Jeff and Jen.: Visiting the Elephant Seals at Ano Nuevo.

Janie, Jen, Robyn, and Jeff - ready for an adventure!

On Monday, we hired a babysitter and drove up the coast to Ano Nuevo State Reserve to see the Northern Elephant Seals, since this is a good time of the year to see them as there is a lot of seal activity taking place. The males were out challenging each other, the females were out taking care of the pups while trying to avoid being hit on by the males, and the kids were screaming for attention - no different than humans, actually. Well, except that we aren't the size and weight of a mid-range SUV, and we can't hold our breaths for two hours to dive 1,500 meters to the ocean floor to hunt rays, sharks and octopi for lunch.

An elephant seal skull on display at Ano Nuevo.

It was cool to listen to the crowd of seals chatter: the males have a very distinct basso-rumbly voice, used frequently by Hollywood sound designers for creatures like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or the lava-monster (Balrog) in Lord of the Rings. The females sound kind of like, well, big seals, and the pups sound just like screeching kids on a playground.

We had a fine docent by the name of Peter Bohacek, who told us all we needed to know about the Ohlone Indians that used to live at Ano Nuevo, the lighthouses up and down the California (and South Carolina) coastline, hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speak, the civil war, mankind's inhumanity to man, etc. (I think he was pleased to have a group of teachers as his captive audience - he seemed to be "spreading his wings" a bit, so to speak.) He did also speak about the Elephant Seals, eventually.

One interesting story we learned was that the Ohlone's from Ano Nuevo had been relatively wealthy due to the chert they found on the Ano Nuevo beaches. Chert, which is sedimentary, looks and feels just like obsidian, so the indians could make great hunting tools with it, and it was a valuable commodity. We also walked through an Ohlone fire pit (see photo above), recently unearthed by winds shifting the sands, which still contained the charcoal and shattered shells from the 1600s, before Ano Nuevo was overrun by nasty missionaries.

Here are a few more photos from the day. The docent led us on a 1.5 hour tour, which was just about right. We'll have to go back someday and see how the seals act during other phases of their life cycles at the park.