Elephant Seals!

We were so excited to see the Elephant seals!  There were thousands of them and this is one of the best times of year to see them.

Elephant seals can only be seen in two places in the United States.  One place is Ano Nuevo State Park near San Mateo.  You are required to make reservations ahead of time and pay a fee and must be with a guide.  It is a moderate to strenuous hike of 3-4 miles to see them.  I have looked into it before and it is very hard to get reservations.

The other place to see Elephant seals is along the central coast of California about 5 miles north of Hearst Castle at a place called Piedras Blancas Rookery right off Highway 1.  It is easily accessible, free, and open to the public every day of the year. No reservations are needed. 

Males have the large proboscis snout and can weigh from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds!

Below are two females having a lively conversation!

Elephant seals were hunted almost to extinction for their blubber.  They spend months at sea feeding and swimming and they spend about two months of their lives on land.  They eat nothing while on the beach.

Out in the water a male can hold his breath for up to 2 hours!

 A young male

We actually got to see two males fighting

It's a crowded place!

Nursing babies.  From birth to 6 weeks they are black in color.

Pups weigh 60-80 pounds at birth.

I love this picture Grandpa got of a sleeping male.

We went to see them twice on our trip.  The second time was in the morning and they were much more active than in the afternoon.  It is very noisy actually, so I made this video to give you an idea.  (The URL is below the video if needed.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFqRVKne8TI

This was one of the favorite things we did on our recent trip!