DAY 199: SEALtheBeach (Now open to the public)

Baby Seal will be forced from his home!

DAY 199: SEALtheBeach (Now open to the public)

Date: Wednesday June 1, 2011

Miles: **4.5

Elevation Gain: **125 Feet

Time: **3.5 Hours

Difficulty: **A lot of beach walking

Reward: **The Seals, cool coves, sea glass, jellyfish: California!

Description:It's June 1st; I broke the Seal boundary as allowed by law...

Where: Carpinteria, CA

Directions:From the 101 Freeway in Carpinteria, exit on Bailard and turn to the ocean.  The parking lot will be directly in front of you.  **2nd driving instructions and the remainder of our exploration on Day 199 will be updated tomorrow...

 Community Painting at the trailhead

 Spring!

 From the Seal Sanctuary

If you look back two days ago on my Day 197 post, you will see at least twice as many Seals residing here.  This is a shame yet I know the worst is yet to come.  I visited the preserve today around 1:00.  This was my first ever visit without a member of Sealwatch guarding the preserve.  Based on the picture above, I'm assuming people have already stepped foot on the beach!  When the seals are scared, they will immediately dart into the water.  They usually do not return right away, if at all.  Slowly and surely over the next several days and weeks, the population will diminish because there is no law to prevent people from walking this stretch.

If you feel as vehemently about this as I do, please visit: www.SEALtheBeach.com   You can make a difference.  I WILL make a difference.  This program will take time but we will succeed!

 

 From the top, a portion of the closed section that we will hike

 Listed on the stop sign, the beach is only closed thru May 31

 Stepping foot for the first time beyond the boundary

 Inching closer...

 My two kids and Julian...

That's it!  I refused to go further.  My kids were good; I asked them to stay quiet and made it like a game for them to do so.  I am proud; we did not disturb one seal.  From this vantage point you wouldn't have a clue that seals are just over the next hurdle.  People who don't know will walk right into their rookery.  It was truly sad seeing only half the population remain.

Knowing that people have not stepped foot on this portion of beach for at least six months, the kids began searching for Seal Treasure.  No, not the bottles that I hide up in the mountains, but sea glass, cool rocks and shells.  We remained quiet in doing so.  Shortly thereafter, I bribed them into lengthening our hike to drop down on the other side.  I will update this blog   tomorrow with the story.  Stay tuned...