John & Anne Wiley

2015/09/15

Rockin’

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:09

I quite enjoy touring the rocks in our mountains, and seem to always find many new favorites and different perspectives on old friends. On this flight my fav newcomer is this one Anne named the witch hat.

9716 Witch Hat Rock

9716 Witch Hat Rock

To me it was an exploding star until she pointed out the pointy black hat with hair trailing off to the right and even an impression of a broomstick. Then I noticed some sort of Bart Simpson cartoon character in this one.

9727 Bart vs. Mouse

9727 Bart vs. Mouse

There’s a black mouse facing right nose to nose with “Bart” who’s facing left. I like the other shapes and textures too, including that dark shape carved deeply into the light colored stone at the top left of the pic. These features are on the slope below Lizard’s Mouth, with Witch in the center of this pic and Bart just off to the lower right.

9724 Rock Array

9724 Rock Array

Then there’s this spot a bit further to the right (East) where I see other shapes. Do you see any?

9736 More Impressions

9736 More Impressions

2015/09/09

Whale of a Time

There’s usually a time delay between one of our adventures, and getting organized to share some of it with you in a post here. Sometimes weeks even! So I’m glad to have caught a few minutes to share this expansion of my earlier Edhat post. Arriving at L52 we were treated to this whale feeding frenzy less than a mile offshore from the airport. We’ve never seen this “thrash feed” technique before.

9398 Thrash Feed

9398 Thrash Feed

Amazing to see them strategically working so effectively together. The top whale surfaced and blew first, rolling almost 90° to the left and thrashing left with a powerful tail fluke thrust to lunge suddenly to the right and down into the dense school of frightened fish. Then it blew out air to further freak the fish and drive some toward the lower whale in this pic (to its left).

9406 Thrash Feed

9406 Thrash Feed

That second whale then did the same maneuver and probably caught more fish while at the right you can see the effect their splashes had on the gathered birds who’d been picking off fish driven to the surface. Another technique was to swim at each other through a line of fish (darker area of the water) with an offset like this.

9430 Lancer Charge

9430 Lancer Charge

A solo method in deeper water was to come up from below and then dive back down into the school, a little more like the method used by pelicans. The tiny white dots seem to be fish driven to the surface.

9442 Dinner Diving

9442 Dinner Diving

We saw a use of bubble netting like this next group of four whales, and liked how birds in front of them scattered for safety while those behind converged for scraps.

9397 Bubble Net

9397 Bubble Net

Fascinating and thrilling to watch all these fishing techniques from a safe distance!

9388 Bubble Harvest

9388 Bubble Harvest

Sometimes a bird would venture too close and be surprised by the sudden plume of mist from a whale’s blow, as in this sequence.

9468 Bird Bath

9468 Bird Bath

In addition to a few seals and dolphins and innumerable birds, this scene had also attracted much cheering and shouting from the big holiday gathering on the beach as we learned after landing. But my fave pix of this amazing experience are of what looks to me like a pregnant female, who took a more sedate approach to collecting a few of the slower fish in the massive school.

9438 Quiet Snack

9438 Quiet Snack

I especially love the reflective mood of this one with ripples shimmering into the depths.

9418 Quiet Depth

9418 Quiet Depth

2015/09/03

Special Day

In recent years every day has been charmed. Today somehow we dialed the enchantment up a notch. This afternoon we flew to the sweet little community around Oceano Airport (aka L52).

8842 L52 Community

8842 L52 Community

This is the sweetest little town! Once we flew there just to pick up a video at that branch of our regional library (we turned it in here at our branch). We did very much want to watch it (whatever it was), but mostly it was an excuse to fly there. As you can see, we can walk from where we park Tripp by the white square building near top-center, left across the bridge over the lovely slough where migrating birds hang out, and in another block we’re on the beach at the bottom-left. This is where people can drive their vast assortment of RVs, ATVs, dirt bikes, bicycles and assorted other vehicles right on the beach and up into the large sand dunes. Straight up off the top of the pic a block is Old Juan’s Cantina.

155523 Old Juan

155523 Old Juan

That gray beard is a reminder that I’m an old Juan, but what we love about this place is their delicious $105 mini-tostadas.

160852 Mini Tostada

160852 Mini Tostada

That’s one in front of Anne in this fuzzy pic. As you can see by the fine crystal water glass, it’s a humble place. As you’ve probably also guessed, these tasty dishes are small $5 treats (plus $100 to fly there). The library’s free, but these meals are an even bigger draw. Another is the sweet shop down by the beach and a couple of other eateries, but even more fun is walking around and taking in things like this that caught Anne’s fancy.

163041 Mini Dune Colors

163041 Mini Dune Colors

There’s sand just beneath the surface everywhere, accented here by the colors and shapes of this ice plant. Back in the air I spotted somewhat similar colors in this pond, apparently polluted from back in the old field days and now fenced off with warning signs.

8766 Christmas Color Pond

8766 Christmas Color Pond

As we approached Vandenberg Air Force Base and turned to leave the coast this jagged point with sea caves captivated us yet again with a garnish of puffy low clouds.

8873 Air, Sand, Rock, Water

8873 Air, Sand, Rock, Water

After myriad other enchantments we joined the coast again at Gaviota where gathering mist in the distance softened our turn along the shore toward home.

8891 Gaviota Into Mist

8891 Gaviota Into Mist

As we rolled into the driveway of our modest home, these “eyelashes” in the clouds provided yet another fleeting delight.

8944 Eyelash Clouds

8944 Eyelash Clouds

To finish the day and greet the night, I made a couple of small margaritas and we went up onto the roof to sit and welcome the fading of colors into shapes in the shades of darkness with mysterious sounds and twinkling lights of the lives around us. May every day be made more special by an Angel near you.

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