, harbors eats with pups and a double peregrine falcon spotting. Plus lots of shorebirds out there at the moment.
Lots of flocks of sandpipers flying around in big groups in the estuary. Super cool. We are still seeing lots and lots of harbor seal pups!
Awesome peregrine falcon fly by!
Exciting spotting for the morning were two black skimmers cruising around the back channels of the estuary! We watched them do their thing while baby and mama harbor seals cruised around us in the water. Great day!
Harbor seals and sea lions, sea otters and osprey!
So many harbor seal pups! Sea otters spotted a couple of time as well. Lots of nesting going on at the rookery and the double crested cormorants are very busy flying in with their nesting materials. They look pretty awesome with their mating season double crests of feathers!
Another marine mammal "trifecta" today - sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions! Still some winter bird migrants hanging about the bay and many of them are starting to get their beautiful summer plumages, especially the common loons and the eared and horned grebes. Still some ducks hanging around - mergansers and buffleheads especially. Violet green swallow and a barn swallow were spotted. Osprey! Bat stars! Great day.
Sea otters spotted near the oyster farm as well as off of Fairbanks Pt. We saw a tern dive down and come up with a nice fish, which he ate on the wing. Visited the harbor seals and saw some pups.
It was a brisk and breezy evening! One of the coolest things we saw was an osprey catch a fish and then get chased around by a bald eagle until the osprey dropped the fish and both birds took off. No meal for either one last night!
Sea otters, harbor seals, gobs of birds out there! Also saw a skate!
Awesome sea hare find today! Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages to see photos.
We got to watch a sea otter devour quite a big crab - crunchy!
Sea otters out and about this morning! We also saw bat stars and a very cool leopard shark sighting.
We hit the marine mammal "trifecta" multiple times this evening - lots of sea otter, harbor seal and sea lion sightings. Tons of birds of multiple species about as well.
There is still a big flock of Brant geese hanging out in the back bay!
Another gorgeous evening! Harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions, tons of birds. The great blue herons and great egrets are gearing up for nesting with their beautiful feather displays. Great sunset!
Gorgeous day, and so much wildlife. Sea otters, baby harbor seals, lots of bird activity, including nesting happening at the rookery.
So much fun watching all the harbor seal pups and their moms! Lots of birds in the back bay and sea otter spottings also!
Great warm weather for sunset paddle. Lots of birds, bat stars, sea otters spotted. But the highlight of the evening was a gigantic sea lion with a very large fish carcass of some sort biting off huge chunks, breaching, flying out of the water, flipping back and forth. It was amazing!
We spotted a bald eagle again today over the mudflats, along with harbor seals, harbor seal pups sea otters. Fantastic day!
Beautiful spring day! Harbor seals, sea otters, osprey, common loons, horned and eared grebes, Caspian terns, a pelagic cormorant, plus lots of double crested cormorants, egrets, herons and a swift!
Spotted two sea otter mom and pup pairs, plus 5 mom and harbor seal pup pairs. Great spot of an eared grebe in breeding plumage. Spring!
Fantastic evening on the bay! Started with an aerial show between a bald eagle and a red tailed hawk. That stirred up a bunch of cormorants, great egrets and great blue herons that were roosting. Saw lots of sea otters and harbor seals. Checked out some bat stars and living sand dollars. And to finish it off we watched the almost full moon rise!
We are starting to see more harbor seal pups in the bay channels - so tiny! Countless great blaue herons, lots of shorebirds about on the mudflats. Also spotted a few American white pelicans.
A couple of sea otters have been hanging about the marina these days, a fun way to start of the kayak trip!
Lots of marine mammal activity out there! Harbor seal adults and pups, sea otters were very active - possible mating going on - tons and tons of birds of all types!
Perfect conditions this morning. Tide in and tide out during the trip, sea otters to the north and osprey, red tailed hawks and white pelicans to the south!
Highlight of the morning was the spotting of two bald eagles over the mudflats! Not only that, but we also saw a peregrine falcon hunting in the back bay, plus sea otters near the marina. Another awesome day out there.
Harbor seal pup trip, plus tons of great bird sightings this evening!
Harbor seals and pups! Crab munching sea otters! Boisterous sea lions! Plus, lots of awesome bird sightings, including both Caspian and Forster's terns, red tailed hawk, great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, marbled godwits, long billed curlews, common loons, western and eared grebes, common mergansers, white pelicans, belted kingfisher, double crested cormorants. Under the water - bat stars and living sand dollars.
Spring is definitely in the air! We spotted a couple of sea otters mating, plus another younger otter hanging out by Grassy Bar Oyster Farm. Lots of pregnant harbor seals hanging out in the back channels as well. A couple of newborn pups have been spotted on previous trips as well!
It was a breezy evening, but we had some great sightings out there! Tons of birds of all types, but the most exciting spot of the evening was a golden eagle perched on a tree at the heron rookery being dive bombed by a very unhappy red shouldered hawk!
Gorgeous day for riding down the coast! Lots of wildlife along the way - elephant seal colony is a very busy and crowded place these days! Little traffic with the road closure on Highway 1!
It was a chilly night, but the sunset was magnificent! Sea otter, harbor seal and sea lion spottings, lots of bird life, including huge numbers of common loons and lots of osprey!
Lovely day in the Edna Valley! It started a bit cool, but warmed up nicely. We visited Chamisal (great chardonnay and pinot noir) and Saucelito Canyon (amazing zinfandel) on our way to a wonderful picnic lunch and wine at Baileyana.
Took the northern route into the harbor area today. Tons of great birds, including loons and osprey. We also spent a lot of time observing a very happy resting sea otter.
Turned into a beautiful evening after a cloudy day. Lots of wildlife, harbor seals, sea lions and sea otters all spotted; ospreys, both pacific and common loons, buffleheads, curlews, great blue herons, ruddy ducks; eared, horned and pied billed grebes. Plus, living sand dollars!
Beautiful, cool and breezy. Lots of wildlife - tons of shorebirds about, loons, ospreys, grebes and terns, plus a bat ray!
Great Valentine's Day kayak tours today! So much wildlife out there. Sea otter, harbor seals, a peregrine falcon enjoying a meal, an osprey also enjoying a meal, tons of shorebirds of all shapes and sizes, white pelicans, loons, grebes. Great day!
Gorgeous winter evening. Clear skies and beautiful sunset! Lots of bird life and marina life out there.
Lots of great wildlife today! So many birds of every type - shorebirds, ducks, geese, kingfishers, terns, osprey. Harbor seals and sea otters also!
We saw the tiniest of baby sea otters with its mom this afternoon!
Sea otters, osprey, harbor seals and lotsa birds everywhere! Another great day.
Lots of sea otter spottings out there today!
Gorgeous out on the bay! Sea lions frolicking, tons and tons of bird life, amazingly clear water so lots of cool things to see below the surface as well.
Lots of feeding frenzies going on out there! A pair of sea otters mating also. Great day!
Great day - the sea lions were in the back bay stirring up lots of fish, so we were surrounded by tons of feeding birds. Super cool!
Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions! So many bird species out there these days as well. Great day!
A couple of otters romping around the oyster farm. White pelicans, lots of harbor seals, egrets everywhere. Osprey hunting at the sandspit.
Sea otters, harbor seals and peregrine falcons!
Headed north and saw all the big marine mammals - sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions. So many herons and egrets these days also!
Bald eagle! Osprey and peregrine falcon as well. Lots of harbor seals and all the usual shorebird and sea bird suspects out there.
Lovely windless morning. Lots of sea otter spottings, all the birds one could possibly hope for, a couple of nudibranchs, harbor seals. Great day!
Four sea otters were hanging about the oyster farm this morning. Just chilling. Leopard sharks spotted today also.
Sea otters, osprey and great peregrine falcon fly by!
Gorgeous sunset with harbor seals popping up all around the boats, brown pelicans diving, terns, curlews, sandpipers, grebes of multiple species, buffleheads, cormorants, herons and egrets. Great evening!
The Brandt geese are back and there is nice large flock of them in the back bay the past few days!
Super high tide trip allowed us to paddle over the pickleweed, which was awesome!
Amazing super high tide allowed us to paddle over the salt marsh and see so much! First Brandt geese of the season! Harbor seals, ospreys, Caspian terns, great egrets, great blue herons, buffleheads, common goldeneye, American coots, sea lions, eared and western grebes, brown pelicans and pelagic and double crested cormorants. What a day!
Warm fall day, crystal clear on the bay. Lots of seals and tons and tons of birds!
Peregrine falcon was out and about hunting over the salt marsh and stirring up all the birds back there. Osprey flew by with a big old fish in its talons. A couple of very active sea otters playing around in the water near the boats.
Super low tide, exposed a ton of sea stars! Sea otter, so many winter birds have arrived, gorgeous sunset!
Three day private bike tour of the Paso Robles area with some previous clients. We cycled the NE part of the Paso wine country where we do many of our regular Paso Robles biking day trips. We also cycled the west side (Far Out Wineries) loop, which is hilly but really pretty - especially Klau Mine Road. On the third day we battled some headwinds (and hills) outside of Creston but finished on Shell Creek Road, where the views were expansive and sublime and we saw a grand total of 4 cars over about 1.5 hours of cycling. Wow!
Pelican feeding frenzy!
A big highlight for the trip this morning was a bald eagle! Not unheard of, but a rare sighting nonetheless. Also, osprey, red tailed hawk, great blue herons, black crowned night herons, kingfisher, buffleheads, common loon, eared grebes. Great days out there!
The wildlife on the bay is just amazing these days! It's a veritable "critter wonderland" according to one of our guides. Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, bat rays, tons and tons of wonderful birds all over the place.
Buffleheads galore! Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions. Lots of birds everywhere.
Lots of great sightings today. An overly friendly sea otter who we had to haze a bit, sea lions, harbor seals. Tons of birds, including so many new winter arrivals - bufflehead ducks, ruddy ducks, eared grebes and pied billed grebes. Plus, brown pelicans, great blue herons, great egrets, a peregrine falcon and osprey!
Perfect gorgeous evening. Glassy waters, tons of wildlife of all sorts, beautiful sunset.
Sea otters, harbor seals, osprey, plus all the other great bird life we've been seeing.
First sighting of the fall of those wonderful little bufflehead ducks!
Great weather, calm waters and a beautiful sunset, glowing sky on glassy water!
Watched a pair of sea otters mating! Tons of osprey out there - at least 7 different ones spotted along the way.
Rode the tide both ways - one of those lucky days! Lots of otter spottings - 2 at the Grassy Bar oyster barge and 3 at Tidelands park. Lots and lots of bird life, with lots of migratory birds coming every day.
Gorgeous water visibility today! Bat rays lingering at the surface.
Harbor seals, sea otter, peregrine falcon, ospreys, herons and egrets. Lots of eared grebes have migrated in along with a common loon. Least sandpipers, elegant, royal and Forster's terns, kingfishers. Great walk on the dunes!
Gorgeous sunset! Lots of seals, sea otters, birdlife out.
Saw lots of marine mammals today - sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions. Raptor - osprey and red tail hawks. Shorebirds - egrets, both snowy and great, and herons, both great blue and black crowned night herons. Long billed curlews, marbled godwits, double crested cormorants, terns, brown pelicans, living sand dollars. Great trip!
Lovely trip. Didn't even have to leave the marina to spot an osprey, sea otters on our way to Grassy Bar oyster company. Got amidst a mini pelican, tern and cormorant feeding frenzy toward the end of the tour.
Osprey, peregrine falcons, bat rays and sea otters! Plus much, much more!
Very serene morning. Our two sea otters were spotted rolling around together, snacking on crabs. Lots of sea anemones. Huge group of harbor seals lounging on the mud flats. Brown pelicans all over the place, including a really nice pelican feeding frenzy.
Ducks and grebes are beginning to arrive! Lots of sea otter, harbor seal and sea lion activity on the bay.
Fantastic morning on the bay! So much wildlife! Mammals spotted were barking sea lions, lounging harbor seals, a couple of crab munching sea otters. Bird life galore! - osprey, belted kingfisher, not one, but TWO peregrine falcons who stirred up a whole lot of commotion amongst the shorebirds. Marbled godwits, long billed curlews, willets, sandpiper flocks. Plus brown pelicans, terns, herons and egrets, double crested cormorants and a red tailed hawk, to top things off. Bat stars and living sand dollars spotted below our boats.
Sea otters, harbor seals, ospreys and kingfishers. Terns and herons and egrets. Pelicans, curlews and godwits. Got deep into Chorro Creek channel on the high tide and spotted some cool songbirds as well, including a common yellowthroat. Lots of dowitchers on the bay today!
The heat in Paso has finally eased off a bit. Most wineries are wrapping up the harvest. We had a lot of fun visiting with Larry and April at Via Vega Winery. This is a classic small winery with a charismatic owner/winemaker who loves to entertain and educate people as they are tasting.
Amazing foggy night on the bay. Tons of wildlife out and about. Took the tide north to the sea lion barge, seeing lots of great stuff the whole way - harbor seals, sea otters, tons of bird life.
Fog returned this morning, but it was a nice relief from the heat and we saw great wildlife. Sea otters and harbor seals, osprey, terns, marbled godwits, willets, great blue herons, great egrets, kingfishers, brown pelicans and double crested cormorants. Super high tide!
Gorgeous warm morning on glassy and super clear water. Could see clearly down about 10 feet! Spotted a large harbor seals cruising around right underneath our boats. Great close up sea otter sightings. A couple of otters munching noisily on crabs. Lots of harbor seals in the back channels. Pelicans, osprey, egrets and herons. Great day out there!
Headed north this morning over very glassy and super clear water. Found a couple of sea otters very quickly, plus, white and brown pelicans, egrets, herons and incoming winter birds - grebes and loons. Lots of sea otter spottings as well as harbor seals and sea lions!
Osprey and peregrine falcon sightings today, plus a couple of sea otters!
Living sand dollars spotted in the clear waters and low tide. Sea otter hanging out at the oyster farm, and a great pelican feeding frenzy all around the boats.
Saw a couple of sea otters this morning, along with tons and tons of brown pelicans. Lots of harbor seals out there as well!
First western grebes of the season!
So many birds out this evening! Lots of harbor seals as well.
Beautiful day. Saw a lot fun stuff including a couple of sea otters tussling over some food, harbor seals back in the creek channel, lots of terns diving and a baby navanax!
Lots of fun sightings - peregrine falcon, egrets and herons, cormorants and pied billed grebes, brown pelicans and white pelicans, curlews, godwits and kingfishers. Plus a bat star!
Some winter arrivals coming in - saw a Pacific loon today, earred grebes. Plus all the summer time crowd of marbled godwits, great egrets, great blue herons, pelicans, both white and brown, osprey, kingfishers. Harbor seals, sea otters and sea lions!
Dolphins in the bay!!
Spotted two peregrine falcons today!
So much wildlife out on the bay right now - all the big marine mammals that live on the bay, harbor seals, sea otters and sea lions. Plus, tons of birds from osprey to brown pelicans, terns and cormorants, shorebirds everywhere, and some of our winter visitors starting to show up - pied billed grebes and western grebes. Plus, living sand dollars, bat stars, bat rays. Lots going on!
Seals, sea otters, sea lions! Living sand dollar, marbled godwits galore. Lots of great blue herons and great egrets, osprey, brown pelicans. Great evening!
Warm and a bit smoky this evening, making for a big red ball of a sunset. Headed north, checking out bat stars, sand dollars and sea otters along the way. Harbor seals and sea lions and an osprey also spotted. Shot the pier and heading to the dunes for the sunset!
Awesome feeding frenzy going on today - terns, cormorants, brown pelicans all converging on a big bait ball.
Fantastic sunset! Lots of wildlife also - sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, osprey, great blue herons, black crowned night herons, pelicans galore. Great evening!
Gorgeous day of riding down the coast. Warm and sunny weather, tailwinds at the back, elephant seals, big waves to check out!
One of those perfect Morro Bay evenings - gorgeous sunset, no marine layer, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, osprey, terns, pelicans. Great evening.
Beautiful day for wildlife viewing. Sea otters including one with a pup!), harbor seals, sea lions, osprey, terns, lots of brown pelicans, white pelicans. Great day.
Gorgeous morning with tons of wildlife to be seen - sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions and increasing numbers of bird species every day, including some of our favorites from the summer, brown and white pelicans, osprey, kingfishers, egrets and herons. Plus bonus bat ray sighting!
It was a foggy magical mystery tour this evening! Tons of wildlife - sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, lots of birds as well - great blue herons everywhere we looked, osprey, egrets, pelicans.
Dinner on the dunes with lots of great wildlife including, sea otters, osprey, brown and white pelicans, harbor seals.
Another awesome day. Tons of bird out there, plus harbor seals, sea otters.
Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, flock of white pelicans and an osprey. Belted kingfisher - love those guys!
Fun evening on the bay. It was foggy, but that didn't stop us from seeing all kinds of great wildlife. Several sea otters, harbor seals, an osprey building a nest. One pirate.
Lots of sea otter sightings today. Headed north and check out the sea lions on the barge. Osprey all over the place.
Quiet day in Paso Robles and great for cycling. Air quality was pretty good and the weather was perfect. As always, great wine tasting to be had on the east side of Paso Robles.
Bat stars, lots of sea anemones, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, Glassy, clear water.
All kinds of fun things seen on the morning kayak trips. Sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, osprey, two peregrine falcons hunting over the back bay. One of the sea otters was munching on a huge clam.
Bat stars, sea hares and living sand dollars under the water. Above the water lots of other great stuff! Sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions, black crowned night herons, great blue herons, osprey. Foggy, but fun evening!
Super foggy on the bay this evening, which made the kayaking very cool and mysterious. Glassy waters. Sea otters, harbor seals, osprey, pelicans.
Tons of wildlife on this foggy morning trip. Glassy waters. Sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, osprey, black crowned night herons, pelicans, and a HUGE sea hare lurking in the shallows where we got out to explore the dunes. Great morning!
Great, relaxing morning on the bay. Glassy waters, foggy conditions added to a very cool atmosphere this morning. Sea otters, terns, an osprey with a big fat fish winging it over the sandspit and as many living sand dollars as the youngest member of the party could hope for!
Harbor seals, sea otters, tons of osprey, multiple white pelicans and lots and lots of brown pelicans. Great morning!
So much wildlife out there! Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, tons of brown pelicans, osprey, belted kingfishers, terns of all kinds, living sand dollars. Great days on the bay! Amazing water clarity.
Extreme heat in the Paso Robles area forced us to change to a Pacific Coast half day day. It was MUCH cooler on the coast! Zebras were out in force on Hearst Ranch land right by the highway. We also did lunch at Harmony Cellars and tasted wine there. A highly satisfactory day considering in was over 115 degrees in Paso Robles.
Gorgeous sunset, great evening on the bay. Headed north and shot the pier. Lots of harbor seals and sea otters hanging about during the trip.
Great day of cycling in the Edna Valley! Lots of great wine tasting to had along the bike route today.
A little breezy at the start of the evening, but calmed down and had a great sunset. Harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, osprey and living sand dollars.
Heading north this evening - watched a pair of sea otters mating. Lots of herons along the shoreline near Fairbanks Pt.
Spotted two otters right off the bat and one of the highlights of the day - two black skimmers cruising by the sandspit! Rare sighting on the bay. Lots and lots of terns - Caspian, elegant and least. Osprey flyby with a fish in its talons, harbor seals - great day!
We've been having epic wildlife days on the bay - tons of sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions. Brown pelican galore, white pelicans, terns diving, osprey catching big fish, bat rays. Great days on the bay!
Peregrine falcons (the fastest animal on the planet!) were seen hunting over the back bay today. Shorebirds were in a panic! Big sea otter spotted by Grassy Bar Oyster Company and several bat rays cruising the surface as well.
Awesome day - bay rays, sea otters, harbor seals, osprey!
Lots of sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions and tons and tons of bird life.
White pelican party this evening!
We watched an osprey dive bomb a fish and come up with a very large flounder! Took a bit to get it under control!
Harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions for our marine mammals today. Lots of great blue herons, Caspian terns and a common loon and a few osprey!
Lots of critters on the bay these last weeks - osprey, kingfishers, harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, brown pelicans and white pelicans. Great out there on the bay.
Sky was smoky, but the water on the bay is super clear these days. Incoming tide, lots of wildlife.
Lots of sea otter activity, harbor seals, at least three cool sea hares. Very pink sunset with the smoky skies.
Interesting weather today - thunder and lightening way off in the distance created some amazing cloud formations around the bay. Beautiful, warm day for kayaking on the bay. Lots of wildlife all over the place!
Gorgeous evening and sunset following a crazy rainy day. Lots of marine life and bird life spotted throughout the evening. Check out our Facebook page for photos!
Fun sightings again today - osprey flying overhead with a fat fish in its talons, a couple of sea otters and lots of harbor seals.
One VERY small baby sea otter pup with a group of adults!
Sea otters snoozing during a beautiful sunset, lots of sea lions also!
SO many harbor seals! Popping up everywhere. Lots of sea otters too and a beautiful sunset!
Sea otters, sea hares, harbor seals lots and lots of birds everywhere!
Tons and tons of white pelicans. And even more brown pelicans! Harbor seals.
Lots of harbor seals and sea otters, plus sea lions. Bat stars at Fairbanks Pt.
Lots of white pelicans out today! Sea otter pretty far back in the bay as well as harbor seals.
It was a bit of a blustery evening, but beautiful nonetheless with lots of great wildlife seen. Numerous sea otters rafting up all around the bay, sea lions, harbor seals, lots bird life as well including osprey, brown and white pelicans, herons and egrets.
There were many "terns" for the better out there in the bay today, including least, elegant, and Caspian among the actual terns, and harbor seals, sea otters, and an osprey to highlight some of the other great sights. The only turn for the worse was when we had to return from the beach and head back to the dock at the end of our trip.
Amazing wildlife on the hiking Big Sur trip this week. We had the chance to watch a sea otter from the rocks diving down repeatedly and coming up with purple sea urchins to eat - helping keep our kelp beds healthy! Also, humpback whales, harbor seals and sea lions seen along the way today.
Lots of sea otters, harbor seals, a couple of osprey sightings, bat stars, sea anemones.
Slack tide on the tour this morning - headed north and saw lots of great stuff - sea otters, osprey, great blue herons, white and brown pelicans.
It was a foggy Morro Bay evening, but we saw lots of cool wildlife - harbor seals, sea otters, lots of terns and brown pelicans.
Large flocks of terns are on the bay these days as well as huge flocks of brown pelicans. White pelicans, sea otters, harbor seals!
Bat stars, sea otters, harbor seals!
It was a "HOOOT" out there today - Harbor seals, Osprey, Otter, Oyster farm, Terns! Plus lots of other cool stuff as well. Tons of brown pelicans these days.
Lots and lots of brown pelicans and white pelicans, living sand dollars, a sea hare. Napping sea otters and a few harbor seals hanging about. Pirate Steve blew his "shell phone."
Lots of harbor seals and sea otters and brown pelicans!
Bat stars, nudibranchs, navanax all spotted under the water today, along with hundreds of brown pelicans all over the place!
We watched an osprey and two red tailed hawks having a bit of a set-to over territory. Very exciting! Tons of sea otters today, probably 15 at least.
Headed north this evening. Lots of sea otters, including one of our tagged ones. A few babies mixed in as well. Trailed by harbor seals along the way throughout the evening. Baby egrets!
Close encounter with a very focused sea otter munching on a crab!
Great day! Harbor seals, lots and lots of brown pelicans, white pelicans, black crowned night herons arguing with great blue herons, snow and great egrets, bat stars. Fun day!
Sea otters, sea lions, living sand dollars, osprey, lots of fledgings hanging around the heron rookery.
So much great stuff happening on the bay. Hundreds of brown pelicans with a few scattered white pelicans there as well. Lots of fledgling cormorants, egrets and herons flapping around. We even saw a native California weasel - a long tailed weasel - hanging around the rookery! Seals, sea otter.
Harbor seals, sea otters, bat stars!
Harbor seals, sea otters, brown pelicans, lots of raucousness at the heron rookery with the great egret babies.
Great evening on the bay. We saw sea otters, harbor seals, lots of great bird life including hundreds of brown pelicans. White pelicans, osprey, herons, egrets.
Sea hares, bat stars, osprey, sea otters, white and brown pelicans! Wahoo!
Lots of sea otters! We were followed by harbor seals along the way as well. Great morning, lots of brown pelicans on the bay also.
Sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals! Lots of brown pelicans out and about as well.
Headed north this morning with the low tide and shot the pier. Watched 6 sea otters napping in the eel grass, including one of the three pups released in the bay last year - we could spot his tags.
Sea otter pup with mom today!
Low tide this morning, headed north and spotted lots of great stuff - sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, osprey hunting, living sand dollars, tons of fledgling cormorants.
Lots of sea otters today, eating, playing and napping, brown pelicans diving for fish, great morning on the bay.
Wow, what a wildlife evening! It was foggy, but sometimes those are the best trips and this one proved to be so. More sea otters than we could count! Sea lions frolicking, harbor seals, eyeballing us, osprey hunting and the super cool experience of watching an adult peregrine falcon hunting with their fledgling, dive bombing cormorants and creating a little havoc in the meantime!
Fun morning on the bay - a whopping 5 sea otters spotted all together off of Tidelands Park. Lots of goofball fledgling double crested cormorants flapping their wings at the heron preserve. Saw tons of sea urchins on this negative tide trip also.
Lots of great wildlife viewing today - sea otters put on a show for us right off of the dunes while an osprey hunted overhead. Shot the pier on this low tide trip!
Fireworks! Beautiful sunset and full moonrise. Sea otters having a bit of a mating session, lots of brown pelicans!
Sea otters, brown and white pelicans, living sand dollars and an osprey - great morning on the bay!
Amazing sunset this evening!
Great morning with lots of cool bird activity. Many shorebirds on the move, especially when a peregrine falcon made a fly by! We got the cool experience of having a large flock of sandpipers swoosh over us in the escape. Tons of brown pelicans and few white pelicans, harbor seals, clear waters!
Coyote on the sandspit!
Started out foggy and a bit drippy, but quickly turned into a perfect calm morning on the bay. We checked out 4 napping sea otters, tons of brown pelicans with a couple of white pelicans in the mix, lots of fledging cormorants, herons and egrets, flapping around at the rookery.
Sea otters all over the place in the back bay today - lounging, grooming, eating crabs. A bit breezy out there, but a great day!
It was a foggy morning, but really calm and beautiful on the bay. We saw sea otters, harbor seals, tons of brown pelicans, white pelicans. Nesting cormorants, herons and egrets.
Napping sea otters, harbor seals, ospret an American avocet (unusual at this time of year!), lots of brown pelicans.
Lots of sea otter sightings on our tours these days!
Beautiful morning, albeit a foggy one. The rookery is very busy and noisy with baby cormorants, herons and egrets. Lots of brown pelicans. Great to see all the eelgrass during the low tide!
Pelicans on parade! The brown pelicans are back in forced diving and feeding on all the bait fish that have arrived. Saw a couple of sea otters and got to check in on the harbor seals as well!
Seeing lots of sea otters these days along with harbor seals, living sand dollar beds, tons of birdlife. Great days on the bay!
Sea otters, harbor seals, lots of brown pelicans and a few white pelicans in there, lots of egrets and herons at the rookery. Great morning!
Low tide trip so all kinds of cool stuff to see under the water - especially lots of living sand dollars! Lots of pelicans, cormorants, herons and egrets. One of the herons we spotted was eating a gopher!
Foggy, but calm and lovely morning on the bay today. Lots of brown pelicans have arrived and you can see the bait fish jumping around in the water, so lots of food for everyone. The herons and egrets and cormorants are still busy into their nesting season, with some of the newly fledged birds seen out and off the nests. Sea otters resting in the northern part of the bay. White pelicans, terns, osprey and a few shorebirds along with a red throated loon!
Lovely Father's Day in the wine country of Paso Robles today. The roads were quiet, the vineyards popping with new grapes and the wineries open for tasting and food.
Nice evening on the water. Brown pelican feeding frenzy, lots of sea otters munching away on an evening meal!
We had the lovely experience of being surrounded by young harbor seals in the back bay! Also spotted a sea otter near the marina.
It was a foggy evening, but boy did it bring out the sea otter crowd! We saw tons of them all over the bay. Also sea lions and lots of great bird life.
Great day on the bay! We saw lots of harbor seals, two sea otters mating (a rare thing for us to see), lots of egrets and cormorants nesting, osprey, pelicans. Beautiful!
We spotted the sea otter mom and pup again this morning, enjoying a little rest in the back part of the bay. Lots of harbor seals hauled out today as well.
Very exciting sea otter viewing today! We saw several sea otters floating together, grooming themselves and resting and one of them had a newborn pup! Mom was very busy grooming her baby on her belly. Fantastic to watch!
We've been enjoying beautiful weather over the past few days and the bay has been full of wildlife. Lots of active sea otters out there, plus white pelicans, brown pelicans, harbor seals, nesting egrets, herons and cormorants.
We are back on the bay guiding trips and had a great morning this morning. It was foggy, but the conditions were glassy and we saw lots of sea otters!
Birds, birds and more birds! It was a great high tide tour this morning that took us deep into the back part of the estuary.
Gorgeous morning! We saw lots of great egrets clustered in the trees again, plus lots of other sea birds and shorebirds. Plus 5 sea otters relaxing in the outgoing tide. Sea stars again too!
Warm and beautiful for kayaking on the bay. We were treated to a tree full of at least 25 great egrets right of the state park marina. We don't usually see such a cluster all in one spot. Lots of great bird life and marine mammals on the bay!
Great low tide tour this morning. We saw lots of cool stuff under the water as well as above the water, including a large living sand dollar bed and lots of sea stars, which is very exciting as the population was almost wiped out due to wasting disease. We also saw multiple sea otters, harbor seals, osprey, great blue herons and lots of other great bird life.
Gorgeous morning on the bay and lots of great wildlife, including 4 snoozing sea otters and one with a pup. Tons of harbor seals relaxing in the back bay, lots of great bird life as well.
Great morning on the bay! Lots of Brant geese, harbor seals, sea otters, tons of shorebirds everywhere, sunny skies, cool weather.
Another wonderful day on the water, getting out on top of the salt marsh in the back bay due to the very high king tide (6.4 feet) mid morning. We are also seeing otters relatively consistently off Fairbank Point at the Heron Preserve. Some kelp has been growing there over the last few years and the otters are using the kelp to anchor themselves against the currents.
Saw lots of great wildlife this morning! Four sea otters, including a new pup, lots of harbors seals, tons of Brant geese, shorebirds, osprey. Enjoyed paddling over the salt marsh on the kind tide. AND the couple on the tour GOT ENGAGED ON THE DUNES!
We spotted two sea otter mom and pups= pairs, a young sea otter out foraging, osprey flying overhead with a fish, great blue herons, egrets, tons of shorebirds, porpoising sea lions, calm waters!
American Avocets, tons of harbor seals, lots of egrets and great blue herons. Beautiful days.
Lots of Brant geese in the back bay and near the grassy islands. Mama sea otter with a brand new pup at Fairbanks Pt.
Even though there was some rain today, we had a wonderful picnic lunch at Le Vigne Winery (our new Paso Robles winery partner) and in the afternoon we had some very dramatic clouds and sun while cycling Cross Canyons Road.
Today we hosted a group of students from Inspire Charter School. We cycled the Bob Jones Bike Trail to the Central Coast Aquarium in Avila Beach where the kids did a squid dissection class. It sounds yucky but it was really fun and informative. After a lunch in the seaside picnic area in Avila Beach, we cycled out to Harford Pier to check out cavorting sea lions. Maybe they were eating squid!
Gorgeous morning on the bay before the storms descended. Lots of Brant geese in the far back back. We were able to paddle over the pickle weed and check out all the birds and harbor seals hanging out back there. Spotted a sea otter as well!
We saw a mixed pod of humpback whales and dolphins at Lime Kiln State Park today!
Epic days on the bay lately! Warm and calm, tons of wildlife everywhere. Coyote on the beacof the sand spit, Sea lions, harbor seals, seat otters, osprey, osprey, peregrine falcon, shorebirds of all shapes and sizes, brown pelican and cormorant feeding frenzies. Amazing.
Beautiful day in the Edna Valley wine country just south of SLO!
Lots of common loons arriving for the winter. Also spotted a peregrine falcon and osprey!
Beautiful day, warm, glassy, perfect conditions. The water is so clear these days you can see 10 feet down with clarity. Lots of seals meandering around.
First Brant geese of the season!
Beautiful morning with a super high tide. Lots of blue herons and great egrets along the bay.
Incredible morning on the bay. Multiple sea otter sightings including two mating otters who were very preoccupied and came up quite close to the boats. Tons and tons of birds, in fact, we started off with a wonderful big pelican (brown and white) and cormorant feeding frenzy. Common loons, grebes coming in for the winter, terns, harbor seals everywhere, herons, egrets, ospreys, shorebirds of all sizes and shapes and colors. An awesome day out there!
Watched a young sea otter foraging in the shallows off the sandspit and hundreds of living sand dollars by Tidelands Park.
Sea otter was lounging in the kelp beds off of Fairbanks Pt. Lots of eared and western grebes appearing on the bay. Kingfishers are really active right now also.
John had the pleasure of guiding a father and adult son combo plus a brother-in-law on a bicycling trip down the coast from San Francisco to Santa Monica over 7 days. What a ride! The weather was picture perfect and "the boys" enjoyed picnic lunches are seaside parks, stunning views on the Big Sur coast and a highly pleasing detour through the Santa Ynez Valley wine country.
Pod of dolphins off the Big Sur coast today!
Great calm and sunny day! Lots of the usual suspects out there, plus about 50 turkey vultures feeding on a dead sea lion.
So many pelicans out and about! Couple of sea otters at Windy Cove, lots of harbor seals cruising around.
Saw lots of cool stuff today! Sea otters, harbor seals and a peregrine falcon fly by!
Beautiful warm day, a few osprey sightings, lots of harbor seals, pelicans and terns. A few dolphins in the waters off the sandspit!
Lots of white pelicans, brown pelicans, snowy egrets and cormorants hanging around the harbor seals. Everybody enjoyed the warm sunny days, preening and resting.
Awesome evening, beautiful fall conditions, great sunset! Tons of harbor seals in the back bay, checked out Grassy Bar Oyster Farm. Tons of cormorants, dozens of egrets, both snowy and great, great blue herons, night heron.
Osprey, harbor seals and epic weather!
Huge mixed flocks of shorebirds and seabirds in the bay today. Lots of harbor seals cruising around also.
Tons of great birding out there on the bay! long billed curlews, sandpipers and sanderlings, osprey, turkey vultures, cormorants, white and brown pelicans, snowy and great egrets, great blue herons. Plus sea otters and harbor seals!
Gorgeous evenings, tons of harbor seals. Beautiful sunset! Lots of birds everywhere.
We watched dolphins surfing in the waves off of Sand Dollar beach! Also spotting two California condors!
We saw a couple of sea otters this evening, plus lots of harbor seals, tons of birds of all kinds, including two osprey. Good close up view of two navanax at Fairbanks Pt.
Another warm one! Lots of brown and white pelicans, harbor seals, turkey vultures, great blue herons and some juvenile and adult black crowned night herons, along with lots of other cool shorebirds!
Amazing warm, calm weather. Lots of brown pelicans and terns, shorebirds flying in huge cloud formations. Stunning evening!
Gorgeous warm weather, hundreds of brown pelicans in the back bay, lots of harbor seals. We also got lucky and watched several humpback whales off of the sandspit!
Large feeding frenzies continue on the bay with huge flocks of brown pelicans, terns and cormorants. Tons of shorebirds. High tide tour, so we saw a few harbor seals in the channels as well.
Tons of wildlife! Terns, pelicans, willets, sandpipers, harbor seals, osprey. Fun day!
It was an epic morning out on the bay, sea otters, osprey, peregrine falcons hunting. Tons and tons of sandpipers and other shorebirds flying over us in big flocks, just gorgeous!
Seals, otters, oysters, pelicans, lunch - oh my!
Bait balls of fish in the bay attracting tons of birds - brown and white pelicans, cormorants, terns. Saw some red necked phalaropes out there also. Sea otter in the back back.
Beautiful sunny morning, calm with an incoming tide that brought tons of bait fish. Multiple brown pelican, double crested cormorant, Caspian and Forster's tern feeding frenzies. Harbor seals everywhere. Lots of shorebirds back in the channels.
We headed north on this trip and checked out all the sea urchins near Tidelands Park. Tons of brown pelicans feeding everywhere. Adult and juvenile harbor seals.
Gorgeous morning. Tons of harbor seals hauled out. White pelicans at the channel mouth feeding and two osprey hunting.
Amazing morning on the bay - so much wildlife out there with all the bait fish in the bay. Saw just about everything there is to see!
Harbor seals, sea hares, sea anemones, osprey, lots of brown pelicans and shorebirds.
Sea otter was hanging about the marina at the start of the trip and an osprey hunting overhead.
Got a good look at a leopard shark today in the back bay! Lots of miscellaneous terns diving for fish, plus osprey, sea otters.
Nice sunny day in Avila Beach today. Low traffic on the roads and bike paths. Beautiful day for wine tasting at Kelsey See Canyon. We had a great barrel room tasting there. Lots of sea lions and even a couple of sea otters at the Harford Pier!
Sea otters, sea hares, lots of harbor seals, terns, godwits, long billed curlews, brown and white pelis!
Gorgeous and perfect out. Slack tide and clear at the start, foggy at the finish. Saw several sea otters in multiple locations around the bay. Lots of cool looking sea anemones at Fairbanks Pt.
Two sea otters in the back, tons of nudibranchs at Fairbanks Pt. Lots of harbor seals!
It was a foggy evening, but really neat out there. Mystical, quiet, calm. We tons of of marine mammals - lots and lots of sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals. Super cool evening.
Belted kingfishers are out and about these days - lots of chattering going on! Osprey spotted at Fairbanks Pt. and a sea otter as well.
Great day - saw a couple of sea otters and lots of harbor seals. Tons of birds out there as well!
Lots of cool stuff today in and out of the water. Great blue herons and great egrets, snowy egrets, tons of shorebirds, multiple different sea otter sightings, several sea hares. Gorgeous day!
We watched a peregrine falcon hunting and then resting on a boat mast. Reddish egret spotted at grassy island and a sea otter by the Grassy Bar Oyster company.
It was a neat foggy evening, the fog was low and thin, so we actually got to see the almost full moon rising over the bay!
Beautiful day on the bay - sunny and warm. Tons of shorebirds at Chorro inlet, a few seals hanging about back there as well.
Lots of osprey sightings today, including one with a nice big fish in its talons. A few scattered harbor seals throughout the bay and one nice sea otter spotting.
Awesome day for birds in the way back part of the bay today - osprey caught a fish just feet from one of the kayaks, two different peregrine falcons hunting over the mudflats, adult reddish egret, American avocets, dowitchers. Lots to see back there on this beautiful morning.
California condors, sea otters, fogbow!
Spotted an osprey and red necked phalaropes. Lots of harbor seals hauled out.
Spotted a sea otter and an osprey along with all the other usual suspects!
Tons of harbor seals hauled out today!
Continuing to see sea otters in the far back bay near the oyster farm. Two osprey sightings. Tons of shorebirds.
Living sand dollars, sea hares, harbor seals, sea otters!
Fog cleared up and we had a gorgeous sunset! Calm waters, beautiful evening.
Mating sea otters spotted again today. Also a very tiny sea otter we've been seeing around the marina lately. Sea hares, nudibranchs, horned shark egg sac.
Got a really close up view of a sea otter munching on a crab!
Big surprise on our foggy sunset paddle - a dolphin! We don't see them very often in the bay, but they do occasionally make an appearance. Mating sea otters, nudibranchs, sea hares, harbor seals, jellyfish. Fog!
Nudibranchs, sea otters, lots of birds, sea hares.
Went to the alternate landing spot on the sandspit and saw lots of cool stuff in the water - nudibranchs, navanax, a couple of sea otters, living sand dollars.
Low tide tour, glassy waters. Spotted two sea otters early on and then another female at Windy Cove. California sea hare, two types of nudibranchs!
Huge black sea hare at Fairbanks Pt. We were followed for awhile by two curious harbor seals. Ospret, nudibranchs, small sleeping sea otter.
A couple of sea otters today including a really young one between White's Pt and the oyster far. Sea hare at Fairbanks Pt!
Sea hares, harbor seals, sea otter, osprey, brown and white pelicans. Beautiful day!
Reddish egret dancing in the shallows!
Female otter at the marina. Small group of young sea lions "porpoise-ing" in the main channel. Nudibranchs, sea hares, harbor seals following us. Fun evening!
Otter spottings between the marina and the sandspit. Saw a huge wolf spider on the dunes!
Another beautiful morning on the estuary. Chatted with the Grassy Bar oyster farmers about their new tumbling method for managing the oysters.
Reddish egret was hanging with his buddies the snowy egrets. A couple of sea otter spottings and a few harbor seals here and there.
Tons of harbor seals and lots and lots of brown pelicans.
Lots of mixed shorebirds all along the banks of Chorro Creek. Tons of harbor seals with tails and noses in the air.
It was one of those classic Morro Bay "sunsets" with lots of fog. Really beautiful night, atmospheric and interesting. Saw 4 sea otters near the oyster farm!
We caught sight of our reddish egret visitor in the back bay. Tons of harbor seals and a sea otter at Fairbank Pt.
Gorgeous day for cycling in the Edna Valley. The coastal fog kept the heat down, so the weather the perfect for biking and wine tasting!
Watched two sea otters mating in the marina before we even left the docks. Lots of brown pelicans out there these days!
At least 30 harbor seals hauled out this morning. There are still a few lingering egret and cormorant fledglings at the rookery who haven't quite left the nest!
Lots of fun stuff to check out today - sea otters in several spots, 4 or 5 sea hares at Fairbanks Pt., brown pelicans diving and white pelicans dipping, oyster farm activity, sand dollar "butterflies." Beautiful day!
Sea otters - lots! Several sea hares at Fairbanks Pt. Lots of brown and white pelicans everywhere. Several harbor seals doing their thing in the back channels.
Gorgeous sunset on our Dinner on the Dunes trip! Otters in the channels, tons of seals.
We had a sunny start and a foggy finish to our sunset paddle, but saw lots of wildlife and had fun jumping on the dunes. Sea otters were hanging around the marina as we left, harbor seals at the haulout, black crowned night heron at the docks.
Sea otters! Brown and white pelicans, seals, shot the pier!
Sea otter right by the marina this morning, reddish egret in the back channels and peregrine falcon hunting overhead. Can't beat the sights!
We are seeing otters on most of our kayak trips these days. They are hanging out around Fairbanks Pt as well as farther back in the bay. Lots and lots of birds, including white and brown pelicans, snowy and great egrets, great blue herons, one long reddish egret. Awesome day!
Reddish egret spotted amongst the double crested cormorants today in the estuary. These are very rare visitors to the bay! We saw four juveniles last year and at least one of them has decided to return to the area,
Otters and seals and birds! Fog burned off and we were left with a beautiful morning. Lots of newly fledged cormorants and egrets fishing off Fairbanks Pt. as well as a snoozing sea otter. Harbor seals hauled out in the back back. Osprey hunting over the beach.
There's been an otter resting in the kelp bed off of Fairbanks Pt. We steer clear of him to not disturb, but today he surprised us all and popped up right next to the boats! Also, lots of fledgling cormorants hunting right off the point there.
Spotted three sea otters in the back bay. More and more sea otters are being spotted south of the marina all the time. Osprey hunting and lots of other birds on the bay, including one lone loon.
Watched an osprey hunting over Windy Cove and a sea otter right off the point there as well as one hanging out by Grassy Bar. Saw two common loons, which is uncommon for this time of year!
Lots and lots of various birds feeding in big frenzies.
We had a mix of fog and sun this morning, and a beautiful time on the water. Saw lots of wildlife, include a slow drift pass a sea otter very focused on grooming itself. Lots of harbor seals both hauled out and in the water. Many brown pelicans diving and lots of white pelicans feeding in the shallows along the way. Great day!
Started out foggy and cool and ended with the sun breaking through and warmer. Lots of miscellaneous feeding frenzies going on around the bay - brown pelicans, cormorants and terns diving in large groups. Saw a sleeping sea otter, floating along in the bay back by the oyster barge. Lots of harbor seals floating around and heading toward the back bay with the tide. Several adult black crowned night herons feeding in the mudflats.
Saw a couple of sea otters today, plus lots of harbor seals and varied bird species.
We've been seeing sea otters pretty regularly back in the back part of the estuary near Grassy Bar Oyster farm. Lots of harbor seals hanging out there too!
Osprey, sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals!
Lots of harbor seals heading toward the back bay this morning. The rookery has lots of fledging great egrets, great blue herons and double crested cormorants. Noisy around the point there!
Saw a couple of sea otters off of Fairbanks Pr. and a beautiful osprey!
Perfect morning, sunny, no wind, lots of harbor seals and birds feeding in Chorro inlet. Watched an osprey hunting!
We saw a couple of adult sea otters today and one youngster, lots of harbor seals hauled out - at least 25. Lots of egrets hunting in the mud flats. Small flock of white pelicans is back in the bay.
Lots of wildlife on the bay these days. Tons of brown pelicans on the bay, lots of harbor seals. Today we saw 5 separate sea otters at different spots on the bay! Multiple osprey sightings also.
We had a little weird wind at the start that died off quickly and we got out to see lots of cool stuff on the bay. Lots of harbor seals, cormorants, herons, egrets and brown pelicans, plus, lots more!
Foggy, but calm evening. We had two peregrine falcon sightings, plus an osprey. Also a bat ray!
Awesome glassy low tide tour with lots of great finds. Sea anemones, crabs, chiton, feather duster worms, bubble smails. Lots of egg casings entangled in the eelgrass. Nudibranch at the oyster farm, brown pelican fly overs.
Got to hold a couple of nudibranchs, checked out the feather duster worms that were in full form out of their tubes. Sea otter and harbor seals in the back bay. We had a young harbor seal following the boats for quite a bit as well.
Cloudy, but warm evening on the bay. Turned into a beautiful glassy calm night for our Dinner on the Dunes trip. Went by Fairbanks Pt and listened to all the bird calls and sounds. So much activity in there with the herons, egrets and cormorants. Gorgeous out on the dunes!
Great day for a bike ride on the Bob Jones bike trail! Off and on sun and fog. Lots of critters to be seen off the Harford Pier - sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters. Peacocks at Kelsey See Canyon winery also!
Gorgeous day on the Big Sur coast! Fog and sun mixed to bring out beautiful views over the water and up and down the coastline.
Millions of sand dollars on the west side of the sand spit! 30 plus harbor seals hanging out and loads of brown pelicans.
Beautiful, calm day! Harbor seals, herons, egrets, cormorants, chitons and crabs and bat rays! Many things to check out!
Spent loads of time watching sea otters, but in particular one mom with a wee little baby. She fed the baby bits of crab, moved the pup around to different spots and she foraged. Amazing to watch!
Super low tide this morning. Rode the tide out for a bit, turned with the tide and rode it back. Sea hare, harbor seals, baby double crested cormorants, great blue herons, white egrets, brown pelicans, marbled godwits, living sand dollars. Shot the pier today!
Heat wave! Watched a catch and release of a 10" baby leopard shark!
Lots of sea otter spottings today on a really low tide trip. Harbor seals hanging out by the oyster farm, osprey flying overhead with a big fish in its talons, brown pelican and double crested cormorant feeding frenzy!
Saw a harbor seal chomping down and eating a large fish!
Great day out there! Sea otters and white pelicans were a highlight this morning.
Amazing evening! Cloudy and beautiful. Herons, pelicans, seals, an incredibly serene sandspit pre-sunset.
Perfect day on the Bob Jones bike trail. Lots of wildlife off the bridge near town, perfect weather, few people.
Another beautiful day, warm and glassy. Paid a visit to the harbor seals, lots of brown pelicans out diving and feeding, checked out the activity on the oyster farm barge.
Gorgeous day. We saw a couple of osprey hunting off the oyster barge in the back bay. Still a few common loons and assorted grebes hanging out. Getting their breeding plumage in.
Low tide tour again. Saw lots of harbor seals in the back bay near Grassy Bar oyster farm.
Saw sea hares in the low tide off Fairbanks Pt. Also a bat star with eggs on the underside! Lots and lots and lots of brown pelicans.
Beautiful morning! Low tide tour, lots of sea life and feeding frenzies with at least 200 brown pelicans. We drifted right through the frenzy with pelicans and cormorants diving all around.
Brown pelicans are back in great numbers!
Sea otter wrapped up in kelp and taking a little snooze, harbor seals and a beautiful morning!
Beautiful morning on the bay. Lots of harbor seals everywhere - babies and adults. Herons, egrets, cormorants, even a lingering common loon and eared grebe. Very clear water. Lots of activity on the Grassy Bar oyster barge.
There are still a few eared grebes hanging out and one of them has some pretty spectacular breeding plumage!
Diving brown pelicans and Caspian terns, harbor seal moms and pups, pelagic cormorants and double crested cormorants. Lots of little bait fish jumping around!
Salps in the water near the harbor seals, lots of turkey vultures on a deceased adult harbor seal. The double crested cormorants have babies in nests! Gorgeous sunset!
Had some up close visits from harbor seals in the main channel. A few brown pelicans have returned to the area already. Huge sea hare at Fairbanks Pt.
Bat stars, harbor seal pups and a peregrine falcon fly by.
Cool things above and below the water today. Sea hares, bat stars and even an octopus (that's something you sure don't see every day in Morro Bay!). Harbors seals with pups, oyster farming, briwn oelicans diving and double crested cormorants fshing.
Foggy evening with an incoming tide. Lots of seal pups and a young sea otter that popped up right next to the boats! Beautiful night.
Sea lions and sea otters!
Perfect day for a paddle, sunny, calm, sea otters, harbor seals, osprey, herons, egrets!
Lovely family of four cycled down Highway One on the northern SLO County coast today. Tons of zebras at Hears Ranch visible direct from the highway!
Nice cool morning in Paso Robles for cycling. Vines are starting to leaf and it was not very busy at all today in the tasting rooms, even though it was Easter weekend.
Lots of harbor seal and sea otter sightings!
It was a foggy, but really cool evening on the bay. Low tide tour. We watched an osprey hunting over the bay and had four different sea otter spottings, plus a few harbor seals.
Had a nice close up spotting of a sea otter today along with all the baby harbor seals out there!
We've been seeing salps on the beaches and in the bay recently and today we saw a full chain of salps rather than the broken off pieces. Lots and lots of baby harbor seals as well!
We were surprised to come across a small flock of Brant geese in the estuary today!
Lots of snail and marine worm egg casings in the bay. Several sea hares spotted in the shallows also!
We saw about 12 harbor seal pups in the water today. Plus lots of nesting activity happening in the rookery - cormorants, herons and egrets. A bat star was in the rocks at Fairbanks Pt. also!
Lots of chatty baby harbor seals in the back bay today. Plus we saw some cool salps and By-the-Wind sailors. Did some jump roping with a long strand of bull kelp out on the sandspit beach.
We were watched by a harbor seal mom and pup as we entered the channel to head out to the dunes. Lots of great blue herons and great egrets starting to roost and nest in the rookery.
We are up to a count of 14 baby harbor seal pups and moms out there in the estuary!
Lots of wildlife on the bay these days! Plus, we got buzzed by a peregrine falcon during our paddle demo while still on land.
The common loons are beginning to get their summer breeding plumage - looking beautiful!
Another beautiful day in Big Sur. Lots of California condors spotted, flowers blooming all over the place, water flowing down the creeks.
Fantastic day in Big Sur! We saw lots of migrating whales offshore. Plus, four California condors! We had a good time getting a little wet crossing the creeks to get to the waterfall at Lime Kiln as well!
The first harbor seal pup of the season was born and lying next to its mother on the mudflats of the channel!
Gorgeous, warm morning on the bay with lots of wildlife spotted - peregrine falcon, red tailed hawks, great blue herons, great egrets and tons of miscellaneous shorebirds. Plus, the first baby harbor seal of the season!
So many great blue herons out today! Glassy, no wind, picture perfect day!
We got our feet wet in the creeks today in Lime Kiln State Park! Lots of water flowing and we decided to venture across the creek crossings to get back and see the waterfall, which was magnificent!
Gorgeous, sunny day in Big Sur! One of the highlights of our day was seeing 4 California condors at Partington Cove. The waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer is roaring and the creeks at Lime Kiln are flowing strong and high. Lots of wildflowers starting to bloom!
It was a cool, but beautiful day bicycling in Paso Robles. The hillsides are emerald green, but the grapevines haven't quite started to bud yet. Lots of water in the Salinas River!
We've been having a chilly and wet winter, but this evening was gorgeous on our sunset paddle. Cold, yes, but we dressed warmly and were treated to a beautiful sunset and lots of cool wildlife on the bay.
Beautiful, glassy morning on the bay. One of our trips saw four different sea otters! Lots of great harbor seal and bird viewing in the back back, including brown and white pelicans. Lots of ducks and grebes on the bay as well as shorebirds.
Central Coast Outdoors has the great pleasure of guiding the kayaking birding trips for the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, held every year over MLK weekend. Here's a sampling of some of the many, many species of birds we have been seeing: peregrine falcon, osprey, red tailed hawk, turkey vulture, tropical kingbird (yep!), black phoebes, brown and white pelicans, pelagic and double crested cormorants, great and snowy egrets, great blue herons, Brant geese, green and blue winged teals, western and least sandpipers, black bellied plovers, willets, long billed curlews, marbled godwits, American avocets, Caspian and Forsters terns, buffleheads; western, Clarks, pied billed, eared and horned grebes; Pacific and common loons, red breasted mergansers, belted kingfishers, spotted sandpipers. Plus our non feathered friends, harbor seals and sea otters!
Dolphins off of Partington Cove!
Another beautiful morning on the estuary - glassy and warm. Super high tide took us deep into Chorro inlet, thousands of birds!
Lots of sea otters today on the bay feeding during the high tide!
Very low tide, warm afternoon and evening sunset paddle. We saw all kinds of cool stuff in the shallows of the minus tide - bat stars, nudibranchs, living sand dollars. Great sunset and beautiful evening!
Winter time on Morro Bay is our favorite time of year. There is so much wildlife going on out there and the weather is cool, but calm. We are also enjoying incredible high and low tides, each one bringing its own special experience. Humongous numbers of birds on the bay this morning, tons of harbor seals. The winds have carved beautiful patterns in the sand of the sand spit. Beautiful day!
Peregrine falcons were hunting in the back bay today. Plus, we spotted two common ravens at the kayak docks (even though they are common in other parts of the central coast, they are just starting to make an appearance at the actual coastline. Ravens are incredibly smart and are great mimics. These two were clearly saying "hello." Extremely cool!
Glassy water, gazillions of birds of all kinds! Maybe a hundred turkey vultures riding the thermals, osprey, peregrine falcons, red tail hawks and sea birds everywhere!
Super high tide today, so we paddled out toward the grassy island and saw a pair of peregrine falcons out there. Lots of herons and egrets along the way, plus an osprey! Watched a sea otter for a bit, then checked out about 25 harbor seals in the back bay. Gorgeous day!
Gorgeous! Very high tide so we paddle back deep into Chorro inlet and were rewarded with an amazing amount of wildlife. Great day out there.
Gorgeous and calm morning before the incoming storm system. Lots of harbor seals hanging around the back channels. We saw a huge flock of white pelicans - probably close to 50! Peregrine falcon and an osprey were hanging out in between the grassy islands during the high tide.
Another "wow" day on the bay today. Started with a fly-by of a bald eagle and ended with a great sea otter spotting. In between we sailed over the pickleweed on the high tide and checked out the Brant geese, white pelicans, tons and tons of varied shorebirds, common loon, osprey, lolling harbor seals, grebes. A grand day!
Awesome morning on the bay. A little breezy for part of it, but super high tide allowed us to paddle over the pickleweed and get far back into the estuary. We were treated to a plethora of birds, both in numbers of species and in pure numbers. It was magical! Highlights, a big flock of Brant geese flying overhead, a fantastic peregrine falcon display - dive bombing shorebirds, joining up with another falcon and wreaking a little havoc - thousands of sandpipers, black bellied plovers, American wigeons, American avocets, northern pintails, lots of osprey! A great day!
Perfect glassy estuary. Thousands of birds! Lots of harbor seals. Great day.
Flat, calm water, lots of harbor seals! Winter birds are arriving on a daily basis! Brandt geese are here!
Beautiful calm day on the bay. Lots of wildlife activity - harbor seals following us, sea otters, tons of bird life.
Gorgeous sunsets going on at the moment. Clear and warm and the water clarity is phenomenal right now! Lots of brown pelicans in the area feeding and thousands of shorebirds.
We have been having incredible fall sunsets these past few weeks! Check out our Facebook page for photos. So much wildlife out there as well. Lots of incoming migratory birds, sea otters, harbor seals, clear waters. Can't beat it!
A bit windy today on the bay, but a fun time anyway! So much wildlife on the bay these days. We watched an osprey hunting around the bay in search of fish.
Sunset paddle! Sea hares, living sand dollars, crabs, harbor seals, osprey, great blue herons, brown and white pelicans, osprey nudibranch, bubble snails, sea anemones!
Very warm morning on the bay with a cool and unusual marine layer coming and going. Over 50 harbor seals hauled out back in the channel! Plus, with the super clear water these days we saw a leopard shark and bat ray!
Fantastic morning - glass conditions. Lots of harbor seals, an osprey, northern harrier and super clear water with the high tide!
Amazing sunset this evening! Lots of stuff to see over and under the water also - kelp crab, sea hares, bat rays and harbor seals; tons of bird life including an osprey!
Gorgeous morning. Huge pelican and cormorant feeding frenzy close to the docks - easily a few hundred of each species dipping and diving for fish.
Great evening on the bay with a beautiful, almost full moon shining over the water. Osprey, sea otters, harbor seals, lots of herons and egrets everywhere.
Perfect glass on the bay. We are really getting peak brown and white pelican viewing, as well as osprey, cormorants, harbor seals, egrets and sea otters.
Four osprey were hanging out over the sandspit today and they were definitely displaying territorial behavior. We saw 7 sea otters today! Brown and white pelicans, cormorants, common loons, lots of different grebes, shorebirds!
Saw a couple of osprey, two sea otters who came very near the boats, great blue herons galore and a quite a brown pelican feeding frenzy!
Perfect fall day for riding down Highway 1! Saw lots of zebras very close to the fence at Hearst Ranch!
Another really awesome day on the bay. Beautiful and sunny and calm. Lots and lots of brown and white pelicans. Three sea otters and a couple of osprey made appearances also!
Saw a cool and beautiful sea hare, four (!) sea otters, tons and tons of birds and feeding frenzies on the bay!
OMG, what a day! Sunny, glassy, osprey, white and brown pelicans, peregrine falcons, harbor seals and two sea otters!
And another OMG for the sunset paddle this evening. These fall days are some of the best on the bay - no wind, huge numbers of birds and bird species to be seen on the bay.
Gorgeous fall weather in Big Sur! Very few people out. Fall colors, lots of water still coming down the falls.
Perfect, glassy conditions this morning. We are seeing lots and lots of birds these days and many feeding frenzies out on the bay!
Really high tide this morning, so we were able to paddle over the pickleweed. Harbor seals, peregrine falcon, osprey, two leopard sharks! First common loon of the season. White and brown pelicans.
It was a gorgeous fall evening on the bay - warm and clear. We had the bonus of watching the Space X rocket launch from Vandenburg AFB as a finale to a great evening of wildlife and dinner on the dunes!
Lots of sea otter viewing today! The tide was high enough that we were able to paddle between the grassy islands and get near the white pelicans who were hanging out there.
It was a great evening on the bay! Sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, osprey, peregrine falcons, white pelicans....beautiful!
Live sand dollar beds, sea otters, herons, egrets, black crowned night herons. Got right in the middle of two peregrine falcons hunting a marbled godwit, which was quite a sight for us as the godwit was right by us, so the peregrines were whizzing by very closely!
Bald eagle today at the heron rookery! Tons of white pelicans. Awesome day out there!
Five sea otters on this morning's kayak trip!
Three osprey, numerous sea otters and seals and a peregrine falcon sitting on the sign post in the by grassy island!
It was a great wildlife morning on the bay. Even though it was foggy, it was a magical, calm and glassy bay. Lots of wildlife activity. Harbor seals were hauled out and in the water of the back bay. Belted kingfishers, osprey, brown pelicans, Caspian and Forsters terns were all taking advantage of incredible visibility in the water and diving all over the place for fish. We saw three reddish egrets and a peregrine falcon; Western grebes, pied billed grebes, tons of various shorebirds, egrets, great blue herons. Cloudy bubble snail egg casings all over as well. Great morning!
Warm inland today on our biking trip in Paso Robles. The grape vines are starting to turn red and orange and the harvest is in full swing!
It was a foggy morning, but incredibly calm and glassy on the water. We had an osprey who seemed to follow us along on the trip today. Lots of terns, white and brown pelicans, shorebirds and a few harbor seals floating around.
Wow on the wildlife today! One of the highlights was a bald eagle flying over the back bay! We also saw two sea otters and three reddish egrets, plus, white and brown pelicans, lots of shorebirds, harbor seals.
Tons of bait fish in the bay and we had the pleasure of watching a great feeding frenzy of brown pelicans, cormorants and terns this evening. Saw a few osprey in different sites throughout the bay. Tons of harbor seals hauled out in the back bay, including one very curious one who came over toward the boats. Snowy egrets, great blue herons, lots of shorebirds, lots of brown and white pelicans!
The reddish egrets are still hanging out on the bay. We saw three of them this morning, near the white pelicans in the back part of the bay. Lots of harbor seals in the water with the high tide. Peregrine falcon was spotted over grassy island. Lots of shorebirds poking around in the mud.
Gorgeous, calm morning on the bay. Osprey, belted kingfishers, lots of raptors out this morning. Plus all the usual shorebirds and sea birds!
We watched two peregrine falcons hunting over Chorro inlet this morning! A sea otter was lolling around in Windy Cove also.
A bit breezy out there today, but that didn't keep the wildlife away! Harbor seals, sea otters, lots of shorebirds of all shapes and sizes, brown and white pelicans, egrets and herons!
Wildlife bonanza! So many birds and marine mammals in and on the bay these days - feeding frenzies of pelicans (both white and brown), cormorants, terns and even a couple of osprey in the mix. Lots of harbor seals hauled out in the channel.
Major feeding frenzies happening on the bay these days. Tons of diving terns, brown pelicans and cormorants out there catching a lot of bait fish. Wildlife is definitely out in numbers!
Beautiful day to bike the Pacific Coast Highway! Tailwinds and sunshine. Saw about 20 zebra at the Hearst Ranch and then just beyond that a large herd of Rocky Mountain elk!
Sea otters, brown and white pelicans and harbor seals galore! Very clear and warm water in the bay these days.
Had some great close up time with a sea otter on the trip who kept popping up with crabs to eat near our boats. Lots of harbor seals in Chorro channel and tons of birds - white and brown pelicans, elegant and Forster's terns, tons of shorebirds also, including willets, marbled godwits, long billed curlew, yellow legs, one dancing reddish egret, snowy egrets. Great morning!
Saw an osprey and a sea otter of the marina point, right off the bat this morning. Lots of harbor seals hauled out. Pied billed and western grebes are starting to show up!
We had a calm morning before the afternoon winds kicked up. Checked out the harbor seals and the oyster farm and then headed out to the dunes. Saw a great multi species feeding frenzy out on the ocean!
A bit breezy tonight, but lots of bird activity. Shorebirds everywhere - curlews, willets, godwits, egrets, both snowy and great. Lots of white pelicans as well!
Fantastic morning on the bay. We saw a couple of sea otters south of the marina and four reddish egrets near the harbor seals. Lots of seals hauled out. There was also an osprey flying around and hunting by the docks.
Great day with some cool sightings in Big Sur. Two California condors at Partington Cove, plus three more at Lime Kiln State Park! We also saw a small pod of Minke whales from the beach at Lime Kiln!
We had a fantastic wildlife tour this morning! We saw a total of 8 sea otters! Several of them were mothers with older offspring clinging on or nearby. Lots of harbor seal action in the back bay also. Lots of harbor seal "bowling ball" heads popping up all around the boats as they made their way into the channel to haul out. Saw two of our recent arrival reddish egrets, plus, osprey, white and brown pelicans, various mixed shorebirds, western grebes, double crested cormorants, turkey vultures, great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets. A great day!
Nice, calm, and foggy evening on the bay. High tide trip with tons of shorebirds collected around the edges of Chorro inlet.
Great paddle this morning! Still seeing lots of moon jellies, egg casings from lots of different species floating around, reddish egrets are still out "dancing" around. Lots of brown and white pelicans and lots of harbor seals!
Saw several of the reddish egrets as well as a sea otter today. Also, a baby harbor seal popped up next to a couple of our boats - swimming under and around the boats - very neat!
Some new arrivals on the bay today! First commmon loon on the bay - still in breeding plumage, western and pied billed grebes as well! Belted kingfishers, brown pelicans, white pelicans, cormorants AND one of the newly seen reddish egrets! Also, found two navanax right off the docks with the low tide. Beautiful creatures! Moon jellies in the water. Tons of harbor seals out too.
Two sea otters spotted by Grassy Bar oyster company, lots of harbor seals, osprey, kingfishers and, yes, the reddish egret again!
Reddish egrets out there this evening!
Lots of stuff to see on our morning paddles today. Very cool sea hare that inked purple ink everywhere, osprey, brown pelicans, white pelicans, terns, reddish egrets (yes, it's true - a rarity indeed), harbor seals, lots of shorebirds. A really good day out there!
Red necked phalaropes out on the bay today and a reddish egret! These are very unusual sightings in Morro Bay. We were excited to see these guys today on the kayak trip!
It was another foggy evening on the bay, but the marine layer was high up with lots of visibility. Lots of cool wildlife on the bay - the brown pelicans were enjoying a nice big feeding frenzy, double crested cormorants roosting in the rookery, great blue herons, black crowned night herons, terns, white pelicans, osprey. It was a good night out there!
Beautiful biking day in the Edna Valley. Grapevines are dripping with fruit, the weather is warm and pleasant and the wine tasting is excellent!
Very interesting and beautiful fog layer over the estuary tonight. Spotted a huge mass of snails huddled together along with a giant egg casing! Also a giant sea hare - 10" at least.
Pulled a massive sea hare out of the shallows today to check out! Beautiful calm morning on the bay. Lots of sea otter activity, harbor seals in the back bay and a surprising number of "peeps" flying around the back bay. Multiple white pelicans today also. Plus a few osprey. The belted kingfishers are back as well and very active! Not a bad day at all!
Even the foggy evening sunset paddles can bring unexpected beautiful conditions. Tonight was extraordinary. We saw numerous otters - four in all. For about a half an hour the tulle fog coming up from the water and the marine layer moving in were mixing and creating the most beautiful fog and dappled sunlight scenario. It really was other-worldly and created amazing formations. It was very special!
The morning fog added a mysterious atmosphere to the kayak trip today. Great time on the estuary, with lots of seals at Chorro inlet, two sea otter sightings, osprey out and about, folks working at the oyster farm.
Beautiful day on the Big Sur coast. Perfect weather, whale watching, turkey vultures and, a treat for the day, a California condor, who did a fly by so we could really see the difference between the turkey vultures and the condor. Very cool!
Saw two ospreys today when we got out on the sand dunes. Also enjoyed seeing a mom and baby otter near the Grassy Bar Oyster Company.
This was the first time out on a kayak for dog Bella, her person and kayak guide took the time to practice and feel comfortable on the docks before going out into the water. The weather started foggy but turned into a bright beautiful day and Bella had a great time!
We saw some cool stuff on our tour today, including a bat ray and a ghost shrimp that had been trapped in a water pool on the sand. Sand dollars and sea urchins too!
Lots to see today! Osprey, crabs, white pelicans, seals and moon jellies delighted our guests today.
Great weather to bike in the Avila! A mixture of fog and sunshine, also a mixture of people watching and animal watching. Steelhead were seen hanging out under the bridge.
Too much fun exploring on the dunes! Saw terns, bubble snails and moon jellies.
Saw an early arrival red breasted merganser with two babies!
We saw not only a sea otter this evening, but also two seal pups passed us by.
While kayaking around Fairbanks Point this morning we saw a live Moon Jelly drifting through the water!
The osprey were out in force today flying around the marina! Sea hare found near the rookery. Lots of bird life on the bay.
Saw about 15 white pelicans today!
A foggy morning, but lots of cool stuff to see. Cormorants, great and snowy egrets, crabs, chitons, sea anemones, bat rays, brown and white pelicans, turkey vultures.
The fog added an aura of mystery to the tour today. Lots of wildlife as well, including white pelicans and harbor seals.
Lots of wildlife today! Harbor seals, kingfishers diving, and many herons. We even saw a guitarfish - a close relative of skates and rays.
Saw an otter mom and pup playing and hunting in the harbor area.
Spectacular evening. One of those amazing sunsets that happened after a mostly foggy day. Sundog between the setting sun and the rock, full moon rise. Los of cool wildlife on the bay.
It was pretty blustery on the bay this morning, but still lots of cool wildlife to be had. A very young sea otter was hanging out right be the marina. Two juvenile ospreys practicing their hunting skills, lots of harbor seals hauled out in the back bay. Brown pelicans and cormorants galore. The oyster farm was bustling today!
Harbor seals, sea otter and sea lion spottings! Plus tons of brown pelicans and other regular bird sightings.
Lots of sea otter spotting today. Two hanging out near Tidelands Park and a young pup right by Fairbanks Pt!
Highway One is finally open! Beautiful day hiking in Big Sur - the fog came and went, waterfall still flowing strongly at Lime Kiln, wildflowers still abound.
Great time on the bay this morning. No wind and the fog came and went, making for cool conditions. Saw a sea cucumber, harbor seals, double crested cormorants, brown pelicans, willets, great and snowy egrets, sea otter and several chitons and crabs and sea anemones!
The harbor seals popped up around us throughout our evening paddle. Saw a sea otter near Tidelands Park and an osprey at Fairbank Pt.
Nice day on the Bob Jones Bike trail today! Spotted hawks, vultures, cormorants and one really big fish in the creek! At least 18"!
We watched a cool moon snail extruding its egg casing into the water. Very cool! The ospreys are not only back, but are very vocal, with adults and juveniles on the bay.
Beautiful clear evening with lots and lots of diving and hanging out brown pelicans on the bay.
Beautiful sunny day on the bay. We were welcomed onto the water by a sea otter right near the docks!
The ospreys are back!
Very low tide on the trip today. Too many harbor seals to count! We also saw three sea otters today. One had wrapped himself up in the kelp bed near the Inn at Morro bay and was taking a nice nap.
It was a foggy, cool classic Central Coast day today. Tons of brown pelicans on the bay, diving for fish. Harbor seals in the water. Super low tide, so we had plenty to look at on the intertidal mud flats around the oyster farm.
While we were hanging out by an eelgrass bed a sea otter floated on past. Lots of brown pelicans feeding around the bay.
Feeding frenzies in the bay mean we get an up close look at a variety of birds diving upon a large school of fish. This morning's low tide meant it was easier to trap the fish in shallow water so we got to see a lot of frenzies on the Short Paddle today!
Harbor seals, brown and white pelicans on the bay. Dolphins feeding on off the beach of the sandspit as well as a whale!
All star critter trip this morning! Sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, white pelicans, fledgling cormorants, brown pelicans!
Today seemed to be great egret day - tons of them feeding in and around the wetlands of the back bay.
We had a harbor seal entourage as we moved toward the back back today. The oyster farm was busy with harvesting and sorting going on. Lots of moon jellies in the water and on the beaches.
Morro Bay is the place to be during this heat wave! Beautiful day on the bay. We saw a big jellyfish in Windoy Cove, tons of crabs. Sea otter spotted eating something crunchy near the oyster farm. Brown pelican feeding frenzy.
It was a hot day in Avila Beach, but we enjoyed biking in the shade of the Bob Jones Trail out to Harford Pier this morning with a group of gals on a bachelorette weekend. The bride-to-be wore a great 50s outfit and skirt! We made a last minute change to beat the heat and relocated our picnic lunch to Kelsey See Canyon winery where we lunched and wine tasted in the cool shade.
Awesome day - sea lion on the beach, harbor seals in the bay and an osprey hunting over the beach!
We were greeted at our pullout spot on the sandspit by a sea otter this evening!
We found two beautiful nudibranchs right at the kayak docks before we left. A couple of fawns have been spotted grazing at Fairbank Pt. recently. Lots of brown pelicans diving for abundant fish!
Lots of different and unusual things in the water these days - due to the warm finger of water that is coming up the coast. We are seeing lots of pelagic tuna crabs (the look like a cross between a crawfish and a lobster), brown jellies, moon jellies. Lots of egg casings floating around in giant clumps that look like spaghetti!
Another beautiful day. Lots and lots of brown pelicans on the bay, diving, preening and hanging out. Also a lot of harbor seals in the inlets of the back bay. First white pelican sighting!
We saw a coyote with a brush rabbit in its mouth today on the Estero Bluffs! Harbor seals, one bat star, sea anemones, hermit crabs and American avocets!
Sunny, beautiful morning. Saw egrets and a great blue heron hunting along the edges of Windy Cove. Osprey perched and preening at Fairbanks Pt. Lots of seals both swimming and hauled out. Brown pelican feeding frenzy also!
Gorgeous day in Big Sur! Clear, long range visibility out over the ocean. We spotted two California condors at Partington Cove! Lime Kiln State Park was lush and full of blooming flowers.
Gorgeous sunset! The harbor seal population was about 40 in the channels this evening!
Saw lots of cool stuff this evening! Moon jellies, bat rays, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, brown pelicans. The marine layer was high, so we had beautiful lighting and got to watch the sunset into the ocean. Calm, glassy waters.
At least 30 harbor seals were hauled out in the channels - super fun to see lots of color variations. Huge Spider crab on the sandspit!
We've been enjoying lots of sea lion, harbor seal and brown pelican activity on the bay, as well as lots of fledgling double crested cormorants practicing swimming, diving and flying.
Really fun day of cycling in the Paso Robles area. Had a great time visiting with Larry, the winemaker at Via Vega - what a character! The couple on the tour also enjoyed a very tasty wine and cheese pairing for their tasting at Le Vigne.
Despite the foggy skies, there was lots to see out on the bay today. Many harbor seals, especially juveniles, several sea otters and sea lions, an osprey and a cool and colorful navanax down in the mud.
Lots of seals meandering around the bay on the tours recently!
Great wildlife day on the bay - sea otter, lots of harbor seals and a ton of nesting and feeding of babies activity at the heron rookery.
Perfect calm, warm morning. Lots of seals in the inlet and a big feeding frenzy of brown pelicans in the main channel.
It was a foggy evening on the bay, but very atmospheric and lots of cool wildlife to see. We all got to see a beautiful bay ray come up near the surface and swim between all the boats. Juvenile osprey sitting in a tree and a very small fawn (still with spots) hanging out on Fairbank Pt. Tons of nesting double crested cormorants, great blue herons and great egrets. Harbor seals chilling in the back bay and a brown pelican feeding frenzy.
Started with a calm, foggy morning with a little breeze and turned into a beautiful day with warm sun and calm waters. Highlight of the day was the very long lasting brown pelican feeding frenzy that we watched for an hour from the dunes. You could see the fish in their mouths, we were so close!
Great day in Big Sur today! We saw multiple California condors as well as humpback whales very close to shore. Doesn't get much better than that!
We had a little bit of everything out there this morning! Fog, sunshine, steam rising up from the mudflats, dramatic clouds. It was a beautiful day! We spend a good amount of time watching a very active sea otter grooming itself and lots of harbor seals popping up around us. Bat rays also spotted in the shallows as well as brown pelicans diving for fish.
Lots of very playful harbor seal pups today! They are at the curious stage, popping up very close to the boats. Sea otters spotted way back in the Estuary today also!
Perfect biking weather in Paso Robles these spring days - warm, sunny, budding grape vines!
We've been spotting sea otters with regularity on our kayak trips these days. They are being spotted south of our location in State Park Marina, which is fairly unusual up to this point!
Wow, what an evening on the bay. Warm, clear and beautiful. Not another soul on the bay or sandspit, lots of wildlife to be seen. Check out the photos on our Facebook page!
We spotted a sea otter off of Fairbanks Pt this morning and lots of seals and sea lions feeding on bait fish in the bay!
Beautiful evening on the bay! Peregrine falcon, osprey, leopard shark in the eel grass, clouds of sandpipers, lots of harbor seals. We also watched a sea otter crack open and devour a huge mussel!
Beautiful day to be biking in the Edna Valley! The hills are emerald green, grape vines are budding out, light winds, great wine tasting.
Harbor seal pups in abundance these days! Mossy chiton, sea otter, egrets, loons, great blue herons, double crested cormorants and lots of peeps!
Well, it was a very foggy sunset paddle this evening, but we did see some cool stuff! Highlight was watching two otters mating!
Beautiful day to be in Big Sur. Highlight of the day were the eight California condors we spotted at Partington Cove!
Great wildlife sightings on our kayak trips today - lots and lots of vocal harbor seal pups calling out to their moms. A nice close up of a sea otter who popped up near the boats as well. Tons of birds - white and brown pelicans, nesting cormorants, great egrets, great blue herons, shorebirds - sandpipers, curlews, willets and godwits, one lone osprey. Cool stuff underwater as well - bat star, limpets, chitons and some cool looking shark egg casings!
Great weather on the Big Sur coast! Spotted a gray whale motoring northward. Tons of water in the falls at Lime Kiln - very beautiful at the moment!
Beautiful day for biking in Avila Beach and See Canyon today. Lots of wildlife along the beach and off Harford Pier - harbor seal with a pup, sea lions and sea otter!
We are loving seeing all the new harbor seal pups every day!
A high spirited group of young women had a great time today cycling and tasting wine in the Paso Robles area.
A lovely half day cycling trip on the coast from Ragged Point down to Cambria. LOTS of baby elephant seals still on the beaches at the rookery.
We are up to 9 baby harbor seal pups in the channel now! All very active.
Beautiful day on the Big Sur coast! The recent rains have really boosted the water levels in the creeks - lots of fun creek crossings and a very full waterfall at Lime Kiln State Park!
Beautiful morning on the bay - sunny and starting to warm up! The Brandt geese are still hanging about and were quite active today. Lots of other bird activity out there, including thousands of various shorebirds, one lone white pelican, double crested cormorants, snowy egrets. The harbor seals have now birthed four pups! They are very actively calling for "mom!"
It was a low tide trip today and the newly born harbor seal pups were hanging out on the mudflats with their moms! We were the only people on the dunes - first footprints of the day!
Beautiful morning on the Bay. The Heron rookery is starting to get really active with nesting herons, egrets and cormorants. Most winter migratory birds, including Brant geese, can still be seen on the Bay as well. Saw a peregrine and an osprey today as well.
The first two baby harbor seals of the season have been born! There are some early nesting double crested cormorants in the heron rookery. Mating and nest repairing happening amongst the great blue herons and great egrets. Spring has sprung!
Beautiful windless evening on bay. We haven't seen any seal pups yet, but it feels like anytime now! We did see some American avocets in the creek channel and lots of feeding snowy egrets, plus an osprey near the sandspit resting on a pole. All the other usual winter suspects out there too!
Chilly, but beautiful day on the bay this morning. Saw all kinds of cool stuff, including an osprey, a peregrine falcon, lots of white pelicans and multiple other shorebirds, ducks and geese. Plus, some very pregnant harbor seals - babies very soon!
Amazing clear, warm and beautiful evening on the bay! Lots of bird life and the harbor seals are looking extremely pregnant!
This past weekend was the winter bird festival in Morro Bay. We guided 5 kayak trips and saw some amazing things! Highlights: a peregrine falcon using the kayaks to hide and launch a low attack across the water where he grabbed a small peep off the mudflats. We saw him plucking his meal a minute later atop a boat mast. Many many sightings of osprey, thousands of shorebirds, including sanderlings, western and least sandpipers, willets, long billed curlews, marbled godwits, black bellied plovers, greater yellow legs, spotted sandpipers. Great blue herons, great egrets and snowy egrets. A solitary snow goose and a few Canada geese and hundreds of Brant geese! We also spotted a few ducks, including bufflehead, ruddy ducks, red breasted mergansers, northern pintails, northern shovelers, green winged teals. Belted kingfishers, western, Clarks, eared, horned and pied billed grebes. Common loons. Ring billed, western and California gulls, Caspian terns. We had a few marine mammal spottings as well - lots and lots of harbor seals, a couple of sea otters and a group of sea lions. Excellent weekend out there on the bay!
Awesome New Years Day on the bay! Osprey, harbor seals, white pelicans and American avocet in the back bay, along with all the usual suspects!
Great evening on the bay. Super low tide, so we couldn't quite get back too far into the channels. Lots of white pelicans, cormorants and tons of great blue herons. Really pretty sunset and moonrise, with glassy water on the paddle back.
Spectacular evening on the bay. We watched the almost full moon come up and light our way back to the docks. Super low tide, so lots of bird life in the narrow channels of the bay. Harbor seals all hauled out as well.
Bat rays, osprey, harbor seals, tons and tons of winter bird life! Awesome day out there!
Beautiful winter days on the bay! Harbor seals, bat ray, sea slugs, willets, cormorants, buffleheads, egrets, herons, terns, just to name a tiny fraction of all the cool stuff to see out there right now!
Fantastic, beautiful morning on Morro Bay today! The water was amazingly clear - it felt like we were paddling over glass, with visibility down to about 10 feet. Lots of animal activity on the bay as well - a group of about 30 sea lions were frolicking throughout the morning, harbor seals galore, a sea otter, osprey, brown and white pelicans, American avocets, curlews, godwits, terns, egrets, herons, buffleheads, mergansers, loons, Brant geese....you name it and it was out there today!
Great day on the water today. Lots of cool wildlife including a peregrine falcon hunting over the beach, an osprey hunting over the bay and a sea otter enjoying his meal on the water. Lots of winter ducks and geese and grebes on the bay!
Pretty incredible conditions on the bay this Thanksgiving week. Warm, glassy waters with incredible clarity - you can see the bottom in detail in at least five feet of water. Lots of winter wildlife arriving every day.
Awesome day out there on the water! We watched a peregrine falcon hunting a grebe on the bay and got pretty up close and personal with an osprey as well! Lots of harbor seals hauled out on the picklweed!
Lots of awesome wildlife on the bay today - peregrine falcons, osprey, sea otters, harbor seals and Brant geese!
On our afternoon private kayak trip we had a bit of a breeze to start, but then it was glassy and calm. Tons of harbor seals hauled out today. We also watched a red tailed hawk snag a gopher on Fairbank Pt and fly up to tree snag to enjoy his meal.
We've really been enjoying this amazing late fall sunsets on the water and this one came with a negative tide, so lots of different things to be seen in the exposed shallows. Worm egg sacks, snails and snail egg strands and the tiniest living sand dollar imaginable!
Nice, calm before the coming storm morning kayak trip. Very high tide, so we explored the area around grassy island. Saw a nice mixed flock of white and brown pelicans, lots of shorebirds, and harbor seals resting in the shallows. Sea otters as well!
Spectacular, warm fall day in Paso Robles for our afternoon wine tasting and biking trip. The wines have been harvested and the smell of crushed grapes is in the air.
Brant geese are here!
Fogbow on today's kayak trip - amazing!!
Wow, what an evening on the bay. Warm, clear, calm. Tons of wildlife. Some of the notables: peregrine falcon, ospreys, white and brown pelicans, hundreds and hundreds of varied shorebirds, with lots of murmurating flocks of sandpipers, harbor seals everywhere. Lovely early fall evening!
Beautiful day on the Big Sur coast! Saw a nice pod of dolphins frolicking off the coast.
Today was a wow day on the bay - multiple osprey sightings, a nice close up view of a peregrine falcon hunting over the salt marsh, about 20 white pelicans, brown pelicans galore, terns, lots and lots of shorebirds, herons and egrets. Top all that off with many harbor seals and a sea otter crunching away on a crab. Lots of good stuff!
The warm weather continues and it was a beautiful morning for a paddle. Winter birds starting to come, including a common loon and some pied billed and western grebes spotted this morning. Lots of pelicans still lingering and two osprey.
Warm, gorgeous, glassy water evening. Tons of harbor seals and three ospreys along with lots of other bird life on the bay.
Beautiful, peaceful and quiet warm fall day in Big Sur today. We saw whales and lots of them, right off shore! Very exciting.
Five osprey flying around over the salt marsh and a peregrine falcon! Beautiful clear water and a high enough tide that we could glide over the top of the salt marsh.
Perfect morning on the water! Glassy water, tons of wildlife. We watched three fishermen pull in a 40" thresher shark, which is very unusual to find in the bay. These sharks are usually found offshore, but he was in a deep spot in the bay off of Fairbank Pt.
Some of the cool stuff we saw today - osprey, kingfishers and white pelicans!
Two juvenile peregrine falcons and one adult were just going ballistic chasing each other around the marina before we headed out for a sunset paddle. Dive bombing, chasing turkey vultures, screaming constantly. Often they would come tearing over the gangway down toward the kayak docks at full speed and pass 20 feet in front of us on the chase. The ultimate was two of them grabbing talons in mid air and falling/spinning down from about 50 feet up, talons clasped together, and plummeting to the ground together. They released talons at the last minute and both took off screaming at one another.
Awesome day on the bay - a couple of osprey were hunting, a red tail hawk was hanging out by the marina, two very active and vocal belted kingfishers about, lots and lots of terns and brown pelicans, plus a peregrine falcon at Fairbank Pt.!
Beautiful evening on the bay! The kingfishers are being very territorial around the marina and Windy Cove - dive bombing one another and anyone else they don't want around!
Awesome day out there! So many baitfish in the water that everybody is feeding like crazy. Tons of diving pelicans and terns, and osprey, plus lots of harbor seals.
Lots of harbor seals swam in and around the kayaks this morning. So many baitfish everywhere in the water! Saw an osprey near Fairbank Pt. and a bat ray near grassy island!
Perfect morning on the water! Lots of osprey action - they are all over the place and diving for fish right and left. Terns and brown pelicans everywhere. Beautiful day.
Wonderful morning on Morro Bay. Clear fall weather. Lots of osprey, including one that perched over our paddle orientation at the start of the tour. Harbor seals everywhere. Flocks of terns hunting small fish and we even saw a peregrine falcon scare up huge numbers of shorebirds on the salt marsh.
Perfect weather to pedal the Edna Valley. Breezy and a little cool, transitioning from summer into fall. Harvest time coming up!
Lots of wildlife! Three osprey hanging out at Fairbank Pt and they were very busy hunting. Lots of harbor seals, a sea otter and hundreds of terns and brown pelicans.
Our sunset paddle started off with a bang as we immediately got into the midst of a super large brown pelican, cormorant and tern feeding frenzy. The bait ball was on the move, so as we kayaked we were continuously surrounded by hundreds of diving birds. A beautiful, warm late summer evening on the bay!
What a beautiful evening on the bay! We started with a bit of a breeze, but the evening was calm and glassy. Lone Madrone wine club members enjoyed dinner on the dunes, sipping Lone Madrone wines and enjoying a fantastic sunset.
Great wildlife viewing! Lots of harbor seals, great and snowy egrets, great blue herons, cormorants, and tons of shorebirds - whimbrels, willets, curlews and sandpipers. Plus, an osprey feeding on a fish!
Warm and a little damp from an early morning shower. Our ride along San Luis Creek out to Avila and Harford Pier was wonderful. Lots of bird life hanging out in the creek and sea lions galore around the pier. We also spotted a sea otter and an osprey!
Beautiful day in the Paso Robles wine country. The extreme heat has finally broken, but it's still nice and warm and great for bicycling through the vineyards.
Gorgeous, warm and clear evening for a sunset paddle. We saw three osprey and two peregrine falcons along with lots of other cool wildlife on the bay.
Saw three osprey soaring and vocalizing together - probably a mated pair and their offspring. Lots of living sand dollars at the sandspit this evening.
Gorgeous, clear and cool. Saw a couple of belted kingfishers putting on a show at Fairbank Pt. A sea otter was feeding just off the point as well.
It was a beautiful night on the bay. Started out pretty foggy, but the fog lifted and we had great views out over the rock and bay. Tons and tons of wildlife everywhere. Truly a great evening!
Lots of sea otter sightings today! Three separate sightings, plus an osprey in the trees at Fairbank Pt. Terns and brown pelicans galore!
The local Sierra Club chapter - Santa Lucia - came with us today for an outing to promote the prosposed Chumash Marine Sanctuary. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, lots and lots of wildlife of all kinds.
Well, it was definitely a hot one out there, but at least we had a bit of coastal breeze to make things bearable on the Estero Bluffs hike. Got to dip our feet into the cool ocean as well. There were lots of harbor seals lolling about on the rocks, Caspian terns hunting, cormorants, brown pelicans, a frolicking sea otter and tons of fun stuff to check out in the tide pools - chitons, hermit crabs, sea anenomes, crabs, beautiful seaweeds and rocks.
Gorgeous warm day. The water in the bay was exceptionally clear today with visibility several feet down. Lots of brown pelicans and terns diving and feeding.
It started out foggy, but the sunny quickly popped out. Lots of activity in the back channels. The white pelican population seems to be increasing by the day. We're up to about 6. Lots and lots of elegant terns and some Caspian terns mixed in as well. Brown pelicans, shorebirds everywhere, lots of harbor seals, a frolicking sea otter and a couple of red tail hawks!
Awesome day on the bay and a great place to escape the inland heat. The fog never cleared, but it made for nice paddling. On this private trip we went up to the sea lion pier to check them out and saw lots and lots of sea otters and harbor seals in the area as well.
"Our" osprey was hanging out in the back bay near the harbor seals again today. Must be very successful at hunting back there! Our one lonely white pelican has a couple of white pelican buddies to hang out with now!
Diving brown pelicans and terns throughout the morning - lots of fish in the bay right now. We got to watch an osprey bathing post meal on the sandspit for quite a while!
Great morning out there on the bay! Lots of wildlife to be seen along with calm, glassy waters. A lot of feeding going on with terns and brown pelicans diving, an osprey munching on a fish near the harbor seals atop a pole.
Nice day out there on the bay. We got lucky right at the start and saw three peregrine falcons hunting over the bay. Most likely these are the juvenile offspring of the Morro Rock peregrine falcons!
Three sea otters, osprey and tons of harbor seals amongst many other critters out there. What more could you ask for?! Awesome.
There was long string of active humpback whales right off shore - dozens of whales - from as far north as Big Creek all the way down to Treebones. We also watched two California condors soaring low overhead right at Treebones. Had a good three minute glimpse of the eclipse right at it's max!
Beautiful day for biking along the Bob Jones Bike Trail and Avila Beach! Very little traffic on the trail and roads - must be end of the summer.
Sea otter hangin around the oyster farm today as well as an osprey. Watched a peregrine falcon dive bombing a belted kingfisher! Kingfisher was dive bombing a fish at the same time - kingfisher successful, peregrine not this time!
Beautiful morning for bicycling in Paso Robles. The heat of mid summer has subsided and the vines are loaded with grapes.
Today was a wow day on the bay! A sea otter mom and older pup pooped up right next to our boats and put on quite a show of preening and rolling around together. The baby could be heard "talking" to his mom. Watched an osprey plunge into the waves off the sandspit after a fish, get hit by an incoming wave, go under water and then pop back up and fly off! No fish, unfortunately! Tons of harbor seals hanging out the estuary, white pelicans, brown pelicans, lots and lots of shorebirds, terns, egrets, herons, kingfisher, more osprey. It was a wildlife day for sure!
Wow, what an evening! Beautiful, warm and clear. We had a couple of trips on the bay treated to an excellent sunset. We watched a sea otter and harbor seal side by side out on the ocean, saw an osprey eating a fish and lots of brown pelicans, flocks of shorebirds flying in the dusk. The final bonus was bio-luminescence right at the kayak docks! We laid down on docks and swept our fingers through the water and watched the sparks fly off our hands. Magical.
We saw three sea otters right off the bat this morning. A short while later we checked out all the harbor seals hauled out and also spotted an osprey eating a fish atop a signpost in the bay. Highlight of the morning was seen from the sandspit - a humpback whale slapping its tail onto the ocean for about 10 minutes. Awesome!
Today was a big WOW for wildlife on the Big Sur coast! We saw at least 25 or 30 humpback whales throughout the day with lots of breaching and tail slapping going on. It was an amazing spectacle. And, on top of that we saw 10 California condors - one who spent a lot of time circling just overhead.
We spotted a juvenile sea otter moving south at high speed and big adult male just chillin' off of windy cove. Belted kingfishers are back off of Fairbank Pt! Lots of harbor seals hauled out today.
We had a fantastic start to our morning kayak tours with an osprey catching a nice big fish in the marina and then flying just overhead to land on a piling above our kayaks where he proceeded to spend about half an hour eating his meal. He wasn't bothered by the comings and goings of people on the docks, so we were able to watch him for a good long while. For pictures check out our Facebook page! We also saw three peregrine falcons on the bay today, two sea otters, lots of harbor seals, terns and brown pelicans overhead, a sea hare and lots of shorebirds!
Saw three otters on the trip today! The fog broke while we were on the water and the lighting on the bay and dunes was spectacular.
On the half day classic today we saw a sea otter right off the bat at the marina, a very cool sea hare at Fairbank Pt. and an osprey with a fish in his talons at the sandspit!
The weather was very changeable on our sunset paddle this evening - sun and fog, very moody and cool out there. We watched a sea otter in the fog at the end of the trip.
We had a great look at a couple of sea otters on the bay. Also saw tons of whole sand dollars all over the beach of the sand spit.
The harbor seals are back in the channels - yay!
Started our tour with a sea otter near the marina! Lots of great egrets roosting in dune scrub further north on the sand spit. Fun day for wildlife!
Lots to see at Fairbanks Point today: two sea hares, a bat star and a belted kingfisher.
Shot the pier this morning and saw a bunch of sea otters in the mooring field area. Lots of fun fledgling double crested cormorants about as well.
Multiple harbor seal and sea otter sightings today! Fledgling cormorants are out exploring and diving for fish.
We spotted a bat ray out on the tour today as well as a feeding frenzy of birds eating bait fish.
Saw some unusual behavior from seagulls today! There were so many bait fish in the water that they would glide right above the surface of the water and open their beak to catch them, similar to how skimmers feed. Fun to see!
Beautiful conditions today! Saw a sea otter right off the bat. Great blue herons galore! Osprey was spotted hunting off of Grassy Bar Oyster Company and an cool juvenile harbor seal and juvenile sea otter interaction.
Huge feeding frenzy right at the end, very exciting!
Gorgeous windless morning. Lots of harbor seals near the boats; also saw kingfisher, great blue heron and osprey.
Great weather and a ton of harbor seals on the tour today. Kids had lots of fun on the sand dunes!
Lots of young cormorants and snowy plovers in the delta this morning. Bait fish all over are making the birds happy!
Osprey spotted flying over the bay this morning!
Juvenile sea lion followed us to the sandspit and almost came onto shore with us. Very playful and social behaviors were fun to watch.
Multiple otter sightings and playful seals today!
Had a great time on the bay today and saw a lot. Long billed curlews, brown pelicans, osprey, willets, cormorants, harbor seals, sanderlings, great blue herons, great and snowy egrets, western gulls. Perfect weather too!
Glassy water this evening! It was extra calm on the bay tonight and we saw two harbor seals twisting and playing around together. Lovely night for a dinner on the dunes!
Fun mini-rainstorms made for a great day on the bay. We saw an otter playing in the waves on the ocean side of the sand dunes. Sweet!
Sea otter hanging around Fairbank Pt. today. We also saw a peregrine falcon hunting just above the kayak shack. Another bat star sighting! Beautiful day in paradise.
Osprey spotted hunting at Fairbank Pt today as well as a flock of wild turkeys foraging on shore.
We saw a bat star and two sea hares at Fairbanks Pt! Nice to see some sea stars again on our trips recently.
We've been regularly seeing otters on the bay again recently and today was no exception! Also lost of snail egg strands caught up in the kelp and algae. Looks like spaghetti!
We started off on our evening kayak paddle with the same couple of frolicking otters and the osprey who has been hanging about the marina. Lots of harbor seals cruising the bay, a great brown pelican feeding frenzy, with pelicans diving from above and tons of cormorants diving below.
The ospreys seemed to have returned to the bay to stay awhile, we spotted two right off the bat today, as well as a loon off of Fairbanks Pt.
Awesome day out there. Bat star(yes!) and a sea hare at Fairbank Pt. Another trip saw an osprey at the south mooring field and fledgling night black crowned night herons on the oyster shell beach. First black bellied plover of the year near the south jetty! Sea otter was hanging out right off the kayak docks while all trips were launching this morning and lots of harbor seals lolling around the back estuary.
Beautiful evening on the bay - mix of fog and sun, with a nice sunset. Saw the osprey again this evening as well as two sea otters frolicking together!
Beautiful day in Big Sur today! Highlight of the day was not one, but two pods of humpbacks feeding right off of Lime Kiln State Park!
We had an awesome peregrine falcon flyby again today and also saw a humpback whale off the sandspit - he lifted one big flipper out and slapped the water! There were lots of harbor seals in the mud flats along with tons of birds - especially white and snowy egrets.
Lots of shorebirds feeding in the mud flats today - long billed curlews, whimbrels, marbled godwits, willits. Very busy!
Took a little bit of a different route today and "shot the pier" near Tidelands park. Saw a juvenile sea lion playing around in drifting kelp. Three white pelicans on grassy island.
Lots of cool stuff happening on the bay today - peregrine falcon flyby and we could hear them screaming over the main estuary while on the water. Three fawns and three does on Fairbank Pt. We had a brief sea otter sighting and kayaked through a nice feeding frenzy with lots of diving brown pelicans and cormorants.
Beautifully clear water near Fairbanks Pt and Grassy Island, so we could see down into the depths and check out stuff on the bottom of the bay. Lots of diving brown pelicans and white pelicans as well.
Watched a peregrine falcon hunting right overhead!
It was a foggy morning today, adding a nice atmosphere to the bay. Lots and lots of snowy egrets feeding in the back estuary.
Humpback whales spotted off Ragged Point at the start of the bike tour today!
Humpback whale breeched just outside the kelp line!
Peregrine falcons spotted hunting on the bay.
Beautiful night. Peregrine falcons hunting on the bay!
Sea otters spotted in the bay. We also saw dolphins and a humpback whale out in the ocean during the dunes walk
It's been fun to watch the egrets fledging at the heron preserve. They look like adults, but act very clumsy while learning to fly!
Saw whale flukes on the horizon off the sandspit!
Three peregrine falcons in the back bay - at least one of them this year's juvenile!
Great night and perfect sunset. Saw a leopard shark (not dangerous to humans!), bat ray, lots of cormorants, great blue herons, great and snowy egrets. Great night on the bay!
We had a foggy evening this evening after a couple of clear nights, but it added a mysterious aura to the bay. We went to both rookeries and saw a mother deer and babies at Fairbanks Pt. Finished with a short walk to the back side of the heron rookery where we watched tons of baby great egrets being fed by parents up in nests and out on the branches. Very busy at sunset time!
Very warm today in Avila! We saw some great marine life at Harford Pier - harbor seals, California sea lions and sea otters! Lots of nests along the golf course - great and snowy egrets, great blue herons in the nest, double crested cormorants. And, of course, the peacocks at Kelsey See Canyon winery!
We had a fantastic evening for a Dinner on the Dunes paddle! Beautiful sunset and almost full moonrise. Warm and clear.
Beautiful morning on the bay. Very light breeze, warm and sunny. Our three white pelicans are hanging out in the estuary, along with lots and lots of harbor seals. Very clear water with lots of stuff to see down below - live sand dollars, empty shark and ray egg casings, verdant eel grass beds. The heron rookery is still full of baby double crested cormorants.
Gorgeous morning out there again! Lots of harbor seals meandering around, juvenile great blue herons, snowy and great egrets, willets, terns and long billed curlews. White and brown pelicans.
We saw a huge flock of marbled godwits - the first big flocks of the summer. So far this summer we've only seen one here or there, but there are lots of shorebirds appearing on the bay.
The water in the bay was remarkably clear today, with visibility way down into the eel grass beds, the inter tidal mud flats. Beautiful morning. We've gone from two to three white pelicans on the bay, so they are slowly returning from spring breeding areas.
Beautiful 4th of July day for a ride down the coast - cool, breezy, low traffic, great views out over the ocean.
Awesome day on the water today - not one, but two otters spotted right at Fairbank Pt.!
And our second kayak trip saw three sea otters at Fairbank Pt.!
Mom and baby deer were wandering around on Fairbanks Pt. and there were lots of harbor seals swimming in the channel between the point and the marina. Two peregrine falcons were spotted hunting at the sand spit when we departed!
White pelicans are back in small numbers on the bay! Gorgeous morning!
Beautiful evening on the bay this evening. Wonderful light and sunset, lots of wildlife, great company!
Lots of harbor seals on the bay today. Great egrets juveniles moving out of nests and branching, lots of snowy egrets in the mud flats and the belted kingfishers were spotted again after not being seen for quite awhile!
We headed north and into the lee of the dunes to escape the breezy conditions today. As we did yesterday, we got to see a lot of the cool stuff living beneath the waters, including multiple shark egg casings, cloudy bubble snail egg casings and live sand dollars by the thousands!
Saw multiple harbor seals swimming between the harbor and Fairbanks Pt.
We went to our alternative sand spit landing area today, due to the extreme low tide and got to see all kinds of critters that we normally don't get to see, unless it's a super low tide - moon snails, cloudy bubbly egg casings and lots of shrimp and live sand dollars!
Great trip this morning - started out cool and foggy, but warmed up nicely. Lots of juvenile great blue herons, snowy and great egrets, long billed curlews foraging in the mud. Lots and lots of brown pelicans. Both harbor seals and California sea lions in the bay today. Under water we spotted mossy chitons, crabs and sea anemones by Fairbanks Pt.
Lots and lots of brown pelicans have arrived on Morro Bay! Low tide tours today - long billed curlews feeding in the mud flats, great and snowy egrets, juvenile great blue herons at Fairbanks Pt. A few harbor seals hauled out near the oyster farm. We watched a nice feeding frenzy on the bay as well.
Negative tide at the beginning of our morning kayak trip. Lots of curlews and willets feeding in the mud flats. We saw whales lunge feeding very close to the sandspit - so cool!
Awesome day on the bay - we saw two does and one fawn at Fairbanks Pt.
Days don't get much more perfect than the one we had today. No wind, tons of sun, lots of wildlife on the bay. Perfection out there!
Beautiful day for riding down the PCH today! A mix of sun and fog, low traffic and a great tailwind!
Juvenile peregrine falcon spotted today at the heron preserve.
Wonderful kayak and hike adventure today with a family from Illinois. We spent time with the harbor seals back in the salt marsh. After a yummy lunch on the dunes we headed to Estero Bluffs just north of Cayucos for a short hike. We saw several sea otters and had fun checking out critters in tide pools.
Fun stuff to see on the bay this morning! Bat ray by the oyster farm, harbor seals hauled out in the back back, double crested cormorants still feeding babies in nests, great egrets, great blue herons, brown pelicans and white pelicans (they're back!), and an osprey!
Beautiful day to be bicycling and wine tasting in the Edna Valley - about 80 degrees with a slight coastal breeze. Perfect!
It was a big egret and heron day today on the bay. Everyone is out hunting for food to feed nests full of babies, including the black crowned night herons, which we usually only see on evening trips. The night herons and great egrets were out in force this morning!
We were so excited to see a mom and baby otter on our Sunset Paddle! We also got a nice view of an osprey at Fairbanks Pt.
Beautiful night on Morro Bay with a group of folks from Sunrun - an electric solar installation company. Right off the bat we saw a mother sea otter with a pup near the Natural History Museum. After "shooting the pier" the group headed to the dunes where we had a California beach style grilled dinner. Much fun was had by all!
We were very excited at the start of our trip to see Pacific Wildlife Care release a beautiful Pacific loon in full breeding plumage into the State Park Marina! We also watched lots of terns hunting and diving near the sandspit and a great blue heron feeding its young in a visible nest in the eucalyptus trees. Beautiful, sunny day on the water. Bonus for one of the groups out was a mating sea otter pair in the back bay!
Beautiful sunset paddle this evening. We spotted a sea otter along the way, saw lots of brown pelicans coming into the area and were very happy to see the Grassy Bar oyster barge back in it's spot in the estuary!
Awesome feeding frenzy on the kayak tour this morning, with tons of brown pelicans and terns diving all around us!
Perfect riding weather today in Paso Robles - cool and slightly cloudy. Wine tasting at Via Vega was a highlight of the day, along with the fantastic riding along the quiet roads of Paso Robles, the east side.
The heron rookery is in full swing these days - lots of baby double crested cormorants in nests, great egrets and great blue herons nesting off to the sides of the rookery as well.
Bat ray sightings in the bay today! Plus an osprey hunting out over the bay.
We started things off right on our morning kayak tour with a big male sea otter putting on a show in the marina. He was very focused on eating and then grooming himself thoroughly and we were lucky enough to be able to watch him from close proximity.
Huge numbers of harbor seals were hauled out in the back bay today. The double crested cormorant nests in the rookery are filled with new babies also!
It was an atmospheric morning on the bay today - fog mixed with lots of sunshine made for some beautiful lighting on the dunes and the rock. Grassy Bar Oyster Co was out harvesting many bags of oysters, lots of harbor seals hauled out in the channels, white pelican and brown pelicans overhead, tern diving and much nest maintenance happening at the heron rookery by the cormorants, egrets and herons.
Gorgeous day cycling down Highway 1 from Ragged Point to Cayucos! Wind at our backs, sunny skies, elephant seals, warm picnic lunch spot with a view out over the Pacific.
Perfect morning on the bay. The wind calmed down and we got to see some cool things out there - harbor seals hauled out in the mud flats, the Grassy Bar Oyster company out there flipping oyster bags and a peregrine falcon sighting!
California condor spotted at Lime Kiln State Park again on today's hiking trip in Big Sur!
We saw a beautiful osprey near the sandspit today! We also watched a gull chasing a red shouldered hawk around - maybe threatening the nest?
Beautiful day in Big Sur! We spotted a California condor at Lime Kiln State Park. It has been interesting to see all of the erosion that happened from the winter rains - lots of trees down!
Things are heating up in Paso Robles! We had a warm, summer-like day today riding through the vineyards on the east side. Some green left on the hillsides, but the vines are lush!
Post spring break in Big Sur and things are very peaceful and quiet. Lots of wildflowers - purple and white lupine, California poppies, Columbine, monkey flower and more!
Sunny and warm on the bay today! We spent quite a bit of time lingering with the harbor seal moms and pups. Lots of babies calling to their moms! Also, had a good look at a sea otter lounging around the marina.
Beautiful hike today in Montana de Oro. Lots of lush growth and wildflowers due to above normal winter rains this year.
Spectacular day for a ride down the Pacific Coast Highway today. Clear skies and winds at our backs. We started off with a bang at Ragged Point watching three gray whales frolicking in the waves near shore. We could actually see their bodies riding in the waves as they crested. Five marine mammal species spotted at the elephant seal rookery - elephant seals, harbor seals, sea otter, gray whale and sea lions! Wow! Nice stop for wine tasting in San Simeon at Hearst Ranch. All in all a great day!
Great wildlife sightings today on the bay and nice tide pool organisms spotted due to the low tide. Two large bat rays and one sea otter surfaced very close to the boat. The otter was having a bit of lunch - a large crab! Many baby harbor seals with their moms in the water.
Windy evening, but the sped along to the back channels where we got to spend some time checking out all the cool wildlife - lots of harbor seals, moms and pups, plus huge clouds of sandpipers flying everywhere.
Beautiful day on the Estero Bluffs, following a very rainy morning. Lots of wildflowers are popping up along the coast, clear views out over the ocean with a gray whale spotting and a few dolphins. Harbor seals on the rocks just off shore and three Bonaparte's gulls at the beach at Villa Creek. Great day out there!
Wow, what a morning on Morro Bay! Had a great trip today, with clear views out over the ocean, many harbor seal babies, a nice feeding frenzy and many low tide organisms spotted, including mossy chitons, owl limpets, sea anemones, barnacles, etc. Also lots of bird activity, with much nesting behavior going on at the heron rookery with double crested cormorants, egrets and great blue herons. We also saw a lone pied billed grebe in breeding plumage!
We had a great day on the bay before the spring winds picked up late morning. At least 16 harbor seal pups hanging out with their moms in the channels now. They are very active and spend a lot of time playing in the water, calling for mom and nursing on the mud flats. We had a sea otter pop up between our boats and swim right past us while we were stationary, about three feet away. Pretty awesome sea otter sighting!
It has been so much fun watching all the new harbor seal pups in the back bay! We are up into the high teens as far as numbers of babies. They are very active and very vocal calling for their moms. Lots of shorebirds and still a few winter migratory birds hanging around, with summer migrants like the brown pelicans starting to appear.
Perfect glassy morning, with the wind picking up toward the end of our tour today. Watched an osprey feeding on a fish being watched over by a couple of turkey vultures thinking they might get in on it. Lots of shorebirds and harbor seals, both moms and pups, in Chorro inlet.
We are up to 16 mom and pup harbor seal pairs! Clouds of sanderlings and sand pipers around. Nice and warm on the sand dunes - great for explorations!
Beautiful day on the bay - a tad windy at first, but it warmed up and we had a good time out there. We watched a fisherman catch a bat ray and release him back into the bay.
Wonderful family from Indiana did a combination kayak and lunch tour on Morro Bay with a hike at Estero Bluffs with us. The son, Holden, asked a lot of questions! We were treating to a spectacular peregrine falcon hunting display on Morro Bay. At Estero bluffs we saw dolphins just past the surf line and also saw harbor seal moms and pups as well as a sea otter mom with her pup just a few yards from shore. Great wildlife day!
Perfect weather for bicycling in Paso Robles. Lush green hills from all the winter rain, plenty of wine stops, vineyards budding out and green.
We had a foggy morning this morning, giving the bay a mysterious atmosphere. Went back to check out the harbor seals and saw a couple of seal pups, but heard many more calling to their mom's in the fog. Pretty neat!
Multiple displays of peregrine falcons hunting shorebirds delighted us! Lots of moms and babies at the harbor seal haulout area as well. And, a beautiful evening to boot.
Despite the foggy evening and not seeing the sun actually set, it was a beautiful atmospheric evening on the bay. Saw lots of cool wildlife, including heading back to visit the new baby harbor seals.
Amazing clear and warm night on the bay for our sunset paddle. Saw bat rays, egrets and about a dozen brand new baby harbor seals! Lots of shorebirds of all kinds cruising around the mudflats as well.
Beautiful warm and sunny day on the bay. The baby harbor seal count is up to about a dozen! Very low tide tour, with lots of wildlife to be seen all over the bay. Spotted the first juvenile brown pelicans as well.
Perfect, warm and glassy at the start of the trip and we got to enjoy the baby harbor seals, lots of great birdlife in the channels, a great close up of a bat ray, before the wind picked up and we returned.
We are definitely in our spring cycle of calm waters in the morning and winds starting to pick up in the afternoons. The harbor seals are out in force with their babies - counted nine babies this morning. Lots of cormorants and white pelicans back in the channels as well. Plus, a sea otter right at the marina.
We had a surprise guest drop in on our kayak trip this morning - a beautiful egret landed right on one of our kayaks!
Baby harbor seal season is in full swing! We saw at least three mothers with pups in the back bay today. The pups are so young that they stick very close to the protective mothers. Very cute!!!!
Foggy and cool morning. We saw three tiny harbor seal pups in the back bay, so the harbor seals are feeling skittish these days. A huge flock of sanderlings were very active throughout the time we were hanging out in the estuary. Beautiful to watch those little guys.
Foggy morning to begin with today, but the sun started to peak through toward the end. We did a custom 3-hour kayak trip into the harbor to look for otters and found plenty! Three separate sightings in different places around the bay, including multiple mothers with their babies! There are currently 45 sea otters living in Morro Bay, 36 adults and 9 pups.
Very foggy, mysterious day on the bay, although the bay was alive with wildlife activity. Lots of pelicans, sandpipers and an osprey over the back bay. We saw two brand new harbor seal pups back there as well. Also, bobcat prints on the sandspit. We were the only human footprints out there. Beautiful day to be on the water.
We started our tour today with a sea otter grooming itself right off the kayak docks! Back in the creek we not only saw lots of harbor seals, but also an osprey soaring overhead.
We saw our first baby harbor seal back in the estuary today! Also three peregrine falcons careening around the marina. Seemed like two of them might have been trying to shoo the third out of their territory!
Wildflowers are just starting to pop out and we are expecting them to really start to explode over the next few months, due to the heavy rains this winter.
A charming afternoon for a hike! The wind was mild at Estero Bluffs and we enjoyed beautiful vistas. We saw great egrets, snowy plovers and even an elephant seal!
A flood tide at the beginning of the tour made it easy to explore the main creek running through the salt marsh. Some harbor seals watched us from the creek bank and further down we saw about 20 white pelicans grooming. A good day for birds!
Post rain storm and super high tide going into a super low tide, made for a great day on the bay! Lots of wonderful bird life spotted - peregrine falcon and osprey both feeding very near one another. White pelicans, ducks of all kinds. Plus harbor seals to the left and right of us in the channels. Nice day on the water!
We enjoyed a fantastic evening on the bay for our Dinner on the Dunes trip! Perfect, warm weather, beautiful sunset and the tiniest of crescent moons setting into the ocean. Wonderful!
What a day on Morro Bay! After the recent rains, we've had a string of perfect kayaking days - calm, warm weather and lots of great wildlife sightings, from sea otters to peregrine falcons.
Lots of calm water after all the rain and wind we've had recently. We got very close to an osprey on one of our trips and very close to two feeding peregrine falcons eating a bird on a log on the other kayak trip. Tons of Brant geese and hundreds of ducks, shorebirds and pelagic birds!
We just beat the rain this morning and had a really nice paddle on the bay. Saw a beautiful male common goldeneye! Lots of the other "usual suspects" on the bay we've been seeing all weekend as well. The harbor seals were putting on quite a show for us also - lots of activity back in the channels.
It was a spectacular, calm and glassy morning for the last day of the winter bird festival. Some of the highlights amongst the birds was a snoozing sea otter who floated very near to the boats and lots of harbor seals in the estuary. Notable bird sighting were two peregrine falcons chasing shorebirds in the estuary, an osprey carrying a very large fish for our viewing pleasure and a large flock of American white pelicans. We saw hundreds of mixed shorebirds as well as a few American avocets. A great way to finish up the annual Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival birding trips!
It was a calm, clear, cold morning on the bay today. A perfect way to start the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival trips. And we had some great sightings. American avocets, five snow geese, a merlin eating a songbird right next to an osprey munching on a fish. Plus, hundreds of Brandt geese, shorebirds of all kinds - godwits, curlews, willets, black bellied plovers. Some Caspian and Forsters terns in there, a white pelican, northern pintails, northern shovelers. A wow day on the bay!
All of the recent rains in the area of pushed the creeks to overflowing in Lime Kiln State Park. The waterfall is roaring!
Beautiful day in Big Sur today. A little light rain fell occasionally, making the redwood forest especially lovely. We have a couple of extreme California condor close ups at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. Two birds were perched just feet from the trail - amazing!
Gorgeous, calm day on the bay. We saw our juvenile bald eagle again today, sitting in a tree not too far from the kayak docks. Right after he flew off an osprey took his spot. After that all the usual awesome birdlife sighting familiar on a winter's day, plus lots and lots of harbor seals.
Lots and lots of wildlife on the bay these days. Tons of birds and today, very friendly young harbor seals.
Perfect winter weather - light winds, clear and warm. Headed back into the back bay and there was much wildlife to be seen - thousands of birds and lots of harbor seals!
Chilly, but sunny and beautiful winter riding in Paso Robles today. It's a whole different feeling when the grapevines are dormant and the shadows are long. Fantastic to enjoy virtually traffic free roads at this time of year as well!
Beautiful day on the bay - cold and clear. Very high tide with lots of birdlife. Clouds of sandpipers surrounded the boats with their magical display of flashing white underbellies. Just spectacular. American kestrel sightings as well!
Beautiful morning on Morro Bay! We saw an immature bald eagle right in the marina before we started the tour. The family on the tour brought their dogs (we allow dogs if you book a private tour) and the dogs enjoyed the tour as well. :)
Big Sur Ecotour highlights today included spotting several pods of migrating gray whales on their way south to Baja Mexico. The recent rains also changed the way we cross streams at Lime Kiln State Park so we ended up shimmying across the stream on a bog log that we had never used before. Lotsa fun!
A very chilly winter sunset paddle, but clear and gorgeous on the bay. Lots of winter bird life, still waters and no one around, so peaceful and quiet on the bay.
Really high tide during the tour today, so we paddled over the salt marsh in the back bay. There were many harbor seals about and some approached quite close to the kayaks. Lots of brant geese. We saw several osprey, kingfishers and white pelicans as well.
Chilly, but crystal clear late fall evening on the bay. Lots of wildlife floating around back in Chorro inlet. Beautiful sunset!
Perfect warm weather and clear. Calm morning on the bay. Tons of bird life out there as well as multiple harbor seals!
Beautiful, clear, crisp and sunny in Paso Robles this morning. Great day for biking through the changing colors of the grapevines!
Great trip on the bay this morning. Lots of harbor seals hanging out and many winter birds accumulating. Saw multiple buffleheads and grebes!
Chilly, but crystal clear and beautiful day in Big Sur. The redwood forest is fresh with new fern growth after recent rains. Lost of crawdads in the creeks!
Super high tides of over 6 feet created an amazing concentration of seabirds and shorebirds in the back of the bay. Plus multiple osprey sightings.
What a beautiful calm and sunny fall morning. We enjoyed the extreme high tide and were able to paddle over the salt marsh in the estuary. Lots of shorebirds out there, some gaggling Brant geese, three otters spotted and a couple of osprey spottings. Truly a great day!
Fantastic full moon rising on our sunset paddle this evening. The supermoon was SUPER!
Beautiful fall day of cycling through the Edna Valley. Warm and clear and the views out over the vineyards was spectacular with the grapevine fall colors.
We watched a pair of peregrine falcons feeding on a kill in the back delta!
Beautiful morning on Morro Bay. Saw a sea otter in the marina before we launched. Some of the people on the tour today decided to come after their whale watching trip canceled due to high swell conditions on the open ocean. We could hear the waves crashing on the beach throughout the whole tour!
What a day on the north coast of SLO County. Indian summer, with Santa Lucia winds. The ocean was just sparkling. Lots of wildlife spotted on our ride - a whale breaching just off the kelp beds at San Simeon Cove, elk, zebras, elephant seal! A great day for riding and stopping to check out the sights.
What a morning on the bay today! Not only calm and clear, but lots of wildlife action. Saw the first Brant geese of the year as well as tons of other wildlife. Highlights included great, close up views of two peregrine falcons perched next to an osprey at Fairbank Pt; a sea otter eating what looked like a giant flat fish of some kind; at least 50 harbor seals hauled out and in the water; plus we were able to get way back in with the high tide and explore the channels where we saw thousands of varied shorebird species, a surf scoter (strangely) and lots of white and brown pelicans. A great way to start out the week!
Gorgeous day in Big Sur! At last all trails are open and we were able to access all corners of Lime Kiln and enjoy sunny days under the redwoods and along the coast.
Great day hiking on the Estero Bluffs. Warm Lucia winds throughout the hike were really nice. Saw a sea otter in the waves and he was getting lots of good stuff to eat! Harbor seals, ruddy turnstones, kildeer, brown pelicans, pelagic cormorants, terns (although a little too far to identify specifically). A beautiful day!
Another warm and breezy day on the bay. Saw all the usual suspects - harbor seals, lots and lots of varied shorebirds, osprey, diving brown pelicans, white pelicans. A great wildlife day. Also watched a sea otter for a while and saw thousands of live sand dollars on the intertidal mudflats. First two common loons of the season as well!
Wow, what a morning on the bay! Beautiful, calm and warm. Just a little windy for a bit, so we got our exercise, but the wind laid down at the end. Tons of great wildlife today - multiple osprey sightings, both brown and white pelicans, thousands of shorebirds in the channel, including willets, godwits and curlews. Terns wheeling overhead, turkey vultures, eared grebes and first season sightings of a common loon and two surf scoters. We also saw several harbor seals and a sea otter! Great day!
Beautiful post rain storm morning. Calm waters, clearing skies. We had a very full bay to explore, paddling over the salt marsh, visiting the harbor seals in the channels and going back to see the shorebirds waiting for the water to subside so they could start feeding in the pickleweed. Thousands of shorebirds, including sandpipers, American avocets, curlews, willets, black bellied plovers. Some brown pelicans still hanging about and several osprey sightings as well. A very nice morning!
Wonderful five day guided bike trip down the coast for two couples traveling together. They took a more relaxed pace and went about 25 miles per day from Monterey to Cambria. This allowed time for things like hikes along the Big Sur coast and a visit to Hearst Castle. We missed the rains that had come in a few days prior and the weather was stunning for the tour. We spotted a condor in the town of Big Sur and saw humpback whales at Ragged point. What a great trip!
Beautiful fall day in Big Sur today. Blue whales spotted off the coast! Over 100 zebras at the north Hearst Ranch boundary as well.
The tide was low enough on the tour today to spot thousands of living sand dollars on the tidal mud flats. Brown pelicans and terns diving everywhere and also a nice white pelican sighting. Very calm morning on the bay.
Completely still morning on the bay, with a mid-level incoming tide. Plenty of harbor seal sightings, both in the water and hauled out in the channels. We spotted a nice group of dolphins in the surf off of the sandspit!
Another warm day on the bay today! Beautiful calm waters as well. We are transitioning from summer wildlife to some of our winter visitors and the mix is wonderful! Hundreds of brown pelicans are on the bay now, as are a few white pelicans. We saw three osprey today in different locations, some of them feeding on fish. A few eared grebes are popping up here and there and even a couple of ducks, which we couldn't see close enough to identify the species. Turkey vultures feeding on carrion, great blue herons, terns, and lots and lots of harbor seals.
We are enjoying warm winds from the northeast this week and it's treating us right on the bay! Beautiful weather, lots of bird life at the moment.
Wow, we saw a four foot leopard shark in the bay today! Exciting. Also, a major cloudy bubble snail stampede in the mud flats near the oyster farm.
Lots of wildlife on, above and under the bay today. Haebor seals and California sea lions, great blue herons, egrets, cormorants and both white and brown pelicans; cloudy bubble snails!
Spotted a beautiful osprey at Fairbank Pt and an otter off of shell beach near the harbor. Lots of harbor seals hauled out, even with the really high tide!
Great morning on the bay! Saw lots of harbor seals, an osprey and even had a fly by of two peregrine falcons while we were hanging out in the channels!
Exceptional morning for wildlife on the bay. We had harbor seals popping up and checking us out throughout the trip and white pelicans glide by, dipping their beaks in the water fishing for breakfast.
We did some alternate hiking in Big Sur, along with our hike through the redwoods at Limekiln State Park, hiking in Sand Dollar Beach State Park and exploring the very cool sea caves there!
Saw a nice close up view of a peregrine falcon perched up at the heron reserve. Followed a nice big group of brown pelicans feeding all the way over to the dunes.
Beautiful evening on the bay. Lots of laughter and wine and cheese! In the wildlife world, we saw lots of harbor seals hauled out, egrets, sanderlings, great blue herons, an osprey and both brown and white pelicans. A great way to end the day!
Beautiful day on the bay! Started with high fog, glassy waters and finished with sunny and warm and gentle waters. Cloudy bubble snails by the hundreds, crabs, chiton, limpets; above the water - brown and white pelicans, harbor seals, terns, godwits, willets, curlews, and turkey vultures. A great day out there!
Beautiful morning to begin our kayaking trips - low tide and calm, lots of harbor seals and amazing bird displays soaring overhead (including a peregrine falcon hunting over the sandspit on one of our trips). The wind picked up at the end of the trip, making for a whole different experience!
There were many, many harbor seals hauled out in the back channels this morning. Still lots of flocks of terns, pelicans and the usual suspects out there. Plus, one sleep sea otter in the marina.
Exciting sights to be seen in Big Sur today - blue whales swimming of the coast!! We also saw California condors. Now that's a good day of wildlife!
We started off Labor Day weekend well! Although it was a little breezy on our morning kayak tours, it was manageable. Saw lots of great wildlife as well - harbor seals, sea lions and sea otters in the marine mammal world. In the bird world - a couple of peregrine falcons and an osprey, plus, great blue herons, snowy and great white egrets, terns, belted kingfisher, turkey vulture, long billed curlews, marbled godwits. Plus some cool stuff under the water - leopard sharks, balloon snails, navanax.
A bit breezy this morning, but the breeze has pushed the fog out, so a sunny day! A few seals hanging out in the channels, a sea otter spotted hunting in the ocean off the sandspit. The elegant terns are still hanging around making lots of noise!
A deliciously high tide allowed us to get right up next to the marsh and get a good look at the birds. We saw both great and snowy egrets, great blue herons, and many more! After enjoying wine on the dunes with a fantastic sunset, we had a flock of terns fly just inches in front of our kayaks on our way back to the docks.
Gorgeous day in Big Sur, which is really nice to see after the recent fires. Back to hiking at Partington Cove and Julia Pfeiffer Burns! Bonus of the day, saw a sea otter and California condors!
Beautiful day in the Edna Valley today. Lots of fun had at multiple wineries on a "Tutu trip" - bachelorette party good times!
Saw a peregrine falcon at the heron rookery this morning. Lots of harbor seals and white pelicans. Saw a sea otter too!
Spotted not one, not two, but three sea otters at Fairbank Pt.! They were putting on quite a show, twirling, diving, cracking food and generally being very entertaining. Lots and lots of harbor seals at the channel haulout.
Still seeing lots of elegant terns out there. Plus dolphins in the surf out on the sandspit! Brown and white pelicans feeding in the bay.
Beautiful paddle on the bay this morning. Saw all kinds of wildlife - tons of harbor seals lolling about the channels, one lone sea lion; watched a pair of ospreys soaring over the sand spit, while we were atop the dunes. Lots of brown and white pelicans, thousands of Forsters and elegant terns, shorebirds galore - all and all a fine morning on the water.
Lots of cool stuff to be seen above and below the water today. Lots of shorebirds, including curlews and willets, plus great blue herons, great and snowy egrets and double crested cormorants. Below the water we saw a very cool bat ray and some navanax!
Another red sunset due to smoke from fires in the state. The soundtrack of the bay these days is a cacophony of elegant and forsters terns!
The sunset was visible this evening and very red from the fires up north. Saw what is becoming a familiar sight - the march of the sea snails. One was as big as a hand!
Saw the usual suspects on the bay this morning - great blue herons, harbor seal, snowy and great egrets, plus a sea otter who followed the boats for awhile, so we got a good close up. In the waters, navanax and sea hare were spotted as well.
Started out in the fog for our morning ride, but it cleared up late morning. Very light traffic on the roads and great views out over the ocean.
Fiery red sunset this evening due to the fires in Big Sur and Lake Nacimiento.
Saw lots of fun stuff on our evening paddle, including a sea otter near the museum, lots of white pelicans and several brown pelicans, great blue heron, curlew and a peregrine falcon to top things off!
Beautiful day in the Edna Valley. Perfect weather! Saw a red shouldered hawk catch his lunch!
Foggy, but calm morning on the bay today. The elegant terns kept up the soundtrack to the tours today. Lots of white pelicans back in the estuary, a few curious harbor seals hauled out and in the water as well. We also got a nice view of a sea otter!
Grassy Bar Oyster company was busy pulling up their oyster bags and harvesting oysters for shipping today! A whole army of sea snails in the back bay mudflats, all heading in the same direction - where are they all going?!
We saw a bat ray near Fairbanks Pt today!
Watched a peregrine falcon trying to hunt a curlew (unsuccessfully) while we were paddling down the channels!
Lots of harbor seals, brown and white pelicans and, still, thousands of terns making a cacophony of sound out there!
Amazing time on the bay today! Super low tide and clear waters revealed lots of snails and sea slugs on the mud below. Large pod of harbor seals and thousands of elegant and forsters terns on the bay.
Saw dolphins in the ocean while walking on the sandspit!
A pair of otters were spotted in the marina at the start of the tour and visiting the creek yielded a lot of excitement! Not only did we see lots of seals, but we also saw large flocks of terns soaring all around us and even a peregrine falcon was seen hunting. Fun day on the bay!
Saw a belted kingfisher at Fairbank Pt and an osprey with a fish in its talons!
Really beautiful weather today and hundreds of terns in the estuary. Sea otters and harbor seals spotted as well. Our UK clients enjoyed their first visit to Morro Bay!
We took a lovely float down the main creek and saw dozens of seals this evening. Some terns were also flying right over our boats on our way to the sand dunes for refreshments.
Birds birds birds! We saw blue heron, great and snowy egrets, brown and white pelicans, cormorants and even an osprey. A variety of invertebrates, such as navanax, sea hare and moon snails, were found as well. But the highlight was a big bat ray swimming nearby!
The water was very clear and we saw lots of harbor seals out sunbathing today.
A tour that started off foggy quickly turned sunny. We even got to see a ray the size of a hula hoop swimming around and under our boats while exploring Fairbanks Point!
Started off seeing a shovel-nosed ray right from the launch dock! The rest of the tour did not disappoint; lots of birds, seals and a variety of invertebrates too.
Great evening on the bay - saw tons of elegant terns, harbor seals and both white and brown pelicans.
Saw Navanax, sea snails, double crested cormorants, both brown and white pelicans, harbor seals, bat rays, snowy and great egreats, crabs, sea anenomes - what a great day!
Harbor seals swimming, pelicans gliding, and terns diving all within feet of our boats this morning!
Beautiful day to bike through Avila! Saw an otter floating under the pier and enjoyed a pleasant lunch.
Tour saw a sea otter and osprey both enjoying Fairbanks Point. Lots of harbor seals and terns as well!
Nice paddle this morning. Spotted sea otters an osprey and hundreds of Caspian and Forsters terns!
Amazing calm morning on the bay. Fog came and went in a beautiful display and the wildlife was amazing! Very close up sighting of a sea otter, tons of harbor seals, hundreds of Caspian and Forsters terns, brown and white pelicans, herons, egrets, cormorants, lots of shorebirds. Really clear water. Just spectacular!
Nice day on the water. Started out foggy and ended with sunshine. Tons of birds in the estuary channels - great blue herons, snowy and great white egrets, willets, Caspian terns, brown and white pelicans, double crested cormorants. Saw a cool big sea anemone, crabs and a sea otter near grassy island.
Had a nice close up view of a sea otter on our evening paddle. Some harbor seals, lots and lots of Caspian terns. It was a beautiful evening - it started out warm and clear and ended with the fog drifting in. Super calm waters for our return paddle after sunset.
Lots of feeding frenzies on the bay this afternoon - brown pelicans and double crested cormorants galore! We also saw small bubble snails near Fairbank Pt., which was really cool. Harbor seals hauled out in the bay estuary channels.
Started off with a nice close up view of a sea otter near the marina, followed by a quick hello from a harbor seal. While walking along the beach we spotted an osprey hunting and lots of beautiful Heermann's gulls.
Lots and lots of harbor seals hauled out in the back channels of the estuary. We watched a juvenile sea otter feeding in the eel grass off of the marina as well.
Sea otters continue to entertain us near the marina. Really fun to see them so close up and so active!
Beautiful evening, even though the sunset didn't appear through the fog. Sea otter came by the dock and there were harbor seals by the rookery. Lots and lots of brown pelicans!
Beautiful, clear morning on the bay. We had some awesome close up view of sea otters, harbor seals and beautiful Caspian terns, amongst other things.
Gorgeous weather in Morro Bay! Sea otters galore! Seemed like everywhere we went on the bay today, there were sea otters very close up and very active. Also lots of harbor seals hanging around. Many shorebirds are coming back as well - godwits, curlews, willets and sandpipers on the mudflats in the estuary.
Lots of great sea otter viewing today! They are very active in the back bay at the moment. Also saw a unique sighting of two black skimmers in the estuary channels!
Although it was a foggy morning on the bay, the atmosphere was really cool - and very calm out there. Saw two black skimmers very close up in the back channels, which was a real treat!! Lots of other wildlife as well - an extremely close up view of a sea otter, harbor seals, baby double crested cormorants, white pelicans, brown pelicans, Caspian terns. Great morning out there!
Watched a male sea otter doing what could only be described as "the torpedo," a high speed spinning and forward motion all at the same time. Awesome!
Wonderful morning out on the bay. Saw lots of shorebirds feasting on the mudflats and many harbor seals hauled out. We've been spotting a couple of otters near the marina regularly and they didn't fail us today!
A couple of sea otters were engaged with one another near the kayak docks. Saw a few smaller feeding frenzies with lots of feeding brown pelicans and double crested cormorants.
Lovely sunset this evening! Got a good close up view of an osprey perched on the oyster farm dock. Lots of bird life and marine mammals in the bay as well!
Beautiful weather on the bay today! We saw two sea otters right off the bat - very active and very close to the boats. Lots of Caspian terns, brown pelicans. Several double crested cormorant babies on the rocks at Fairbank Pt. practicing their hunting techniques. Fun to watch! Lots and lots of harbor seals hanging out in the back bay.
Beautiful, breezy afternoon on the bay today. Not so breezy that we couldn't enjoy lots of wildlife spottings, though! Highlight today was a mother and (big) baby otter together right off the marina. They were very actively hunting together and the baby didn't let the mother get very far away before scurrying after her. Also saw an osprey, white and brown pelicans and lots of harbor seals! Great day!
The morning kayak trip started in the heavy fog, but it eventually lifted and turned into a beautiful day on the water. One of the highlights of the trip was a sea otter popping up very close to the boats!
Incredible weather on the bay this morning! On one of our tours we saw a good sized leopard shark as well as bat rays!
Awesome trip on the bay this morning - tons of harbor seals everywhere, brown pelicans, white pelicans and lots of bat rays. Fun!
Gorgeous, clear evening on the bay. We had a baby harbor seal surface several times just inches from the kayaks. The moon rose during the trip - big and full!
Great evening on the bay - clear and beautiful. Lots of black crowned night herons about, great blue herons, harbor seals. Perfect evening.
Saw two close up sea otters near the 20 foot buoy in Morro Bay and tons of white pelicans on the sandspit. Beautiful morning.
Beautiful foggy, yet mild evening, with nice views out over the ocean. Saw lots of harbor seals, snowy and great egrets and bay rays! Terns, willets. No actual sunset seen, but a lovely evening none-the-less.
The water was so clear today on the morning kayak trip that we could easily see the large bed of living sand dollars at Fairbank Pt. Very neat! Adult black crowned night herons were busy fishing during the day (probably to keep up with hungry babies!). Snowy egrets doing their shakey shakey dance to catch food in the shallows. Lots of fun stuff to watch today.
We've had foggy conditions the last couple of days, making the atmosphere on the bay very dynamic and cool. Watching all of the familiar landmarks appear in the fog is neat and the wildlife spottings still just as good!
The foggy evening turned into a beautiful one, with mild wind. Saw an osprey at the oyster farm and lots and lots of bubble snails in the shallow mud near Fairbank Pt.
Large pod of harbor seals were hauled out at the oyster farm today and multiple white pelicans were seen throughout the morning as well. There are large flocks of sandpipers hanging out in the back back as well.
Sea otters and a couple of california condors spotted at Partington Cove!
Amazing peregrine falcon displayed over the oyster farm today. Two peregrines chasing a sandpiper that was using all of its skills to evade capture. Incredible!
It was a snail and sea slug jamboree in the shallows near our pullout spot on the sunset paddle. Beautiful coral colored snails - too cool!
Lots of birds of all species and harbor seals seem to be hanging out around Fairbank Pt these days!
Saw a Mola Mola in the back bay - wow! That is a very unusual sighting.
Great day on the bay - watched two peregrine falcons hunting over grassy island. No luck catching anything, but beautiful to watch!
Extreme high tide tonight on the Sunset Paddle that glassed off right at sunset, making for a beautiful paddle. Saw lots and lots of bat rays in the shallows and a herd of about 15 harbor seals feeding at Fairbank Pt. Just a beautiful, clear evening and sunset!
Sea otters swam right up to us on our short paddle this morning!
Nice high tide tours this morning. One our half day classic we saw 5 harbor seals hanging around the marina right off the bat. Lots of wildlife seen around the bay - pelicans, terns, herons, egrets, cormorants.
What a spectacular evening on the bay - clear and beautiful with a ton of activity. Lots of harbor seals, herons, egrets, pelicans. All in all a fantastic evening on the bay!
Typical summer day on the bay - sunny, foggy, breezy and sunny again! Beautiful. Lots of pelicans - brown and white - a sea otter feeding near the marina, herons, harbor seals, egrets. Lots of fun wildlife on the bay.
Foggy, calm morning on the bay. Spotted lots and lots of harbor seals in the water as well as white pelicans and harbor seals back in Chorro inlet. Watched an osprey hunting for quite awhile near the oyster farm.
Saw all kinds of wildlife on the bay this morning - osprey hunting, two different sea otter sightings, lots of white pelicans, navanax, cormorants and living sand dollars near grassy island. Lots of juvenile harbor seals hanging out near Fairbank Pt. as well!
Very high tide tour this evening. A sea otter and several harbor seals were feeding near Fairbank Pt. Despite the fog coming up from the south, we had a fog free sunset!
We were completely surrounded by a large group of harbor seals in the inlets. It was very cool to watch them all swim towards us and surround the boats. Lots of white pelicans feeding in the eel grass.
Great day on the bay! We watched an osprey dive down into the open ocean and fly away with a fish. Very cool.
Juvenile sea otter came upon us at Fairbanks Pt and was feeding on crabs. The white pelican flock was feeding in the grassy island shallows as well. Lots of sea hares hunkered down in the mud! Gorgeous day.
Tons of white pelicans on the back bay - spectacular sight!
We spotted an osprey perched on the oyster farm dock on this beautiful clear evening on the bay. Also a great sea otter spotting near the museum!
The fog was doing its magical in and out thing, making the morning a beautiful one. The harbor seals were hauled out in the estuary and the white pelicans on grassy island stood out brilliantly in the fog.
Beautiful osprey and sea otter sightings right off the bat this morning! Lots of sea lion feedings happening as well. Great paddle!
Clear evening, perfect for the sunset paddle. Saw lots of black crowned night herons while lingering at the heron rookery. Spotted sandpiper cruising along the shoreline and two red shouldered hawks flying above, along with all the grunting sounds of nesting double crested cormorants. Gorgeous!
Fantastic clear evening on the bay, with a beautiful sunset to finish it off and a full moon rising. Great way to start off the first evening of summer! Tons and tons of sea lions and harbor seals swam circles around the boats. Too many brown pelicans to count - traveling like a squadron.
Perfect weather on Morro Bay today. We saw a few smaller feeding frenzies with sea lions leaping out of the water and cormorants floating on the surface above. Spectacular! Lots of Caspian terns diving as well.
Great trip this morning on Morro Bay. We watched a sea otter floating along for quite awhile and sea lions hunting and leaping out of the water during a feeding frenzy.
Starting to warm up considerably in the Paso Robles area. Summer is here! Vines are starting to show tiny grapes, beautiful views out over the vineyards and lots of yummy tastings happening at J. Lohr, Le Vigne (with cheese and chocolate!) and San Antonio wineries.
Lovely evening paddle with a nice clear sunset and lots of wildlife. We finished off with seals and pelicans feeding near the docks in the twilight.
Fantastic night for wildlife and for a spectacular sunset. Bait balls coming into the bay brought lots of activity - sea lions, harbor seals, pelicans galore. We had a unique sighting of black skimmers as well!
The tidepooling today was great! Lots of cool critters in there. We also saw a California condor flying near Partington Cove.
Spotted an osprey right at the entrance to the marina and tons of harbor seals back in the estuary.
Fantastic evening and beautiful sunset this evening from the dunes on our Sunset Paddle. We saw a bat ray right off the bat to start things off on the right foot, lots of sea lions feeding around Fairbank Pt. and we finished things off with a sea otter on our way back to the docks.
Lots of harbor seals out and about in the bay. The brown pelicans are arriving in greater numbers every day and we got to see lots of diving action going on. White pelicans were also out hunting from the water - a beautiful sight to see.
A cool and breezy morning today. Lots of double crested cormorants still actively building nests in the heron rookery. Plus, many with babies being fed in the nest. Navanax mating in amongst the oyster bags at the oyster farm as well.
The harbor seals gave us a show right off the bat this morning, hunting fish around the boats for about 20 minutes. Lots of them beached back in the channels as well. Beautiful sunset tonight!
Great day on the bay! Started out breezy, but calmed down into a beautiful trip. Lots of harbor seals, cormorants and turkey vultures at Fairbank Pt. Navanax by the oyster farm, as well as great blue herons, great and snowy egrets, chitons, limpets - all in all lots of low tide things to see.
Another beautiful morning on the bay with not much wind, but lots of wildlife spotted throughout the trip!
What started out to be a breezy morning turned into a beautiful one instead. Extra low tide, so lots of fun stuff to see in the low tide channels. Tons of harbor seals south of the oyster farm!
A cool and overcast day on the Big Sur coast today. Lots of spring flowers still in bloom and the creeks are still flowing well from winter rains.
Super clear morning on the bay and lots of wildlife was spotted. We saw a lot of great blue herons, a peregrine falcon and a lot of great egrets. The double crested cormorant nesting action is still in high gear, which is fun to watch!
Lots and lots of harbor seals on the bay today and an enormous double crested cormorant flyby as well.
We've been seeing quite a bit of wildlife on our Morro Bay kayak tours recently. As we merge into the summer months, the baitfish populations in the bay peak and lots of different critters like to feast on the fish. On last night's sunset tour we saw harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters and many many birds - all actively feeding.
Massive feeding frenzies on the bay this foggy evening. Lots of gulls, cormorants and brown pelicans diving on the bait balls and sea lions everywhere!
Tons of very active wildlife on the bay this morning, including tons of harbor seals, a group of about 10 white pelicans actively feeding together, two sea otters and one sea lion!
Despite the foggy evening on our Sunset Paddle, the wildlife viewing was amazing and the waters were glassy and calm. Very peaceful evening on the water. Several feeding frenzies were spotted, as well as a mother and older baby sea otter.
Saw an osprey on a post out on the water very near to a bunch of harbor seals. Picked up a beautiful, colorful navanax sea slug and passed that around to check out.
Lots of great blue herons and egrets feasting on the mud flats this morning. There were a few brown pelicans out and about and a ton of beautiful navanax sea slugs by the oyster farm in very clear waters.
Foggy but nice hike today along the coast north of Cayucos. Multiple sightings of sea otters in the ocean. Very low tide, so we had fun exploring all the exposed tide pools. Saw several endangered snowy plovers as well.
Picture perfect day for bike riding in the Paso Robles wine country. Gentle breezes, golden hillsides and lush green grape vines against a sunny sky. A little wine and cheese pairing at Le Vigne winery. Doesn't get much better!
Lots of white pelicans on the bay this morning!
We saw 2 black skimmers hunting in the back bay this morning - a pretty awesome and unusual sighting. They are the coolest birds!!
Took a lovely family of four out for our Avila Beach See Canyon bike tour today. Because it was Memorial Day weekend it seems like there was live music just about everywhere we went. It was really nice to be on bikes and not have to find a parking space for a car anywhere! The peacocks at Kelsey See Canyon winery put on quite a show for us as well.
Lovely morning on Morro Bay. It was a very low tide and we saw several white pelicans actively feeding. Lots of navanax (a very colorful predatory sea slug) in the shallow areas as well. Quite a bit of activity at the heron preserve with babies calling for food and adults flying in and out with food and nesting material.
Lots of nest making is happening around the heron rookery today. Mostly double crested cormorants. Spotted a few harbor seals also.
Beautiful sunny ride down the PCH this morning! Thousands of elephant seals north of San Simeon and we spotted the large herd of zebras on the Hearst Ranch.
Lots of sea slugs in the mud at the dunes and great and snowy egrets feeding at the water's edge. Good harbor seal sightings as well.
Nice harbor seal spottings this foggy morning. Cormorants, Caspian terns, white pelicans, snow and white egrets, great blue herons. Nice wildlife!
Started out cold and foggy on the bay, but turned into a gorgeous morning, with fog and sun and lots of great wildlife spottings, including harbor seals, brown and white pelicans, nesting double crested cormorants, snowy egrets and great blue herons. We even saw a couple of winter holdovers - two eared grebes and a red throated loon!
It was a foggy day in Big Sur, but lovely no matter. Saw a nesting pair of peregrine falcons near Julia Pfeiffer. They were busy chasing off a couple of turkey vultures. Water still flowing nicely down the falls at Lime Kiln SP.
Despite the fog it was a lovely evening on the bay. Still and glassy waters. Saw harbor seals hauled out on the dunes this evening.
Quite a few harbor seals hauled out and swimming in the channels around the boats this morning, including a very young pup.
Spectacular sunset from the dunes this evening!
Low tide tour with great wildlife sightings today!
Fantastic wildlife day in Big Sur - saw four whales and SIX sea otters, plus a sea lion feeding frenzy. Low tide, so we explored the tide pools at Partington Cove.
Very calm on the bay this morning. We didn't spot any harbor seals, but did see a leopard shark!
Spectacular morning in Paso Robles. Vines are lush and the weather was perfection.
Beautiful calm evening, with super low tide. Saw harbor seals and a bat ray! Nice sunset!
Beautiful day - California condor and a few whales spotted!
Great harbor seal sightings today - high tide, mild winds.
Lots of sea lions and an up close sea otter viewing at the pier in Avila today.
Lots of nudibranchs on this low low tide trip!
Six little harbor seal pups spotted at Chorro inlet today!
Watched two California condors soaring near overhead for quite a long time! Also, two sea otters diving and hunting at Partington Cove. Beautiful, warm day in Big Sur.
Three harbor seal pups in the water today and a nice spotting of a larger group of white pelicans. Also, millions of baby spider silks were seen floating through the air!
John escorted a father and son combo down the coast from SF to Santa Barbara on a six day tour. Longer days - about 65-75 miles per day. The son is a bike racer and graciously allowed dad to draft. Much fun had by all. Perhaps their favorite part was Ballard Canyon Road near Solvang.
Calm morning on the bay before late morning winds picked up. Lots of harbor seals in the estuary popping their heads up. Nesting of double crested cormorants is definitely cranking up! Saw three red throated loons and some Caspian terns.
Extreme low tide tour today, so lots of different things to see. Saw the leopard shark again! Also tons of Navanax out at the sand spit. We watched a great blue heron eat a rather large one! Horned grebes in full breeding plumage, common loon in full breeding plumage and lots of nesting activity at the heron rookery by the double crested cormorants. Love seeing their crazy double crests at this time of year.
Lovely day for cycling out in the Paso Robles area!
Second day in a row spotting a leopard shark in the bay!
Perfect weather on the bay today - very exciting sighting of a leopard shark!
Beautiful "calm before the storm" morning on the bay. Glassy waters and lots of bird and seal activity.
Beautiful evening on the bay - warm! Saw lots of bat rays, even one that nearly ran into the kayak!
Tons of birds out today, plus, some mother and baby harbor seals. Beautiful, warm, sunny day with offshore winds keeping things clear.
Tons of different bird species on the bay today, plus a baby harbor seal and a sea otter lazing around the back bay.
Saw a bat ray on this evening's dinner trip!
Tons of living sand dollars seen during the extreme low tide today. Lots of baby seals near the oyster farm as well as many navanax between the oyster bags.
Watched two sea otters mating for about half an hour on this morning's trip!
Saw an otter right off the docks this evening!
Beautiful weather - sunny and calm! Spotted a baby harbor seal.
Perfect weather on the bay today, glassy. Seals hauled out and saw one brand new baby.
Saw CA condors and sea otters on our Big Sur Hiking trip today!
Lots of baby harbor seals in the estuary today!
Two bald eagles spotted just hanging out on the sandspit!! Huge Brant goose flyby, lots of harbor seals and sea otter spotting.
Beautiful, calm and foggy morning on the bay today. Saw lots of wildlife including harbor seals and a large flock of mixed white egrets and great blue herons at the heron rookery. Plenty of other birdlife on the bay as well - surf scoters, buffleheads, horned, eared and pied billed grebes, brown pelicans, snowy egrets and double crested cormorants. Even a solitary common loon!
Beautiful day in Big Sur today! Not only was there water flowing everywhere from the big rains last week, but we also saw three California condors and lots of gray whales beginning their migration north. The falls at Lime Kiln were roaring!
Nice low tide tour today. Great blue herons at the rookery are busy building nests while being watched over by an osprey. There are still a good number of Brant geese on the bay. Passed by the harbor seal haul out area but did not see nay baby seals today. Now is the time of year we usually start seeing newborn baby seals.
We had a flock of about 20 great blue herons fly overhead on our tour this morning!
Week long bike and camp trip from Monterey to San Luis Obispo for a group of students and their teachers. The group was from Fountain Valley High School in Colorado. Good thing they are used to less than perfect weather because we did have a fair amount of rain the first few days. Luckily most of it came at night and not while we were cycling. The group also spent a very enjoyable layover day in San Simeon, exploring Cambria and Hearst State Beach.
Stunning beautiful day on the northern SLO County coast. Today we had a couple that was celebrating a birthday! All kinds of wildlife was out - from zebras and elk at Hearst Ranch to elephant seals at the rookery. Most of the elephant seal pups have been weaned by their mothers and are on the beaches, as well as some of the dominant males and a few females.
Spectacular evening on the bay! Beautiful sunset, combined with a warm evening made it extra special. Plus we spotted the first baby harbor seal pup of the season. This is very early, so we've got our fingers crossed that the pup is healthy!
Beautiful, warm and sunny morning on the bay today. Saw a sea otter right away hanging around near the marina, very busily grooming herself. Lots of harbor seals in the back bay as well as several white pelicans. Lots of ducks on the bay - buffleheads, scaups and scoters.
Wonderful tour in the Paso Robles wine country today. A group of three couples were all celebrating the 50th birthday of one of the husbands. It was warm and clear and the group enjoyed tasting at J. Lohr and Le Vigne wineries. We even saw a rare ferruginous hawk over a vineyard on Estrella Road.
Beautiful morning on the bay. We're having a nice warm spell between rain storms and the weather was sunny and calm. Lots of great birds on the bay - herons, egrets, loons, grebes, American avocets, brown and white pelicans, curlews, willets, godwits, common goldeneye - both the male and female, and plenty more!
Osprey spotted at the heron rookery as well as several great blue herons all together beginning their pairing up ritual for nesting season.
Beautiful morning on the bay. Lots of wildlife out an about, including a couple of osprey eating fish, harbor seals, lots of winter birds. Lots of Brant geese out today!
Watched a bald eagle fly overhead and grab a big fish out of the water near our boats!
This morning's kayak trip started in a bit of a drizzle, but cleared quickly into a day of beautiful clouds, covering and uncovering Morro Rock. Spotted an osprey at Fairbanks Pt.
For all you birders out there, here's a list of what was seen on the bay over the past four days of birding trips. Not too shabby a list!
Bald eagles, peregrine falcons, pectoral sandpipers, a black skimmer, common goldeneyes, lesser yellowlegs, brants, pelagic and double crested cormorants, northern pintails, Brant geese, sanderlings, marbled godwits, long billed curlews, surf scoters, buffleheads, pied billed, eared, horned and western grebes, Forster's and caspian terns, brown and white pelicans, red throated, common and pacific loons, Canada goose, belted kingfishers, spotted, semi-palmated and western sandpipers, ruddy ducks, northern shoveler, scaups, great blue herons, great white and snowy egrets, turkey vultures, willets, black bellied plovers, american avocets, ospreys, dark eyed junco, american crows, rock pigeons. Not to mention, a sea otter and a ton of harbor seals.
Nine California condors spotted at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park today!
Beautiful pre-storm kayak trip this morning. Lots of harbor seals, a few Caspian terns, double crested cormorants, snowy egrets, scaups, buffleheads and two common goldeneyes!
Spectacular evening on the bay. Cold, crystal clear sunset, with a green flash. Lots of harbor seals, herons, egrets and ducks on the bay.
Two couples traveling together did a mostly self guided trip through the local wine country areas over three days. They explored both the Paso Robles wine country area as well as the Edna Valley wine country just south of San Luis Obispo. On the moving day they took advantage of a shuttle we offered and did some great coastal riding near Ragged Point, Hearst Castle and Cambria.
Awesome day on the bay. Turkey vultures, osprey, harbor seals and sand dollars!
Gray whale spouts along the Big Sur coast today and a sea otter spotted at Partington Cove!
Beautiful, chilly day on the Big Sur coast with lots of wildlife spottings. Gray whales were spotted at almost every stop - spouts, flukes and backs visible easily with the naked eye. Two condors spotted near Partington Cove. Feeding frenzy of dolphins, sea lions and pelicans near Lime Kiln SP.
Harbor seals were a big hit on today's kayak trip! Saw lots of winter birds - buffleheads, horned and eared grebes, common loons, terns and an American kestrel out on the sandspit. We also saw coyote tracks on the sand dunes.
Lovely day on the bay with only a touch of wind. Two harbor seals came up within 10 feet of our kayaks and hung out for almost a full minute near Fairbanks Pt.
A young couple living in Mexico did a Monterey to SLO self guided bike tour with us. Even though El Nino conditions are in existence this winter (which usually means more rain) they had a relatively dry trip and enjoyed the amazing coastal scenery.
Great condor sightings, with several condors feeding on a carcass down in a creek bed. Beautiful, crisp late fall day in Big Sur.
Tons of winter birds on the bay - buffleheads, ruddy ducks, horned grebes, western grebes, eared grebes. Plus, an osprey, cormorants, herons, egrets, kingfisher, willets, sandpipers.
Started out with some blustery off shore winds, but ended with nice calm waters. Lots of winter birds out on the bay - red breasted mergansers, western grebes, buffleheads, eared grebes, horned grebes, pied billed grebes, common loons, brant geese. Some other regulars hanging about as well - brown pelicans, belted kingfishers, osprey, red tail hawk, curlews, double crested cormorants, turkey vultures, white and snowy egrets and great blue herons.
Beautiful day in Big Sur. Some condor sightings at Partington Cove, but pretty high up!
Spectacular day on the bay with tons of winter migratory bird species to be seen.
Very high tide with lots of winter birds back in the estuary.
Extremely high tide. Saw an osprey hunting at both Fairbanks Pt. and back in the salt marsh. Wonderfully calm day. Watched a small tern feeding frenzy.
Beautiful weather on the bay today - warm with no wind.
Osprey hunting at Fairbanks Pt. Delightfully calm for the afternoon!
We watched an otter hunting for food in the channels near the harbor seals this evening. Also saw an osprey in the northern part of the bay.
Beautiful day on the bay with a nice high tide. We were able to paddle over the pickleweed to see the harbor seals. Lots of winter birds arriving, including the first brant geese of the season!
Great wildlife day on the water. Saw a peregrine falcon with his prey in his talons over the mud flats, as well as an osprey with a fish in his talons. Sea otter was foraging near the marina also!
Beautiful fall day in Big Sur today. No crowds, but plenty of condors at Partington Cove!
Beautiful rainy day in Big Sur today. Magical hiking underneath the redwoods in the mist and very quiet on the trails!
The last several days on Morro Bay have featured extremely high tides in the morning when our kayak tours have been out. On extreme high tides like this, the entire salt marsh area is covered with water and we can actually kayak on top of the salt marsh, getting to parts of the bay that are normally inaccessible to kayaks. Furthermore, most of the wildlife on the bay is bunched up at the far margins of the bay due to the high tides as well. But we cab access the far margins due to the high tides. Makes for GREAT wildlife viewing. Harbor seals, white pelicans, great blue herons and osprey all spotted in the last few days.
Great morning on the bay. Watched an otter in the back bay, plus brown and white pelicans, harbor seals, California sea lions, great blue herons, snowy and white egrets. Lots of shorebirds of all kinds!
Nice, high tide, so we kayaked over the top of the salt marsh and paid a long visit with the harbor seals.
Wonderfully calm conditions. Spent a lot of time with hunting white pelicans with an otter drifting by as well.
A sea otter came to visit right in the marina as we started the tour this morning. S/he got quite close to us multiple times as we headed toward Fairbanks Pt. Beautiful calm morning, fog came and went, very warm.
Fantastic visit with a sea otter today near the heron preserve. The otter was close to shore and kept going down and bringing up crabs to eat. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Then down again for another crab. The otter kept re-surfacing right by our kayaks. Observing good wildlife viewing etiquette we stopped paddling and did not move our kayaks once we initially saw the otter. The otter did not seem to mind our presence at all.
Very high tide on the bay today. Seeing more and more winter migrants on the bay, especially eared grebes. Also large flocks of sandpipers everywhere. It was also a big day for white pelicans, both on grassy island and back in the channels. The harbor seals were all hauled out in the back channels as well. Beautiful day.
Great day on the bay. Saw and osprey and two peregrine falcons at Fairbanks Pt. Nice little seabird feeding frenzy on the way to the sandspit.
Extremely high tide this morning, so we were able to cruise over the pickle weed and check out the harbor seals doing their "yoga" poses. Noses and tails in the air and bellies on the mud. Seeing some winter migrants coming in also - eared grebes, red breasted mergansers. Lots of brown and white pelicans on the bay today. Saw an osprey at the heron rookery as well as about 25 turkey vultures enjoying the sunshine with their wings out. Beautiful day.
John and Craig escorted a group of Chinese cyclists down the coast from the Monterey area to Santa Barbara. The trip was organized by Ctrip, a Chinese company that does international adventure travel. None of the cyclists spoke English, so a Chinese interpreter accompanied us. The cyclists also could read printed directions, maps or street signs in English, so we had to ride as a group together for most of the trip with either Craig or john on bike leading the group. They had such a good time that Ctrip has already begun plans for the next tour!
Although it was the evening of the lunar eclipse, too many clouds in the sky obscured it. They did, however, make for a fantastic sunset! We also watched three peregrine falcons flying together over the heron rookery. An unusual sight!
Beautiful evening on the this evening. Full moon rising, gorgeous sunset and warm windless evening. Lots of birds out on the bay, harbor seals. Wonderful.
Watched an osprey fishing at both the rookery and sandspit.
Sea otter right off Fairbanks Pt. Awesome and beautiful evening!
Warm evening with lots of feeding brown and white pelicans. Beautiful in the back bay where the extreme high tide was very cool!
Beautiful morning on the bay - saw an awesome feeding frenzy out there with tons of pelicans, terns, gulls and cormorants feeding. Watched a sea otter eating a crab.
Phenomenal feeding frenzy right at the start of the trip - hundreds of diving brown pelicans and terns, with the white pelicans joining in en masse to see what the fuss was all about. Amazing! Great resting sea otter spotting. Tons of harbor seals in the back channel!
Beautiful, warm evening on the bay. Lots of bird and seal activity.
Massive feeding frenzy on the bay today - hundreds of brown pelicans diving. Very warm day with offshore winds blowing.
Spectacular weather and a beautiful evening on our sunset paddle. Tons of birds all over the place!
We watched two peregrine falcons over the sandspit chasing another unidentified hawk. Very cool.
Saw a sea otter floating along at Fairbanks Pt. today.
Great morning on the bay - peregrine falcon pair hunting shorebirds together in the estuary and two ospreys were spotted at the rookery.
Spectacular morning on the bay. The bird life has been extraordinary lately. Hundreds of brown and white pelicans, mixed in with cormorants, egrets, herons and shorebirds of all types line the channels in the back estuary. The water was super clear and very calm. Lots of terns out there feeding still too.
Fastastic wildlife day on the bay this morning - brown and white pelicans, cormorants, willets, snowy plovers (on the dunes), navanax at the sandspit, harbor seals, sea lions, long billed curlews, terns, turkey vultures, crabs and limpets. A wide variety of creatures seen out there!
Gorgeous evening on the bay. Glassy waters, amazing sunset. Tons of harbor seals and white pelicans everywhere. We even had a sea otter pop up between all of our boats.
Saw a 3 foot long leopard shark at the creek! Very cool.
Amazing day in Big Sur. Beautiful weather and a never ending stream of humpback whales were a highlight.
Saw many humpbacks feeding and a pod of dolphins at Partington Cove. Deer at Lime Kiln State Park!
Kayaked through an awesome feeding frenzy on our way back to visit the harbor seals. Fun!
Beautiful morning on the bay - perfect weather and we even saw dolphins!
Amazing day of whales, California condors, seals, sea lions and fantastic weather to top it all off.
Lots of whales seen along the coast today. California condors also!
Tons of whales in the cove north of McWay Falls today. Countless sightings all day!
Amazing day on the water. Calm, warm, sunny, incredibly clear water. Massive numbers of brown pelicans, cormorants and white pelicans back in channels. Mixed in were lots of snowy egrets as well. Saw several bat rays and an osprey with a fish in his talon. Hundreds of elegant terns were out by the sand spit.
Elegant terns at the dunes were amazing today.
Amazing feeding frenzy at the start of the kayak trip this evening. Hundreds of brown pelicans and cormorants. Very magical. The frenzy followed the boats all the way to Fairbank Pt.
Great weather on the bay and tons of bird action - white pelicans, elegant terns, brown pelicans and lots of shorebirds.
Two peregrines hanging out at the heron rookery today!
We saw humpback whales at just about every stop we made today on the Big Sur Ecotour. Many of the whales were actually inside the kelp line and easily visible from shore! We even saw whales at San Simeon Cove in the drive up.
Beautiful day on the bay, despite the foggy beginning. Waters were calm and we saw some great animals - peregrine falcon, osprey and sea otters, along with all the usual suspects.
The water was super clear today and we saw lots of jellyfish!
Great day on the bay - litle wind and lots and lots of bird activity.
Lots of massive feeding frenzies happening on he bay these days - big bait balls attracting huge numbers of birds - brown and white pelicans, cormorants, elegant terns all joining in the fun.
HUGE bait ball in the bay attracting brown and white pelicans, elegant terns, gills and cormorants. Lots of shorebirds flying through the area also - willets, godwits and curlews.
Incredible evening and sunset on the bay. The estuary is full of birds right now and we find ourselves in the midst of many a feeding frenzy.
Lots of jellies in the bay these days. TONS of birds as well - mostly elegant terns, but also hundreds of cormorants as well as egrets, sandpipers, brown and white pelicans, herons and more terns. Great day for birds.
Beautiful morning on the bay with lots of bird activity. The white pelicans were especially cooperative!
Lots and lots harbor seals out today!
Calm water, low winds and sunny skies marked the day today. Lots of birds on the bay and feeding frenzies happening.
Nice warm and windless day on the bay today. Massive tern feeding frenzy.
Watched a gull chasing an elegant tern and begging for food. Harbor seals were putting on a good show today along with a couple of white pelicans feeding in the channels of Chorro Creek.
Saw royal terns fishing for the entire tour!
Awesome warm and lightly breezy day on the bay. Saw thousands of terns, plus harbor seals, herons, egrets, crabs, cormorants.
Whales, otters and seals, oh my! There was a huge pod of humpback whales between Gorda and San Simeon. Very cool!
Nice little feeding frenzy of terns and pelicans at the start of the trip today. A little breezy out on the bay toward the end of the tour.
Seems to be tern season as there are tons of royals and elegant terns on the bay feeding.
Saw whales on our Big Sur hiking trip today!
Beautiful warm evening on the bay this evening. Tank top weather!
Amazing day for birds! Started off with feeding frenzy and ended with peregrine falcons hunting over the mud flats.
Saw a mother deer with her babies on Fairbank Pt. today. Long billed curlews, terns, egrets and harbor seals seen on the bay. The whale is still out on the sandspit slowly decomposing.
Otter spotted near Fairbanks point and lots of fun harbor seal viewing today.
Watched an otter cracking open a shell with a rock. He was joined by a couple of curious harbor seals as well. Magical, smooth, calm bay this morning. Lots of herons, egrets, cormorants and fish jumping around. Also saw a beautiful sandpiper murmuration!
Lovely bike trip in the Santa Ynez Valley with a family of four. It was the father's birthday and he wanted to ride with his family. The family didn't want to ride as many miles as dad, so with creative use of van shuttling, we made sure everyone got the miles they were looking for.
More plentiful wildlife today on the kayak tour today. On our walk out on the dunes we spotted dolphins, harbor seals and sea otters in the ocean (we don't actually kayak in the ocean). Back on the bay the highlight was watching a peregrine falcon hunting shorebirds.
Lots of wildlife today on Morro Bay on the Short paddle. Lots of birds, sea nettle (a type of jelly fish) and bat rays.
One couple on the sunset paddle tonight was celebrating their 19th anniversary!
Picture perfect day on Morro bay today! Plentiful wildlife sightings.
Absolutely beautiful evening on the bay. Lots of birds, including terns, feeding in the back bay.
Lots of terns on the bay. Our youngest kayaker today, Gavin, enjoyed our granola bars almost as much as the tour!
Lots of white pelicans feeding out on Morro Bay today!
Foggier tonight, but great looks a harbor seals. The evening was still and quiet.
Lots of shorebirds around the bay today, as well as tons of egrets - both snowy and white.
Amazing tropical-like weather tonight. Many terns spotted as well.
Beautiful evening on the bay! Lots of lion mane jellies, black crowned night herons, white pelicans everywhere and a beautiful sunset to top it off.
California condor spotted at Partington Cove this morning along with all kinds of neat tidepool organisms.
Amazing feeding frenzy of pelicans and cormorants surrounded the boats this morning while at the heron rookery. Harbor seals were also putting on quite a show for us!
Snowy plovers spotted along the beach today at Estero Bluffs.
Spotted a sea otter on the bay today!
Harbor seals hauled out on the mud flats today. Watched a double crested cormorant feeding its baby directly over head today!
Saw lots of navanax today and a family of deer feeding at the heron rookery.
Lots of white pelicans in the shallows near Fairbanks Pt. Saw snowy plovers on our way to check out the whale skeleton.
Fantastic sunset this evening!! One of the most beautiful of the summer combined with a nice warm evening.
Beautiful and glassy on the bay today. Brown pelicans were diving all around the boats.
Lots of Navanax in the shallows near Grassy island!
While we had our kayaks nosed up at Fairbanks Pt. a great blue heron flew up and landed about 10 feet from the boats. You could see every detail on his beautiful feathered body! A harbor seal tailed the boats very closely and quietly right by the mouth of the marina. Very special encounters.
The National Estuary Program was out surveying the eel grass beds today. We were able to talk to them about what's going on with the dwindling eel grass beds. It was a very low tide, so the eel grass was well exposed. Lots of shorebirds feeding in the mud flats.
Lots of bird activity on the bay today, but especially white pelicans.
Humpback whales, sea otters, California condors - a great day in Big Sur!
Saw whales today at McWay Falls! sea otters and California condors at Partington Cove!
Beautiful foggy fourth of July evening. Could see the fireworks in Cayucos and Cambria from the estuary.
4 Brant geese hanging out near the harbor seals today!
Large marine mammal skeleton on the sandspit on the estuary side.
Lots of egrets in the trees at the rookery. Quite a sight!
Saw bat rays and sea otters and a beautiful sunset.
Beautiful glassy morning on the bay. The heron rookery is going off these days with herons, egrets and cormorants.
Lots of sea otters on the hiking trip today. California condors at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park! Clients got a special life list bird sighting! Belted kingfisher in Lime Kiln State Park. That's a first!
The evening started out foggy, but ended with a clear sky and full moon. Beautiful, calm evening on the bay.
Lots of wildlife today - 3 sea otters at Partington Cove, breaching humpback whale, dolphins!
Incredible sunset and warm weather this evening!!
Harbor seals followed the kayaks around this morning. Lots of great blue herons in the rookery and a red tail hawk calling in the marina. The dead whale carcass continues to fascinate folks on the sandspit.
Many Novanax, harbor seals, cormorants, great blue herons, egrets, both white and brown pelicans.
Cormorants, egrets and herons galore! Harbor seals on the mud flats.
White pelicans, tons of harbor seals.
Lots of egrets on the bay today. A beautiful morning that started foggy and glassy, then the fog lifted and it was a sunny morning. Very low tide tour, so fun to see all the oyster bags on the bottom of the bay around Grassy Bar Oyster Farm.
42 foot whale carcass decomposing on the sandspit.
Beautiful morning on the bay - tons of birdlife.
Blustery out there this morning!
Cormorants, egrets, a lingering loon and a Canada goose! A lot of tidal organisms at Fairbanks Pt. on this low tide trip. Beached decomposing baleen whale on the sandspit.
Decomposing baleen whale (unknown species) on the ocean side of the sandspit.
Otters at Partington Cove!
Great day on the bay - sea otters, osprey and harbor seals.
Sea otters and harbor seals today on the bay!
Amazing California condor day on our Big Sur hiking trip. Multiple sightings near Partington Cove, including a very close fly over that was really exciting! Dolphins spotted feeding offshore as well!
White pelicans on grassy island. Skeleton of a sea lion (?) on the sandspit.
Nice day on the bay. Harbor seals and tons of birds all over the place.
A harbor seal was spotted eating a bay ray this morning on Morro Bay estuary!
Bat rays and hawks were highlights of today's kayak trip!
Lots of white pelicans feeding in groups on the bay this morning.
Multiple up close California condor sightings today near the Waterfall House at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. Also saw snakes climbing the waterfall at Lime Kiln SP! Many baby California ground squirrels crisscrossing the roads all day.
Navanax and egg mass by the oyster bags. Harbor seals hauled out near the oyster farm at low tide on our half day kayak trip today.
Saw 6 tern eggs on the sandspit! Lots of harbor seals and pelicans on the bay this evening for our sunset paddle.
Breezy and foggy on the bay to start out, but as the morning went on, the sun popped out. Lots of nesting activity at the heron rookery. Many harbor seals hauled out in the back channel. Saw a gigantic decorator crab scuttling along the mud in the shallows.
Amazing condor day in Big Sur today! Multiple close sightings of birds soaring, perched on rocks and a mated couple in a tree - #51 and #22, a 20-year old pair with a 2-month baby born and being raised in the wild. Also spotted a sea otter foraging at Lime Kiln State Park and some gray whales heading north!
Saw a very slow moving rattlesnake on today's Rattlesnake Flats hike!
Saw a great blue heron unsuccessfully attempting to eat a baby double crested cormorant at the heron rookery.
Caspian tern nesting on the sandspit near where we hauled our boats out. Two terns aggressively protecting the nest when anyone approaches. Looks like there may two to three eggs (when viewed through binoculars!)
Saw several harbor seals in the inlet; plus a bat ray! Great blue herons, egrets, terns, pelicans. At the end of the tour a sea lion pup jumped up onto the kayak docks and The Marine Mammal Center was called. The pup was ailing and was taken by TMMC to be nursed back to health.
Great day for birding on the bay today - Great blue herons, double crested cormorants nesting, brown pelicans diving, snowy and white egrets, merganser, common loon in full summer breeding plumage, terns, a solitary western grebe and four Canada geese!
Stunning, clear and calm evening on the bay for our Full Moon Paddle. We watched the sunset into behind the sandspit into the ocean and the moon rise over Hollister Peak from the east. Lots of nesting activity at the heron rookery, diving brown pelicans, sea lion and harbor seals. Paddling on the bay in the moonlight is truly a wonderful experience.
The wildlife of Big Sur continues to WOW! Today we were thrilled with a very up close encounter with two California condors - close enough to see their numbers - #52, a 3-4 year old and #97, a 1-2 year old, both captive bred and released into the wild. Both condors were enjoying the views from a pullout on the road, hanging out on the rocks. Multiple sea otter sightings today also, as well as humpback and gray whales.
Beautiful clear evening for the Sunset Paddle. The almost full moon was rising as we returned to the kayak docks. We were also buzzed by an osprey with a large fish in his talons.
Another banner wildlife day on the Big Sur Ecotour. Today we had a group of co-workers from Merrell, the shoe and outdoor apparel company. They were on a company sponsored field trip as part of product development (John has been wearing Merrell shoes since the mid 1980s!). On the tour we saw condors very close up at Partington Canyon, as well as otters in the kelp at Lime Kiln State Park. Gray whales are still in the area and we saw a mom and baby calf almost in the surf near Lime Kiln State Park. Although we have never seen rattlesnakes on the trails we hike, we did see a very sleepy one today at a pullout where we stopped to check out a potential condor sighting. All in all, a great day!
Beautiful, hot day in Paso Robles today. We saw a barn owl sitting up in a tree. Quiet roads and lush vineyards.
Able to see a sandy bar full of live sand dollars, just inches under the water today on our tour!
Spotted California condors today at Partington Cove!
Highlight of the day today was watching two otters mating! They were seen together later on the trip as well, both taking a nap.
Banner wildlife day on the Hiking: Big Sur Ecotour today. We saw multiple condors, including some near Lime Kiln State Park. We also saw sea otters at McWay Cove. But perhaps the best experience was seeing a mom and baby grey whale so close to the shore it looked almost like they were surfing. At the same place we saw the grey whales a humpback whale breached about one mile off the coast and multiple pods of dolphins where extremely close to the grey whales as well. WOW!
Great wildlife on the bay today - a sea otter spend a good deal of time right off the kayak docks, diving, rolling and being generally entertaining. Red throated loon, baby harbor seals, Brant geese, Caspian terns and lost of double crested cormorant nesting activity at the heron preserve.
Lots of baby seals today and more than one sea otter at Fairbanks Pt.! A cool, foggy morning.
Saw a snowy plover on the sandspit beach today!
Our guide Paul noticed several bat stars (a type of sea star or star fish) at Fairbank Point on the short paddle today. This is encouraging news as a particularly virulent disease has been devastating sea star populations on the West Coast with some areas having nearly 100% mortality. Paul also noticed several mossy chitons there. Also a very full day of birding on the bay, with many winter migrants still lingering on the bay.
Mom and calf gray whale at McWay Cove! Low tide so great tidepool viewing at Partington Cove - urchins, mussels, gooseneck barnacles, sea anemones, limpets and a person skinny dipping!
Lots of baby harbor seals, some crying for mom. Live sand dollar bar seen off the main channel - very low tide.
Super low tide so we got to see some fringed chitons and bat stars at Fairbank Pt.! Red breasted mergansers, double crested cormorants and pelagic! A few buffleheads still on the bay, snowy and great egrets, harbor seal moms and pups.
Nudibranches and bat rays spotted today!
Lots of baby and mother sea otters! Western snowy plovers spotted on the northern end of Estero Bluffs. Beautiful day out there.
Many baby harbor seals in the salt marsh, western grebes, red breasted merganser, lots and lots of double crested cormorants, plus both white and brown pelicans. Windy out there today.
Saw peregrine in the heron rookery today as well as a sea otter right in the marina. Still a lot of baby harbor seals!
Major tailwind pushing our cyclists down the road today on our Pacific Coast full day trip!
Great day - sea otters, harbor seals with babies, peregrine falcon spotting and red tail hawks! Lots of wildlife on Morro Bay today and not too windy.
Beautiful morning on the bay, with lots of neat wildlife spottings - osprey with a big fish in its talons, 7 or 8 mother and baby harbor seals hauled out at Chorro Inlet, common loons with summer breeding plumage, double crested cormorants really kicking into nesting season at the rookery, a mother sea otter with a tiny baby on her chest! White pelicans, western grebes, terns, lots of action at Grassy Bar Oyster Farm. A full morning!
Very windy today on the Big Sur coast, which can make it more difficult to spot whales, but we did see a few whales in the morning before the winds really started to blow. We also saw a large raft of sea otters (about 12) in the kelp near Alder Creek slide. No condors today, but we did see zebra near San Simeon on the drive up. Although it was windy, it was still clear, warm and absolutely beautiful on the Big Sur coast today.
Came across a young harbor seal calling for its mom and eventually it found its way home. Dead shovelnose guitarfish on the sandspit. Lots of birds!
Lots of baby seals at Chorro Inlet. One looked like it was born today! A gull was pestering for the afterbirth. Over 10 new babies spotted! Brown pelicans starting arrive and diving on the bay and cormorants are just kicking in to nest building. Saw a sand bar full of live sand dollars in about 2 inches of water.
Very foggy in Big Sur today, but still beautiful. Spotted otters and condors!
Gray whale breaching a couple hundred yards offshore and multiple sea otters spotted near Gorda! Multiple condor spottings at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP.
Beautiful morning on the water, calm and warm at the start and then the wind picked up. Lots of very neat wildlife - still some winter birds: mergansers, common loon, who was getting his beautiful summer plumage, western grebes and quite a large flock of brant geese. Also saw an osprey hunting and several up close sightings of a sea otter munching on a crab.
Saw a sea otter at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP and several pods of migrating gray whales.
Lots of harbor seal pups in the estuary!
Lots of mama harbor seals and babies! White pelicans on the bay and lots of working going on around the oyster farm today.
Four baby harbor seals spotted at Chorro inlet, no more than a couple of weeks old. Lots of sandpiper flocks. No cormorant nest building yet at Fairbanks Pt. rookery.
Very low tide tour. Spotted a sand bar off the main channel with thousands of live sand dollars! Passed by a sleeping sea otter. Saw a bat star and the herons are starting to nest at the rookery.
Lots of harbor seal pups hauled out on the mud flats with their mothers! First of the season. We had a high enough tide that we were able to paddle over the pickle weed. Still many winter bird species - common loons, eared and western grebes, bufflehead; plus double crested cormorants and three pelagic cormorants! Brown pelicans and many gulls. A little breezy on the water today, but a beautiful, sunny, warm day.
Clear and breezy day today for the bike trip along the coast. The elephant seal colony at Piedras Blancas was full of weaned pups just born within the last few months. There were also a few younger pups still nursing from their mothers. As a result here are also still some adult breeding males hanging about, waiting to mate with the females who are still on the beach.
Saw two sea otters at Partington Cove, but it was too windy offshore to see any gray whale spouts. Beautiful wildflowers right now and a good amount of water in the falls at Limekiln and Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP.
Sanderlings, pelicans and cormorants, oh my! The double crested cormorants haven't starting nesting in the rookery yet. Spotted two sea otters mating! A sunny, warm day on the bay with a light breeze and glassy conditions.
Warm and clear along the Big Sur coast today. Had a group of 6 work mates today on an extended work and fun trip. We saw several pods of California grey whales working their way north, some within a few hundred yards of the coast. We also saw 7 condors (wow!) at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
Amazing day on the water today - warm, glassy and tons of wildlife.
Beautiful evening! Saw several loons, lots of harbor seals (no pups quite yet).
Picture perfect morning on the bay this morning. Saw many lingering winter bird species, including a fairly large flock of brant geese. Fantastic numbers of harbor seals and a quite up close view of a sea otter who popped up right next to the boats.
Stellar day on the Big Sur coast today. We saw many grey whales, which have already started their migration back north. We were treated to some unusual grey whale behavior as well - namely flippers being waved at us! Two sea otters were spotted at Partington Cove, as well a quick glimpse of a condor. Weather was warm and clear.
Absolutely lovely evening on Morro Bay for the sunset paddle. Full moon was rising as the sun was setting! Many of our winter migratory birds are starting to leave. we saw a small group of Brant geese. Activity at the heron rookery is starting to pick up. We saw several great blue herons there as well as a beautiful great egret. A peregrine falcon flew in as we were leaving, causing a bit of a ruckus.
We had the pleasure of taking out a boy scout troop and lots of adult chaperones on Morro Bay today. The group was about 40 people, so we split into 3 smaller groups (each with 2 guides) on the water. It was cloudy with some fog today, but the water was beautiful and glassy smooth. We saw a sea otter again. Lots of birds (of course) and the boys really enjoyed the walk on the dunes.
Very high tide for the morning kayak tour today. This meant we could kayak over the top of the slat marsh and and explore parts of the bay rarely accessible to kayaks. We were treated to lots of winter migratory birds, including American avocets and Brant geese in the far corners of the bay. We also saw a sea otter in the main channel.
Beautiful morning kayak tour on Morro Bay for a couple of people who got caught by holiday traffic and couldn't make the sunset paddle last night. It's been a BUSY weekend here. All of the winter migratory birds are still here. Lots of harbor seals in the back bay.
It was a gorgeous Valentines Day bike ride down the coast of northern SLO County. The elephant seal colony near Piedras Blancas lighthouse was the scene of much activity. Most of the baby seals have been born and many have already been weaned by their mothers. This means the females are ready to mate with the nearest dominant male. This does not prevent other males from trying to sneak in an mate with the females, which of course spurs the dominant males to chase the others away and fight if necessary. Lots going on!
A beautiful almost full moon and glassy conditions combined with a very low tide made for a very dramatic sunset paddle today. Spotted a peregrine falcon sitting on a post on the mud flats, making the shore birds nervous. We were also treated to several groups of white pelicans feeding rather leisurely in the shallows.
We saw a peregrine falcon eating a kill out on the sandspit today. Wow! After a while it backed off and turkey vultures moved in.
Stunning sunset tonight. It was very clear and warm with offshore breezes.
Late afternoon extreme low tide paddle today - the bare bones of the bay. All of the bird life was concentrated in the channels, so we got a great close up view of multiple duck, grebe, heron/egret species, as well as a kingfisher and osprey! Beautiful calm afternoon on the water.
Wonderful weekend of kayaking and bird watching for the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival. We saw an average of 35 species on each trip and a total of 48 species over the course of the week. There were some beautiful displays of large flocks of peeps, American avocets, marbled godwits and long-billed curlews. Here is a complete list of species seen (not including harbor seal and sea otter spottings!): Brant geese, cinnamon teal, northern shoveler, northern pintail, green-winged teal, lesser scaup, surf scoter, bufflehead, common goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, ruddy duck, red-throated loon, common loon, pied-billed grebe, horned grebe, eared grebe, western grebe, Brandt's cormorant, double-crested cormorant, pelagic cormorant, American white pelican, brown pelican, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, turkey vulture, osprey, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, American coot, American avocet, black-bellied plover, spotted sandpiper, greater yellowlegs, willet, long-billed curlew, marbled godwit, sanderling, least sandpiper, western sandpiper, ring-billed gull, western gull, California gull, Caspian tern, Forster's tern, royal tern, rock pigeon, belted kingfisher.
Lots of great birds spotted on the eve of the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, including, semi palmated plover, red throated loon and common golden eye.
We are still seeing gray whales on the Big Sur coast, but the numbers are less compared to a few weeks ago as the bulk of the migration has passed. Today we did see two whales in close at McWay Falls and they treated us to great views of their tail flukes!
Crystal clear warm day on the Big Sur coast. We are still seeing LOTS of gray whales on their southward migration. One shy otter at Partington Cove and multiple sightings of condors at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
Crystal clear evening with a beautiful full moon!
Amazing morning on the bay! Highlight was a peregrine falcon diving into a flock of western sandpipers and capturing one in mid air. Close enough that we could see the falcon fly off with the sandpiper with the naked eye. Also saw Barrows Goldeneyes! Crystal clear and cold on the bay! Red throated and common loons, multiple species of shorebirds, mergansers, grebes of all types.
Perfect day for bicycling the coast today. Crystal clear skies and cool weather. Saw at least 20 new elephant seal pups today, one no more than 2 hours old, with many pregnant females ready to give birth at any moment. Lots of big males on the beach.
Spectacular day in Big Sur. The rain has turned the hills green. Gray whale migration has begun. We spotted over 10 separate pods of whales migrating south!
Beautiful day on the water! Tons of wildlife.
Phenomenal day on the bay again today - tons of bird life - grebes of all types, common loons, sea otter!
Beautiful winter day, multiple winter bird species along with a few brown pelicans and white pelicans. Sea otter right off the kayak docks.
Another spectacular winter day on the bay!
Amazing, sunny, beautiful weather. A few brown pelicans still lingering along with all of the winter birds. Very high tide!
Two sea otters spotted together again today. Watched a grebe catch and eat a pipefish. Lots of over wintering common loons.
Unreal day out there today - two peregrine falcons hunting, osprey and untold numbers of winter birds species. Plus, two sea otters!
Two peregrine falcons in the heron rookery, loads of grebes, brown pelicans diving all around the boats. Spectacular day on the water.
Lots of birds on the bay again today. Offshore winds, so very warm and clear. Bufflheads, white and brown pelicans, eared and western grebes, turkey vultures, and a sea otter in the back bay!
Beautiful late fall sunset - clear, cool evening, beautiful pink sky and tons of bird life on the bay.
Spotted two wild game cameras mounted on t-posts at the entrance to Chorro inlet.
Lots of winter birds on the bay - pied billed, western and eared grebes, common loons, red-breasted mergansers, plus white and brown pelicans and a lone California sea lion.
Beautiful wintery feeling day on the bay with lots of winter bird wildlife. Multiple harbor seals and sea lion spotted. Nice close ups of an osprey and belted kingfisher at the heron rookery. The brant geese could be heard in the distance. Beautiful flock of white pelicans and lots of shorebirds, grebes (pied billed, western and earred), plus a couple of red breasted mergansers.
The tidal currents were stronger than normal today due to the extremely tide that occurred during the last part of the tour. It was fun being swept out with the outgoing tide, and when it was time to come back we had these completely still waters. What a magical evening it was with otters, harbor seals, pelican's fishing, tons of shore birds and some light fog.
The brant geese have arrived! A flock of several dozen was spotted on the kayak tour today as well as some American avocets. There are also common loons back on the bay as well as every type of grebe species we see here in the winter. Most of the winter migratory birds have arrived. We were also treated to a pair of peregrine falcons hunting in the back bay.
Very low tide this evening, thousands of small birds flying, feeding and peregrine falcon swooping over the flocks. Warm and beautiful evening.
Lots of winter bird species arriving on the bay. Saw Western and eared grebes and a couple of northern shovelers off in the distance. Beautiful evening. Also saw the usual suspects out there - white and brown pelicans, terns, godwits, curlews, willits and double crested cormorants. Tons of harbor seals back in the channel.
Lots of birds on the bay, including some early winter migrants - eared and western grebes. Bat ray!
Beautiful, calm evening on the bay, despite fog obscuring the moon. Saw a white pelican feeding display with multiple pelicans involved.
Spotted two otters and tons of birdlife.
Great day on the bay! No wind, three osprey spotted and a sea otter.
Excellent day with lots of wildlife, including another beautiful osprey.
Tons of feeding birds on the bay. Elegant, caspian and royal terns all spotted. Grebes are back - pied billed grebes and western grebes. Osprey! Belted kingfisher! White and brown pelicans.
Calm and glassy on the bay in the morning, tons and tons of pelicans and seals. Breezier afternoon.
Lots of pelicans. Perfect weather!
Otters, dolphins and harbor seals. Three osprey and tons and tons of pelicans. What a great day!
Humpbacks spotted today along with condors over Partington Cove and Julia Pfeiffer Burns.
Two golden eagles spotted on the morning ride in Paso Robles today!
Great weather, hundreds of brown and white pelicans at Chorro Inlet, on the shore of the sandspit and on grassy island. Sea otter spotting!
Excellent wildlife sightings today - otters, harbor seals, an osprey flying overhead with a fish in his talons. All good stuff!
Incredible number of birds at the harbor seal haul out area. Unreal weather - gorgeous! Foggy and wet in the morning, followed by beautiful cloud formations. Warm and amazing.
Lots of hummingbirds along the coast today!
Super foggy morning, but hundreds of birds out on the bay!
Major humpback whale feeding event just south of Limekiln State Park. Pretty amazing!
Beautiful evening on the bay! Gorgeous sunset, huge orange full moon rising, lots of humpback spouts off of the sandspit and birds galore.
Elegant tern feeding frenzy. Also, not only an osprey at the heron rookery, but also a peregrine falcon!
Lots of humpback whales off the sandspit today! Grassy island was amazing - full of croaking cormorants, brown and white pelicans and a sea otter floating by. More harbor seals hauled out in the estuary today than usual. Low tide trip!
Saw a humpback whale off the sandspit and one lone otter in the back bay.
Elegant terns are back in large numbers.
The sea otter made a reappearance today, this time munching on a crab so close you could hear the crunching. Lots of harbor seals around today. Glassy waters on the bay.
Awesome day full of all kinds of wildlife!
Sea otter bathed in the pink lighting of sunset, lots and lots of cormorants and several white egrets this evening. Beautiful evening!
Almost every bike or hike trip along the coast in the past few weeks has seen LOTS OF HUMPBACK WHALES in the ocean. This summer has been one of the best summers in recent memory for watching whales off the coast here. The humpbacks usually stay in our are well into the fall as well.
Lots of noisy harbor seals today.
Whales, dolphins and condors at Partington Cove today!
Came within 15 feet of a sea otter who popped up next to the boats with a crab!
Dolphins off the sandspit!
Mass stranding of velella vellella (By the Wind Sailors) on the beach.
Grandpa otter in the back bay and an osprey feeding at the shell beach!
Beautiful sunset, super moon rise. Peregrine falcon and hundreds of terns!
Two peregrine falcons sightings over the estuary today! The two of them stirred up plenty if trouble amongst the shorebirds!
Beautiful conditions for our sunset paddle on Morro Bay this evening. Warm temperatures, little to no wind, out of this world sunset to the west and double rainbow to the east. Plenty of wildlife sighting as well - harbor seals, black crowned night herons and more.
Fantastic wildlife day in Big Sur! Humpback whales, huge numbers of dolphins, three sea otters and condors at Julia Pfeiffer Burns alone!
Whale-a-palooza, along with fantastic up close dolphin sightings on today's hiking trips in Big sur. Humpbacks whales are here! Amazing day out there!
Saw a flock of about 40 white pelicans today near Grassy Island on Morro bay. The lone Brandt goose was spotted again. Lots of harbor seals hauled out as well.
Lots of colts out on the ranches in between the wineries on our Paso Robles bike trip today.
California condors sighted at Partington Cove today on our Big Sur tour.
Today the weather was amazing - glassy water. We saw a feeding frenzy and there are lots of cormorant babies at the heron preserve. One lone Brandt goose was seen on the mudflats as well. Usually Brandt geese are only seen here in the winter.
Great evening for our full moon paddle on Morro Bay. Very calm waters and very clear sky for watching the moon come up.
The summer feeding frenzies with cormorants and pelicans have started. Often we'll see large groups of these birds diving and catching fish, sometimes very near the kayaks.
The Peterson family from Iowa went on a four day bicycle trip north of San Francisco with John. We started by cycling through the redwoods in the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt State Park. The rest of the trip was down Highway One along the coast from Leggett to Bodega Bay. Absolutely beautiful!
The heron preserve is in full swing on Morro Bay. Herons have been on the nests for a while. Great Egrets are in and showing off their special mating plumage. Double crested cormorants have started hatching their young. Very busy!
Our Big Sur hiking tour has been very popular so far this year. Almost every trip we see California condors. We've also been seeing lots of grey whales during the northward spring migration. Mostly really nice weather this spring with lots of clear days.
Toady we supported a large century bicycle ride down the Big Sur coast from Carmel to San Simeon.
Beautiful day on Morro Bay today. Started out a little breezy like many spring days, but never overwhelming. Great wildlife - peregrine falcon and sea otter among other sightings. Lots of mom and baby harbor seals in the back bay. The heron preserve is in full swing with the most prominent activity being the cormorants nest building.
Lots of wildlife on Morro Bay today! Sea stars, harbor seals ans sea otters.
Amazing wildlife day today in Big Sur! Sea otter at Partington Cove so close, you could almost count the whiskers on his face. And, 15 condors at Julia Pfeiffer Burns! This is certainly a record.
We've been seeing baby harbor seals over the last few kayak tours! The back bay area of Morro Bay is a pupping area for harbor seals. The seals are usually born here in from the middle part of March through into April.
Beautiful spring day on the Central Coast! Saw lots of wildlife on our Avila See Canyon bike ride today. The rain seems to have brought out the birds and the trees are all in bud and bloom. Saw a coyote loping down the road, multiple sea lions, a common loon in full summer plumage, pigeon guillemots and the peacocks strutting their stuff at Kelsey See Canyon Winery.
Saw a pod of gray whales today!
Great sunset tour on Morro Bay tonight. Saw the sea otter by Windy Cove again. Harbor seals seemed to have changed their preferred haul out spot from the old Chorro Creek channel to just south of Grassy Bar Oyster Company and another location about 1/2 mile further south. This happened last year about this time. I think it may be due to the fact that the pregnant females are close to giving birth and are seeking quieter haul out areas.
Saw another sea otter by Windy Cove on the kayak tour today!
Mesa Grande Academy joined us on Morro Bay today for a kayak tour. The weather cooperated and we saw lots of birds, as well as a sea otter near Windy Cove. On a stop at the Grassy Bat Oyster Company work barge in the back bay, George (the owner) told us he is experimenting with raising mussels in addition to oysters.
Today's kayak tour was the last of the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival tours. Altogether we ran 5 of these tours over Martin Luther King Weekend. In addition to the birds listed on the 1/17/14 entry, we have seen black bellied plovers, American avocets, osprey, American widgeon and common goldeneye. The weather has been spectacular and we are looking forward to doing these tours again next year.
Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival kayak tour today. Beautiful conditions on the bay - very warm, no wind and very clear water. Saw 30 different species of birds today, including western grebe, pied billed grebe, eared grebe, horned grebe, common loon, Brandt's cormorant, northern shoveler, northern pintail, bufflehead, ruddy duck, spotted sandpiper, Forster's tern and belted kingfisher, among others. We also ran into a pod of feeding sea lions and saw many harbor seals.
Great day on the water! We saw all three three types of marine mammals that live in Morro Bay - sea otters, sea lions and harbor seals! The winter migratory birds are all here and we also had great looks at common loons.
Fantastic weather and wonderful wildlife spottings on our two Big Sur hiking trips today! Multiple gray whales migrating south, three California condors and several dolphins at Partington Cove. All around great time of year in Big Sur!
A real "wildlife soup" day on the kayak tour on Morro Bay today. All of our winter migratory birds are here and we saw Brandt geese, black bellied plovers, as well as hundreds of other shorebirds. We haven't seen many sea otters ion the back bay this year, but two playful ones floated by us today. But the highlight of the day was definitely the numerous groups of sea lions that herded us along all morning. All in all, a wonderful day on the bay.
Rain was predicted for this morning, but it stopped raining around dawn and we were able to get in a beautiful morning of cycling down Highway One in the northern part of SLO County today. We stopped at the Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony to see what was going on. The large males have stared arriving at the beaches and are sparring with each other over territory and the right to breed with the females when they start arriving later in December. A large male elephant seal of breeding age can weigh about 5000 pounds and be up to 15-18 feet long!
Fantastic morning on Morro Bay today. The weather was stunning - very warm and clear. There are still pods of sea lions in the back bay hunting, which is unusual for this late in the year. The harbor seals are quite plentiful in the back bay and often pop their heads up very close to the kayaks. Virtually all our winter migrant birds are here. We've seen American avocets and loons on the bay, as well as black bellied plovers on the mudflats.
Very high tide on today's kayak tour on Morro Bay. The workers at Grassy Bar Oyster Company treated us to an impromptu oyster tasting right at the their barge in the middle of the bay! Many of our winter migrant birds have arrived. We saw osprey and pied billed grebes in addition to American white pelicans, a belted kingfisher and sea lions.
Quite a show on Morro Bay today for the kayak tour. Belted kingfisher and osprey were spotted. Several groups of sea lions were frolicking in the marina and farther out on the bay. We were also surrounded by inquisitive harbor seals near their haul out area by the Morro Bay Oyster Company barge.
Th weather in Morro Bay has been spectacular lately. Warm clear days and not much wind. Today we had a large student group out kayaking and they enjoyed harbor seals popping their inquisitive heads up by the kayaks as well as a large bat ray sighting.
October often brings wonderful weather to the Central Coast and today was no exception. The day started a little cool and foggy, but quickly cleared up to be a warm day on the water with little to no wind. Ospreys are back on Morro Bay and we saw lots of sea lions feeding as well as harbor seals cruising through the bay.
Lots of white pelicans in the back bay today. The Morro Bay Oyster Company barge was active today - they are gearing up for the upcoming Central Coast Oyster Festival on October 19.
Crystal clear beautiful day on the Big Sur Ecotour today. Our group of 8 saw a very large heard of elk on Hearst Ranch land just south of Ragged Point. We also had great sightings of California condors at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
Great wildlife day on Morro Bay today. On the short kayak tour we saw lots of adult brown pelicans, as well as two huge groups of American white pelicans, the second largest bird in North America. Several dozen harbor seals were hauled out near the Morro Bay Oyster Company barge, doing what we call "seal yoga." This is when the animals arch their flippers out of the colder shallow water into the warmer air to help them stay warm. We also saw a peregrine falcon perched on a bush out on the sand dunes.
Among other sights, tonight we enjoyed a dusk paddle by Grassy Island with white pelicans serenely gliding across the water in a line.
Today the kayak tour on Morro Bay saw bat rays out near Grassy island and had multiple sightings of sea lions throughout the bay.
Labor Day weekend was absolutely beautiful on Morro Bay. Very little fog, sunny and not too windy. September and October usually have the best weather of the year on this stretch of CA coast.
Lots of wildlife on Morro Bay today! WE SAW DOLPHINS! This is very rare in Morro Bay. We also saw a peregrine falcon stalking a flock of very nervous terns, as well as lots of harbor seals, egrets, cormorants and herons. Although we didn't see them on this trip, several of our Morro Bay kayak trips have seen humpback whales in the ocean while from our walk on the dunes. Very cool!
Very calm weather on Morro bay today and LOTS of wildlife. Cormorants, great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, huge flocks of terns, and brown and white pelicans. Lots of harbor seals hauled out in the back bay. Many invertebrates spotted as well - orange sponges, acorn barnacles feeding, nudibranchs, feather duster tube worms and striped shore crabs.
Lots of cormorant fledgling behavior at the heron preserve. Cool orange bat stars at Fairbanks Point and huge numbers of rock crab and mole crab molts on the beach.
Great day up in Big Sur! Two related families came with us today. We saw a beautiful adult condor at Partington Cove as well as a sea otter lolling in the kelp beds, as well as a sea lion. The fog came and went through the day, lending a dramatic backdrop to the landscape.
Honeymooners today on the lunch paddle today! Great sightings of harbor seals and a sea otter as well! Lots of terns on the bay.
Highest tide of the year (6.9 feet) on Morro Bay tonight on the full moon paddle! We had fun paddling over the top of the salt marsh, which was completely covered up, and visiting the while pelicans at Grassy Island.
On the lunch kayak tour today had some very inquisitive young harbor seals approach the kayaks. There were TONS of birds on the bay - egrets, heron, pelicans, etc.
Today on the Big Sur tour we saw condor fledglings at Partington Cove and one lone sea otter there as well. We also saw humpback whales breaching at Ragged point on the drive back south after the tour!
More and more of our shorebirds (i.e. sandpipers) are returning from breeding areas to feed and fly over the mudflats.
Low tide tour. Great seal sightings, black crowned night herons and an osprey!
It was a beautiful afternoon on Morro Bay. The herons and egrets at the heron preserve seem to have fledged most of their young ones and are not as active there. The cormorants, on the other hand, still have lots of babies there are are very active. We also saw perhaps 25-30 harbor seals hauled out on the mud flats near the Morro Bay Oyster Company barge in the back bay.
Lots of wildlife on the dinner paddle tonight! We saw harbor seals and a sea otter in Windy Cove as well as a cormorant and pelican feeding feeding frenzy. The night was clear and we saw Venus in the sky just at sunset.
Great sunset tonight! Three harbor seals swam with the group for quite some time. Copious amounts of pelicans tonight!
Incredible close up fly overs of condors at both Partington Cove and the main parking area in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
Two dolphins spotted in the bay itself tonight!
Dozens of white pelicans on the bay this morning.
Although we didn't see any on the tour today, one of our guides who lives on a boat on the bay called today to say she SAW DOLPHINS frolicking in the bay. Wow! This is a pretty rare occurrence, but we did see several dolphins in Morro Bay at about this same time last year.
Beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze. We started off the trip heading toward the heron preserve only to be interrupted by a feeding frenzy. On Morro Bay in the summer we often see large groups of cormorants and pelicans diving into groups of bait fish. We call these events feeding frenzies.
A wonderful kayak trip today with the Road Scholar group. This was a trip for grand parents and their grand kids. It was warm and sunny and George at the Grassy Bar Oyster Company barge on the bay treated some of us to an impromptu educational lecture on oyster cultivation in Morro Bay.
We are starting to see more and more brown pelicans on Morro Bay as June progresses.
Sea otters, sea lions and condors were all spotted today at Partington Cove!
Hardly anyone on the water today. It felt like we had the bay to ourselves! Lots of activity at the heron preserve still. We saw a skate right outside the marina, as well as several endangered western snowy plovers on the sand dunes. When we stopped to visit the Grassy Bar oyster farm, George told us he has about 1.8 million very small oysters in his nursery right now. Wow!
More otters at Partington Cove on the Big Sur Ecotour today!
Beautiful Day of Kayaking and Hiking! We saw many double crested cormorants at the Heron Rookery. The property at the Heron Rookery sounds like a busy playground this time of year. On our hike in Cayucos we spotted 12 or more brant geese, a few harbor seals, sea otter, a few black oyster catchers and killdeer.
Beautiful night!
Lovely trip up in Big Sur today. We saw a sea otter in the dense kelp beds at Partington Cove, as well as five California condors above the main parking area at Julia Pfeiffer-Burns State Park. Water flows are relatively low in the creeks for this time of year due to much lower than average rainfall this year. The Prius logged an impressive 53 mpg on the trip today!
We hosted the 8th grade class from the German International School of the Silicon Valley for three days in a row, starting with today. They camped at Morro Bay State Park Campground in the group site and had marvelous weather. We did a bike trip, a kayak trip and a hike trip for the kids and they leaned a lot! The bike trip was along the Bob Jones bike trail to Avila Beach and featured a tour of the Avila Beach Sea Life Center.
Never let a handicap hold you back! We had some sight impaired people on the full moon tour tonight. They really enjoyed all the sounds on the bay at night, especially all the cormorants calling to each other at the heron preserve!
Beautiful evening tonight. The Sunset was picture perfect!
A beautiful day in the Edna Valley today. The grape vines are starting to leaf out quite nicely, creating a carpet of green through most of the valley.
Most of our winter migratory birds are gone, but we did spot a couple of male eared grebes on the bay tonight. A large bat ray was also spotted right next to our docks. But perhaps the most interesting event was the BIO-LUMINESCENCE seen by our guide Mandy after the tour as she was paddling back to her boat. Bio-luminescence is a glowing effect in the water produced when certain micro-organisms are disturbed. It is relatively rare in Morro Bay and can be quite dramatic when one paddles as the paddle blade in the water looks like it has a odd green fire coming from it!
What a great paddle today! Although the central coast has been experiencing some rain showers, we had a clear morning. On our paddle we spotted an osprey hunting in the back bay and then a red-tailed hawk was spotted on our dunes hike. The Double-crested cormorants are still very busy building their nests at the Heron Rookery, flying overhead with twigs and ribbon-like leaves of eel grass in their beaks.
Gorgeous weather, good ride, happy campers.
We have been supporting this century ride each year since 2006. It starts in Carmel, rides down the Big Sur coast and ends in San Simeon. It is coordinated by our dear friend Jack McGlynn and he and his friends have actually been dong the ride for over 30 years. It has grown large enough that he needs buses and vans with trailers for luggage and bike transport. It is always a LOT of fun and this year was no exception. The weather was warm and it wasn't windy. Looking forward to 2014!
Great day on the bay with patchy fog and light winds. Spotted a bright orange sea star on the rocks at Fairbank Point as well as many great blue herons. They seem to be very active at the heron preserve now.
Great group. Lots of birds. Fun, Fun, Fun!
Sea lions and baby harbor seals - saw some jumping from the water.
The executive director of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) was on this tour with wife and friends. John Flaherty, owner of Central Coast Outdoors, took a NOLS course back in college (Kayaking Prince William Sound in Alaska) and credits his NOLS trip with changing his life! Small world!
Beautiful clear night!
Beautiful night out! There were two couples on the trip. One couple was celebrating their honeymoon and the other couple was celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to all!
Tonight's Dinner on the Dunes paddle was very pleasant. The wind remained at a low breeze. A very Happy Birthday was had by Allison. She was greeted by a pair of harbor seals as she began her paddle.
Very windy today, but the people on the trip had a great time regardless!
Sea otter and spotted sandpiper observed at Estero Bluffs during the hike.
Beautiful evening. Lots of harbor seals. We paddled next to a bat ray for a while.
The fog and marine layer persisted through the morning, but winds were light and we were treated to a great wildlife show on Morro Bay today. The heron rookery is very active now, with nesting behavior by all three species (double crested cormorants, great egrets and great blue herons) observed. We also saw lots of sea lions feeding off of Fairbank Point and two different bat rays basking along the surface. And, of course, the baby harbor seals back by the oyster farm area were as cute as ever. - JFF
Some of the interesting wildlife seen today on Morro Bay - ruddy ducks, baby harbor seals, sea lions, Brandt geese and eared grebes. The eared grebes are getting their dramatic breeding plumage in.
It was a beautiful spring day in Paso Robles, full of sunshine, birds singing and country roads.
Today was ideal weather on Morro Bay: mid 70s, sunny and glassy water for most of the trip with a light on shore breeze. Back by the harbor seal haul out area we saw lots of baby seals with egrets and white pelicans. The group today had some GPS coordinates for a geo-cache on the dunes, so we had fun looking for that. Along the way we found a GIANT dead crab and also saw lots of live sand dollars in the water.
We enjoyed the peaceful winding roads around the vineyards with wildflowers popping up all around on the bike trip today. At one point we were accompanied by a red-tailed hawk that was doubtlessly eyeing California ground squirrels scurrying near the road. We saw baby horses and baby sheep as well. Tasted wine at J. Lohr, Le Vigne and finished at San Antonio Winery for lunch. One of the clients on the trip today said that the bikes "are so easy to ride I feel like I am going downhill even when I am going up!"
Lots of baby/mom harbor seal pairs today. We also saw some of the older pups farther north in the bay, near Fairbank Point. Cormorants were observed pulling up eel grass by the roots for nesting material.
We enjoyed seeing more baby harbor seals with their mothers today. The common loons are getting their sleek black and white speckled breeding plumage, just in time for their migration away from Morro Bay! The cormorants in the heron preserve have been quite vocal as well. The male cormorants are busy flying to and fro carrying strands of kelp and eel grass in their bills for nesting materials. Later in the day we had lovely spring winds which kicked up small following waves on the way back to the marina.
A light rain the previous day brought out the banana slugs at Lime Kiln State park. Colin counted 122 banana slugs on the hike!
One of the participants on this trip has this to say about the fog coming and going and their experience on the sand spit: "The sun and mist danced and created an unforgettable landscape for us. Japan made an impromptu visit in the form of a glass ball, usually attached to fishing nets in the far eastern country. A beach treasure washed up on the California coast. Yes, we are not alone, although for an hour or so we felt like Robinson Crusoe on the sandspit..."
This was a special hike trip to a different part of Big Sur for a family that had done our regular Big Sur Ecotour a couple of years ago. We explored Andrew Molera State Park and forded the Big Sur River four times. Saw some Brandt geese in the surf at the beach as well as lots of red tail hawks.
Some of the winter migratory birds are still hanging around the bay. We saw red-throated loons and one common loon as well as western grebes, horned grebes and eared grebes. We also saw one lonely looking Brandt goose. The kids on the tour enjoyed watching brown pelicans dive for fish and we applauded when the pelicans were successful. It was a very low tide, so we saw all kinds of sea stars and sea anemones at Fairbanks Point on the rocks.
Dozens of double crested cormorants are in full nesting mode at Fairbanks Point. It was low tide during the tour, so we also saw lots of sea stars at Fairbanks Point. Three avocets were spotted by the oyster farm, swishing through the water with their long curved bills and orange heads. The highlight of the tour was perhaps a sea hare that was spotted out near the dunes. A sea hare is a rather colorful marine invertebrate that looks a bit like a large psychedelic slug.
Gorgeous evening and lots of baby harbor seals.
Foggy today, but the wildlife put on quite a show for us. No sea otters, but we saw sea lions and brown pelicans all feeding on schools of bait fish on a rising tide. The heron preserve has a lot of activity now with great blue herons on the nests and double crested cormorants building nests. We saw several baby harbor seals in the harbor seal haul out area by the oyster farm. We also visited with George (the owner) at the Grassy Bar Oyster Company barge on the bay. He showed us seed oysters that he has kept in special baskets under the barge until they are large enough to go in the plastic mesh bags he normally raises the oysters in.
Really nice trip with a family of 4 from Pennsylvania. We had a 9 year old on a kids bike and a 4 year on a tagalong bike trailer. We rode the Bob Jones Bike Trail to Avila beach and back. Saw lots of sea lions at Harford Pier at Avila Beach, as well as a great close up of a sea otter feeding.
Among other things, we saw red breasted mergansers, baby harbor seals and white pelicans in flight today.
Nice conditions on Morro Bay for the kayak trip today. Foggy at first, but then cleared. Not much breeze. SAW 5 BABY HARBOR SEALS!
Nice couple from Simi Valley o the bike tour today. A little foggy at first, but nice views for most of the day. The highlight of many of our Pacific Coast Day and Half Day bike tours is a stop at the elephant seal colony north of Hearst Castle. Today there were a lot of weaners on the beaches. Weaners are elephant seals that were born this year and have recently been weaned by their mothers. The mothers have left the beach and the weaners will soon get into the water themselves. There were also some young males and females on the beach undergoing their molt. Always lots to see at the elephant seal colony.
Windy Start to this trip, then the wind died down to reveal calm waters on Morro Bay. We spotted two sea otters on the trip today. We floated in our kayaks and watched one of the otters feed by the kayak shack. As it was crunching on a crab we were able to enjoy the sunshine and calm waters a little longer.
Gorgeous evening on Morro Bay!
Tons of wildlife on the Big Sur Ecotour today. Dolphins, whales and sea otters were all spotted in the water. Lots of birds as well, but no condors. We often see condors on this trip, but not all the time. The bridge project between Lucia and Lime Kiln has progressed to the point where we actually drove on it!
Private Morro Bay kayak trip for Westridge School for Girls - 7th and 8th graders. The big highlight today was OUR FIRST HARBOR SEAL PUP sighting of the year. The harbor seals on Morro Bay give birth from mid March into April. They tend to haul out on the mudflats in the oyster farm area, and this is where we saw this mother and baby. The baby looked like it was possibly a few days old. We look forward to more mother and baby seal sightings in the next few months.
Another great day on the water on Morro Bay. Today we had Boy Scout 309 on a private tour. This tour explored a different part of the bay due to low tide conditions and explored an area with lots of sand dollars.
Beautiful day on the Pacific Coast Highway. The rough chip seal on the highway did not seem to dampen the mood of the cyclists on the trip today.