Ano Neuvo

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15 March 2010

A few miles south of Pigeon Point is the Ano Neuvo State Reserve, an area of sand dunes and beaches which is home to a large colony of elephant seals and we took a walk with a park ranger to see them. Their birth and mating season runs from November when the males arrive and fight for supremacy. Between December and February the females arrive, give birth, wean their cubs, mate with the supreme or alpha males and then leave. The cubs then have to fend for themselves and learn to swim before they leave to find food. We only saw a few adult males and a lot of cubs sunning themselves on the sand, but it was a very interesting expedition.

We continued south along the coast through Santa Cruz which has a pleasure beach called the Boardwalk but it was closed today. Then around the Monterey Bay to Monterey where we are staying for a couple of days.

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