Shark!

I love piers. I love the brief illusion of walking onto the water and standing in the middle of the ocean. The best piers, such as King Harbor at Redondo Beach, showcase the infinite wonders of the sea via artwork, shops, games, and, of course, ever-present fishermen. On a recent return trip to King Harbor, I discovered a restaurant that sells the freshest shrimp imaginable, witnessed a substantial haul of mackerel by a local fisherman, and watched a beautiful sunset over the Pacific.

On Saturday I drove to Seal Beach to see the second longest wooden pier in California. Disappointingly, the pier was remarkably unremarkable. It isn't noticeably longer than other piers, and it has nothing on it but a small restaurant. Seal Beach's main street, however, has some cute touristy shops, including a seashell store that had rows and rows of seashells (I would have loved this place as a kid!), a colorful kite store, and other typical Californian establishments. :)

On Sunday, I took a stroll on my local beach and, as often happens, eventually found myself on the Venice Pier. A sea lion was circling the pier, periodlcally poking his head out of the water. My binoculars revealed that he often had a fish in his mouth when he surfaced. A bit later, I noticed a pod of bottlenose dolphins swimming parallel to the beach, heading north toward the pier. I'd heard surfers claim that the dolphins often swim so close that the surfers can touch them, and I could see from my vantage point on the pier that this was true. The dolphins swam right in front of several groups of surfers, almost seeming to mingle among them. As they slowly meandered northward, the dolphin frequently stopped to engage in jumps and other acrobatics. After many failed attempts, I finally got one picture of two dolphins jumping high out of the water. At one point, the sea lion joined up with the dolphins and porpoised right alongside them.

I was so immersed in the dolphins' antics that I failed to notice a large group of people gathering on the other side of the pier. When I finally turned around, I walked right into a large crowd that was admiring a fisherman's prized catch of the day: a leopard shark! The shark was 3-4 feet long, and a magnificent animal. It was still wriggling around, desperately trying to free itself, and it was sad to watch such a beautiful animal in its last throes of life. But I felt lucky to stumble onto the event - I'd heard that local fisherman often catch shark, but I never expected to actually see one.

Quite an eventful afternoon for a casual stroll on the beach! Sometimes I feel like I live in my own personal Sea World. :)