More Morro Bay

I cannot imagine going to Morro Bay and not finding something to photograph.   Even though I have so many photos in my files, and some of them seem a little redundant, I still take my camera with me to this small area in hopes of seeing something a little different.

When you drive to to the town of Morro Bay, there is a strand that takes you out to the beach and the walk along The Rock.   To the right is the parking area where surfers and beach goers park.   We usually start there and walk along until we decide to turn around and walk back.   This is a view of the parking area.   Even on a busy day, people are pretty well organized in this area.   I've never been blocked in and it's quite civilized for an uncontrolled parking area.   There is also a decent restroom that's kept pretty clean.   California does a good job with its public restrooms in park areas and I appreciate that.   

To the left in this photo is the famous Rock.   It's too close to get a photo at this point because it's HUGE.   But walking down the beach and turning around....well, you can see that it's just spectacular.   A cloudy day makes the detail stand out much more than you can see in the bright sun.

This is a surfers beach.   They sometimes hold competitions here, but most days you can see people out on their boards.   It's a good learning/practicing beach because the waves aren't so big that they would be intimidating....in my opinion anyway.   When the waves are big, they crash up against this side of the rock and make for great photo ops.   I'm sure I've shown you many of those.

A closer view of The Rock.   It's always lined with birds and you can hear thousands of seagulls when you get close.   There are two peregrine falcon nests, one on the north side and one on the south.   

Walking from the parking lot toward the other side, you come to the little cove in the harbor where the sea otters live.   There are still a few mamas and babies wrapped up in the kelp, although not as many as I showed you a couple months ago.   The south side has a drive which leads out to the jetty.   There is a small beach on this side which is not always exposed due to high and low tides.   Looking back from the south side into town, this is the harbor and a view of the town.

And on this side there are prickly pear cactus growing into the rock.   They are in full bloom right now. I tried to get a few photos to show you these pretty flowers, but the rocks are covered in seagull droppings which ruins the shots.   Lots of cropping required.   I may try again this weekend.

Thanks for all your comments about the purple sand dollar.   Yes, that is the real color.   Here's another one I thought was worth a photo.   I've also included a little video I found online that shows a sand dollar moving along in time lapse.   Pretty cool.