Nature

Hiking the Coast: Steven's Creek

Written by Darin Boville
Sunday, 24 August 2008 01:54
Hiking the Coast: Steven’s Creek is the first in a new series on Montara Fog, highlighting the network of trails that surround us. This first post is from a hike my family took last Saturday. Readers are welcome to submit their own experiences and photos. Click here to go to the Steven’s Creek post. All of these posts will be placed in Montara Fog’s new (and still developing) Discussion forums. As such, you will be able to post your own experiences and comment and ask questions of others. Anyone can read the posts and enjoy the photos. To share your own experiences and to comment on those of others you’ll need to register (free and easy). Photo by Elizabeth Boville (Photos in gallery are by Elizabeth, Alexandra, Lori, and Darin Boville)

Seal Rescue at Miramar Beach

Written by Jennifer Merrilees
Monday, 04 August 2008 12:40
July 31, 2008 -- by Jennifer Merrilees A sea lion got a lot of attention today at Miramar Beach. He washed up on shore late morning, and at first glance, we thought he had died. When curious onlookers got within a few feet, we were all startled when he rose up and gave some loud barks. We called the Marine Mammal Center centered in Sausalito. They inquired about the color of the animal, whether it had earflaps, and other characteristics. They identified it as an adult male sea lion and asked if there was any possibility of sending a few pictures in order to get an idea of his size. Eleven-year old Annika obliged by snapping and emailing 3 photos from our cell phone. Within an hour or so, 2 staff members were there, cautioning beachgoers to maintain a healthy distance while keeping an eye on the sea lion. One of the staff, Sue, pointed out signs of weight loss in the sea lion. Awhile later the state lifeguard truck and several staff from the Marine Mammal Center appeared and managed to shoo the barking sea lion, with boards and a net, into a metal cage. Two Half Moon Bay Junior Lifeguards, Nina Mullen and Jenna Merrilees happened to be on hand. They've received education from the Marine Mammal Center about injured wildlife on the beach through their lifeguard training, and were enlisted to help lift the giant mammal up into the truck. The sea lion was transported up to Sausalito where it will be evaluated and cared for. We've had the opportunity to contact the Marine Mammal Center approximately once or twice a year when animals show up on the beach appearing injured. It is a wonderful organization. We enjoyed a visit to their Sausalito Hospital years ago, although it is currently closed to the public for remodeling. We now keep their phone number (415-289-7325) and email address (mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) programmed in our cell phone for these kinds of incidents. Here's their website for more information: http://www.marinemammalcenter.org Photos by Annika Merrilees and Jennifer Merrilees

Half Moon Bay Review publishes map of potential Coastal Trail

Written by Darin Boville
Friday, 25 April 2008 08:36
Update: The Midcoast Community Council will be discussing walking and biking paths at its May 28th meeting (Seton Hospital meeting room, Moss Beach, 7:30). Details to follow. The MCC is developing ideas to present to the County and community input is greatly encouraged and appreciated. This past Wednesday the Half Moon Bay Review published a map of the Coastal Trail (which exists in finished form locally only in Half Moon Bay) and its potential extensions, bringing it up from the County boundary all the way into Montara and over Devil’s Slide. This excellent map was created by the Review’s Bill Murray and I found it so valuable that I thought it might be interesting to share with readers here, too. Click on the map to download a pdf of Bill Murray's Coastal Trail map (from the Half Moon Bay Review) and an accompanying article by David Smydra. (You can view just David's article by clicking here.) Note that when you open the pdf the text might be too small to read. Not to worry--the graphic is a high resolution one and you can easily zoom in to see the text more clearly. It would make a great poster. Inset into Bill’s map is a portion of a map from the California Coastal Commission. I had not seen this map before but it is worth a look if you want to see our portion of the Coastal Trail in the context of the entire California coastline. Click on the map to download a pdf from the California Coastal Commission detailing the entire Coastal Trail. If you’ve read David’s article and want to “go right to the source” you should look at the following video. The Midcoast Community Council, at the urging of member Neil Merillees, invited new County Parks Director David Holland to give a presentation on the Trail--it's a valuable, enjoyable presentation and well worth watching. David has a refreshing no b.s. style and a passion for what he does. (Not to mention the half million dollars he has at the ready.) Click on the photograph to go to the video of David’s presentation. Finally, Neil Merillees, before the meeting with David Holland, made a video for Montara Fog in an effort to encourage people to attend the MCC meeting. The meeting is over, of course, but in the video Neil travels to a few key junctures along the unfinished Coastal Trail and gives us a "sense of place" that works well combined with the above maps. Click on the photograph to go to Neil’s video. Full Disclosure Notice: I just bought bikes for my family so I have my own self-interest partly at heart in writing this article. Maybe it is just me but it seems like it would be nice to be able to bike up and down the Coast with my kids without braving the high-speed traffic of Highway One.

Whales at Montara Beach

Written by Darin Boville
Tuesday, 22 April 2008 19:39
Montara Mike (Mike Watson) stopped by Montara Beach today and watched these whales playing in the surf. He was kind enough to share the photos with us. Every year the gray whales migrate north and pass by our coastline. The females and calves travel very close to the shore, perhaps for protection from sharks and other dangers. They will often linger near Montara for a week or more. Click here for additional photos. Photo by Mike Watson

Elephant Seals: Field Trip to Ano Nuevo

Written by Darin Boville
Sunday, 10 February 2008 10:23
In Kenny Howell’s words, they are the most unlikeliest of creatures. A weird evolutionary branching, hunted nearly to extinction, brought back from the brink by the restoration of breeding grounds, such as that at Ano Nuevo State Park, just a short drive south along Highway One. Last year my daughter's class ventured on a field trip to see the seals and I joined them with my video camera. I’d seen elephant seals only once before--a single, defeated male slumbering a few miles north, nearly dead-like in its mis-scaled largeness, blocking the trail that I and my kids had hoped to take. The elephant seals are, in one way or another, at the beaches of Ano Nuevo most of the year, not just in the Spring. But it is in the Winter and Springtime when the large males come in to breed and to fight. There’s violence in the video and some blood. And dead baby seals, run over by the blundering freight train bulls in their battle lust. Life as a seal seems to be nasty, brutish, and short. The experience is a clear-eyed view of the natural world we don’t often get to see so close to home. You can see the elephant seals for yourself now through March 31 at Ano Nuevo. Access by permit only (obtain a free permit at the ranger station). Video by Darin Boville. First published on Coastsider.com

More Articles...

<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 2