Tag: wildlife

Posted on

Fish

2016-LM-09-14.jpg

Surf: 2.0 ft at 15.4 s at 231° SW

This morning’s waves were small and clean, great for some longboard practice. We found a spot working away from the main group and nabbed plenty of fun ones. I worked on my cross step a little and mostly enjoyed the sunshine.

The water was clear enough I could see a school of pretty good sized fish go by. Normally I see small fish like anchovies or sardines, fish in the 6″ range. These guys were a good foot. It was really cool to see them zipping along in the wave I was riding.

I told the fisherman on the beach that I saw a big school, just over there, and he laughed “None of them are biting!”

Meanwhile, up at Ocean Beach, there were much, much bigger fish out and about. This juvenille’s splashing around was caught on the Surfline cam. Pretty cool!

sharkjump.gif

Posted on

Whales!

2016-06-11 11.12.51-2

Surf: 5.3 ft at 8.3 s from the WNW at 296°. Incoming tide.

Last week was so busy. I didn’t get out to surf at all. I was hoping for a few waves today to even thing out, but pulling up I saw some ragged, closed out, meh looking waves. What I also saw were humpback whales all over the place. There were a couple groups catching their fill of fish. It was SO COOL.

Thankfully the rest of the session was much better than it looked. I got a few waves here and there (after a lousy paddle out) and got lots of great views of the whales doing their thing. Below is a video from someone on the beach. How cool is that. 😀

Posted on

Waving Sea Lion

2015-LM-10-16

Surf: 3.9 ft at 11.4 s from the WSW at 254°. Incoming tide.

The surf really came down from Tuesday. There were dribbly, shallow waves and not much else. I couldn’t tell if it was my sore back or having surfed my 6’10 earlier in the week, but I was surfing pretty terribly. While floating around, blowing waves, I saw a sea lion rolling on it’s back, waving a flipper at me. Hiya!

Eventually I got a wave in that was slightly competent and figured ehh probably good enough.

Posted on

Fish Whomp

2015-LM-07-17

Surf: 4.3 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 322°.

I didn’t have high hopes for this morning. That said, I got one good long wave, walked way up the nose. Everything else was a whomping closeout. After about an hour of that, I opted for some bodysurfing instead. That was pretty fun. There were so many fish. I’m not sure what kind. Something medium sized, larger than sardines and only in groups of 3-5 instead of big schools. They were silver with some bright yellow flashes.

We’ve been seeing a variety of different fish lately. The water’s very warm and lots of sea life is moving up the coast pursuing the colder water.

Posted on

Multiple Great Whites

2015-SANO-06-20pm

Surf: 1.6 ft at 16.7 s from the SSW at 212°.

Met up with Jon and his family to surf this afternoon. I hauled the Tuxedo pig (pictured below) down to the beach to try it out. As we were getting into the water, Jon’s wife said “Someone mentioned something about seeing a shark. Let Jon know when you get out there, please.”

I paddled out and let him know. We shrugged. These vintage and vintage style boards are heavy. It’s a long walk down from the cliff and I didn’t want to skip out on the waves because of a rumor.

The Tuxedo pig was fun. It’s definitely heavy and I was doing a lot of work to swing it around and keep it under control going leashless. I got a couple fun waves before swapping it for the Feral Pig CG was riding.

Just after getting my first wave on the Feral Pig, a helicopter buzzed us shouting over the loudspeaker. Now, helicopters are loud, and the ocean is loud, and while we didn’t understand all of what they were saying, we did get the message of “MULTIPLE GREAT WHITES” and I can’t image we needed to know more than that.

Of course, I’d only gotten ONE wave on the feral pig, so I didn’t go in right away. I got another wave. That board is fascinating. It’s big and heavy, but surfs like it isn’t. It has the flow-thru D fin, but is smooth and buttery. Basically the board did all the work. It caught the wave, it turned, it made a section, it got a reform, it held steady while I walked up.

I lost it trying to kick out of the wave. In the course of me swimming after it, I bumped some kelp and shrieked. I decided that it might be time to go in.

It glassed off really nice in the evening, but I was still spooked. Glad other folks scored the sunset waves.

Posted on

Whale!

2014-OBL-02-24

Surf: 7.9 ft at 11.4 s from the W at 280°

Snuck out for a quick surf this morning. With the smaller swell and high tide, it was soft out there, but rideable. I didn’t really get any solid waves, but it’s been over a month since I took my fish out. My expectations were appropriately dialed I think.

One highlight of the morning, a whale swam by pretty dang close to us, surrounded by a pod of dolphins. I think that’s the closest I’ve been to a cruising whale.

Posted on

East Side Tour

Surf: Mellow, Waist-Chest high. Clean.

Yay for SC Thursdays. Started out at the hook. It was fun, but a little crowded on the inside. We paddled over to 38th where a fun, small little peak was breaking. Got some fun little rides in while Chris shot a little video and took some pics. 😀 Soooo stoked about the vid. Also saw a whale again. Nice!

Pics turned out pretty good, too! Here’s me on one ride. I tried to get out in front of a section in the second shot. Was hoping to get a cover up out of it or something. So close!

Thanks for the pics, Chris!

Posted on

South Swell, Whales, and Hot Chocolate


Photo by Chris

Surf: Waist-Chest high. Peeling. Long lulls but lots of energy.

Nice south swell rolled in this week. Cowells was breaking sooo nicely. It was crowded for sure, but plenty fun. Got some nice long waves that really zipped on the outside and held up all the way through. Plenty of otters chilling in the lineup and a whale splashing around outside the kelp. Grabbed some hot chocolate, a pastry, and cruised on in to work.

Posted on

Wednesday – Late day: Pelted with fish

Surf: Waist-Shoulder high. Full of fish.

The other day Ed had mentioned these needle fish that get spooked and jump out of the water. After scratching to get over a shoulder high closeout, got to see the needle fish first hand. I was quite suddenly pelted by hundreds of these crazy skinny fish. They were all over my board, hitting me from every direction. I shrieked like a little girl before laughing. Fish! Everywhere!

Pretty fun session. Lots of fun peeling waves. Still haven’t made it to proper sunset, dinner is just too tasty.

Posted on

Montara

Surf: Waist High+ dumpy, mushy waves. Warm and Sunny.

It’s good to be back. 5 days on dry hot earth is too much and the pile of work waiting for me when I got back wasn’t helping.

Surfed a short bit. Got a few waves in. Saw a dolphin take a wave on in inside.
Chris got lots of stellar long lefts in. Nice work.

Great sunset over the water. ++

Here’s on parting image from the desert experience. Gotta love the west coast where even camping involves funny costumes and hats.