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Published: October 2nd 2016
Today was our third day of driving along Highway 1 or the Pacific Coast Highway, with 155 miles to be covered before our arrival in Malibu Beach. Everyone was a little tired this morning and it was well after nine before anyone left the campsite.
We firstly stopped at an information point, only to discover there was no infomation, so we continued to a signed vista point, where according to our handbook, travellers on previous trips had seen dolphins and pelicans. Despite waiting there for quite a while, making and drinking a coffee and being joined by several fellow travellers, the only spot was an Amtrak train who saluted us all with a loud whistle and wave.
One of the suggested stops for today was Santa Barbara, but on researching parking for RV's on the internet, there seemed to be very little provision. The fact that it was a Saturday also didn't help the problem, so we decided to give it a miss and see where else we could find to stop.
As we nearing Ventura (place not a ship) the navigator decided we needed to take a right. We didn't but it was a fortuitous mistake, as
we found ourselves driving along a road right next to the ocean, with huge RV's parked all along it. We spied a vacant spot and could see that it had a number, but had no idea how to pay. If you don't know in America you just ask, so we collared a man walking past who explained we needed to either pay online or walk along and find a pay point. He offered us the use of his computer to pay online, but we decided to pay in cash, so he explained that we had to go and get an envelope from the pay point, fill in all our details where asked and having put the appropriate fee in said envelope, post it in the box. For this fee we could have actually stayed for 24 hours, but of course we have to be elsewhere, but we were sorely tempted to stay. It was an idyllic spot right on the ocean front, so out came the awning and deck chairs and we settled down for our lunch. Suddenly, out of the blue, we spied black fins straight in front of us and lunch was forgotten as we enjoyed a free
dolphin show. We could see them wave surfing and doing acrobatics in pairs, leaping out of the water and they were quite close to the shore. After a while we did eat our lunch and then went for a walk along the very long beach, where we could see the dolphins again as they too had moved along the beach. Eventually we could no longer see them, so we returned back along the beach, dipping our toes into the Pacific Ocean and finding it considerably colder than Florida!! No wonder there were so few swimmers without wet suits. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our idyllic spot and relaxing after all our travels.
We still had about an hours journey to Malibu and Ellie was feeling hungry again, so we had to find a gas station before finally arriving here at Malibu RV park. We have a superb spot overlooking the ocean and as I'm writing this I can hear the waves crashing on the beach. We were actually the last of our party to arrive tonight, only just making it back before darkness descended. Tomorrow is an early start; we have to be at reception for 8am for our tour of Los Angeles, so an early night is called for.
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dave
non-member comment
HELLO
SUE, YOUR WRITING IS SUPERB - ENJOYING THE TRIP AS MUCH AS YOU OBVIOUSLY ARE..HI TO YOU DAVE . HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEE YOU SOON. X DAVE AND BABS X