An early, presunrise start to the day allowed for lots of wonderful views.
Shorty after I arrived at the shore, 6:47 and still another half hour to see the sun
7:04: Lots more light and less red sky
I liked this view out toward the oil rigs kind of sitting atop the high surf
On the return leg now with the sun up and highlighting the main lifeguard tower on the state beach
Amazing and super hardy swimmer in the early light
And a quick, dynamic 11 seconds of my morning
I awoke early this morning so I could catch the 6:25 Santa Barbara bound bus. My plan was to get off in Summerland, walk along the shore to Santa Barbara’s East Beach, then catch the Carpinteria bound bus home. Everything went swimmingly. It was very fun and interesting to see sights I haven’t seen for a very long time, some never.
I’ve noticed for years that cormorants seemed to be killing and have killed many eucalyptus trees on the ocean side of Hwy 101 on the Summerland hill. So after returning home I sought the answer on the internet: “Cormorants do kill trees, shrubs, and other vegetation, due to accumulation of their guano, which is highly acidic, and removal of foliage for nesting material.”
Several images below show this damage and others views I found of interest. Click on any to jump to a slideshow that includes a description with each.
On my walk this morning the sunrise was simply gorgeous and for quite a long time. Here are two static shots that you can click on to enlarge followed by a video. So special that our section of the coast faces south so we can see both the sunrise and the sunset from the shore.
I always like to watch the platform service boats come and go from their service pier by the Seal Sanctuary out to the platforms. This beautiful morning I was walking by the pier when the Capt. T Le loaded up and headed out. Cool.
I awoke around five this morning and glanced out my open bedroom door to see the full moon along with Mars. It was so lovely I jumped up in the chilly predawn to take some pictures. This became more involved as I needed to use a tripod then needed to add a step stool to get the camera to a height to include the Santa Barbara harbor. By the time I got everything set up and had taken a few shots to understand how to configure the camera the moon was setting, then gone in a last shot or two.
I left home just before 5:00 and rode to the harbor in Santa Barbara then out to the end of the wharf before heading for home. Here are a few shots in the dark of things that intrigued me in the beautiful predawn.
I rode away from the house this morning at 4:50 while the moon was still up and within a day of being full. When I got down to La Conchita I stopped in the hopes of being able to capture the glorious sight off to the west.
I discovered on my walk this morning that the Seal Sanctuary is only formally restricted December 1st thru May 31st. I’ve seen the sign often and always turned around but this morning a few people were coming along from the direction of the pier so after talking with them and hearing their experience I walked on. No seals were “home” but in the fourth photo you can see the interesting seal tracks up and down the beach. It was an interesting perspective to look up at the Sanctuary overlook, i.e. the seal’s view.
This morning as I was walking to Pt. Dubai (seen in the distance in shot three) and was about 35 yards from this boy he was returning a ray to the ocean. Twenty minutes later I was returning from Dubai and could see the boy working away heavily reeling in another fish with his bent rod. Yet another ray, so I stopped to chat with him and his very friendly dad and took these shots. “Could it have been the same ray?” I asked. The man was very certain it was not.
I’ve loved these guys ever since I first noticed them driving by La Conchita at night. So since I’ve been biking in and around dawn I’ve stopped to take pictures with my Sony camera a few times. But I’ve never been able to hold the Sony steady enough for a clear image. So I bought a Joby GorillaPod 500 tripod that allows me to wrap its legs around the top bar of the bikeway barrier to provide a stable base for the long, 265′ foot shot across the 101 to the neon palms in the dark. This morning was try number one and things swam swimmingly.
My best shot of the morning.
The red streaks are car tail lights zooming along the 101
(click to see the full size)
A couple more shots where I like the effect of the tail lights flying by
