Return to CA

I recently spent a week back in CA visiting my colleagues at ISI to continue our research collaboration. Was nice to be back and the meetings were good, but of course I had to allocate some time for the ocean as well!

Early spring is when the gray whales migrate back north to Alaska by way of southern California. So I drove directly from LAX to Palos Verdes to get a quick fix of whale-watching. Was a great day for marine mammals! I saw 6 gray whales, 2 fin whales, a near-shore pod of 1-2 dozen Pacific white-sided dolphins (my first ever!), several pods of bottlenose dolphins (including an off-shore group leaping high out of the water), and assorted sea lions. The Pacific white-sided dolphins were especially exciting because I'd been hoping to see them last year but never did. These particular dolphins were close to shore so I had a terrific view. The official whale watchers identified them based on their fins, which are slightly more curved than those of bottlenose dolphins. I stopped at Redondo Beach on the drive back and snapped close-up pics of pelicans who had invaded the pier, including (I think?) a male and a female.

On the 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica one evening, I saw an awesome skateboarding bulldog! You have to see it to believe it -- the dog rides a skateboard for long distances, pushing off the sidewalk periodically with his leg to get more speed, and he even turns the skateboard right-side up when it flips over! The dog zooms back and forth down the street almost obsessively. And, perhaps not surprisingly since this is California, he is famous: you can see his act here.

I drove up to Santa Barbara for the weekend, which is a beautiful, relaxing place to commune with the Pacific. I explored the Santa Barbara Zoo, which is smallish but quite nice. Highlights included a massive Bengal monitor and a supremely handsome San Esteban chuckwalla. Photos are here.