Seals!

A thick fog rolled in over night, which lent a somewhat eerie feeling to our visit with the Elephant Seals. Thousands of them gather on the beach about 15 miles north of here to establish dominance, mate, give birth, wean their young, and molt at various times throughout the year. As luck would have it, January and February are the months for many of these activities. I will provide some visuals, but for those of you who want to know more here's a link: www.elephantseal.org. 
However, for the sake of perspective while viewing the pics below, I will offer this: males can reach 5,000 lbs, females 1,800, and pups are between 60 and 80 lbs at birth while reaching 250-350 when they are weaned (28 days later!). 

For those of you who have lots of time, patience, or are just curious, here's a few minutes of Elephant Seal shenanigans.