Moss Landing State Beach in California is a wonderful place to see a large variety of marine life.  From the Sea Lions piled on top of each other sleeping on a pier, to Harbor Seals relaxing on the beach, not to mention Sea Otters and shore birds by the dozens.  Moss Landing S.B. was scheduled to be closed by this time, along with many other California State Parks due to funding limitations but thankfully, money was found to keep almost every park open this summer, including Moss Landing.

To see more images from my recent trip to the California coast, click here.

To schedule your own trip to this wonderful area of the country, click here.

Traveling along the coast of California, searching for marine life, I wasn’t expecting to be photographing horses, but a field of these beautiful animals on the property of the Hearst Castle near San Simeon was a bonus that couldn’t be passed up.

A little north of San Simeon, CA, is the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal rookery where thousands of elephant seals come to rest, molt, breed and give birth.  The rookery is protected and has an observation area which is open year round for viewing these very interesting marine mammals.  This time of year, many are in the molting stage and catching up on some long overdue rest.

Young males are here, getting in sparring practice which they will need as adults when they contest for mates.

Photographing along the coast of California is a joy.  There are so many amazingly beautiful landscapes and each scene can change so dramatically depending on weather and lighting conditions.  Above, this view at the edge of Garapata State Park was under thick, heavy overcast conditions contributing to a sense of calm and mystery. While the scene below from Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, was photographed on a brighter day, illuminating the rush of the water across the sandy beach.

During my recent trip to the California coast, I was able to spend several hours watching sea otters.  The one pictured above was at the Moss Landing State Park in the Monterey area.  A fair number of otters gather there throughout the day and it is great viewing.  Their day seems to be about 25% eating and 75% grooming. This otter was in eating mode and made repeated dives for clams but if you eat too many you might wind up like this……