Elephant Seals
Piedras Blancas, CA

For Christmas Eve, my family went up the coast to check out the elephant seals near Hearst Castle. I was surprised by both the number of people there and the number of slug like seals. A couple of fights broke out between the bulls while we were there, and in general it was entertaining to watch these sloth like creatures bask in the late afternoon sun.

	I think the first thing I should point out is that these are LIVE elephant seals. They just don't move much.
This one waved hi with his tail. It was almost like those Dodge Neon commercials. "HI!" Almost.
	Most of these are females with one bull in there keeping watch. Later on, he'd fight for the right to keep them.
Here's a picture of both the crowd and the number of these things littering the beach. I could definitely relate, their lifestyle directly coincided with what I did on my vacation.
	Puppah! (as leek would say) It's unfortunate that the sun was setting as the lighting was pretty harsh. With the limited areas we were alowed to walk along, it was hard to take decent pictures. They were definitely CUTE, though.
There were a number of seal piles. This would be one of them. I assume they do it for warmth, or maybe they realize how photogenic they are all cuddled up into piles.
	I forgot to mention, the beach was a beautiful setting. I can see why the seals choose to vacation here.
This seal pile has a couple of youngsters in it. You can tell the younger ones because they're much lighter than the adults. Oh, and they're a heck of a lot cuter, too.
	Three youngsters take a nap. If you hadn't seen the bulls fighting, you'd think these things were pretty cuddly.
One of the bulls in the background starts makin a move, and the rest of the seals start moving out of the way.
	Here are two bulls issuing a challenge to each other. They make this weird slow clicking noise that sounds completely non-threatening. Add to this that they move like blubbery caterpillars, and it's hard to take them seriously.
Another guy voices his opinion.
	And this is my cat rolling around.. Oh wait, no this is another pup being unbearably cute.
A latecomer comes in out of the ocean to mix it up. I believe this is the bull who will be causing the problem in the later pictures.
	Another group photo. My mom and grandma are in this picture along the cliff. And people complain that I never take people photos!
Oh boy, more clicking! These things move surprisingly FAST. They do the clicking then they charge a bit, then click some more. So far, one of them would always run away after that.
	But not this time! These guys were serious. It looked like they were just bludgeoning each other with their heads, but it turned out they were biting and drawing quite a bit of blood. It was so silly to watch, that it was surprising to see the loser bleeding.
Retaliation will be had, and the reigning champion gets to keep his harem. The loser, (the one with his back to the camera) ran back to the water.
	Two pups get in some fighting after watching the big guys do it. They didn't click, and no blood was drawn.
After seeing the seals, we drove a couple of miles to a picnic site and watched the sunset while we ate ham sandwiches.
	After we ate, we walked along the pier. This is looking back at the campground. The waves were pretty strong, and the entire pier would shake when they came by. It was a tad disconcerting.
One last shot of the sunsetting over the pier, and then it was time to head home!

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All photos copyright Anne Sullivan