Week 10.3 Cabrillo National Monument and Point Loma

How fitting that we should end up at major World War II post for Veteran's Day, we were immersed in celebrations.  While such military themed festivities are not my usual thing, it was an honor to experience it all today and gain some perspective on country and history.  To all the veterans reading presently, this is dedicated to you . . .

So at the end of week 10.0 we left off at the north end of the SPAWARS complex.  Cabrillo National Monument picks up just south of there.  As a consequence of its location the hours during which the park is open are limited to 9am - 5 pm each day.  Its a shame the view at Cabrillo is amazing and I'd love to be there at sunrise.

The other end of the inaccessible coastline.
I waved my arms and was teleported here from the
end of the last blog post

The old lighthouse is a signature piece of architecture
along this section of the coast  and no journey here is complete
without a mention.  This will appear several times.

We aren't going that far today.

Cabrillo National monument is named after the first spanish explorer to discover San Diego Bay and it deep well protected harbor.  The old lighthouse stands on the highest hilltop of the Point Loma Peninsula and more recently constructed one lies a bit closer to the water (Apparently the early architects of west coast lighthouses failed to understand the concept of "Marine Layer").  It has since served as important part of our coastal defense system during several wars, WW-II being the most recent.  In the postwar decades much of the land was then transferred to national park service, however much of the peninsula is still a working Navy Base.   At 9 Am Veterans day we were among the first to arrive.
The tidepools trail runs for about a 1/2 mile section of the coast here though with fractal effects it is possible to spend hours on the trail and be moving constantly.  Such was the case for us.  As we began our walk we had the whole place to ourselves, and wandered down first of the accessways.

The "Tidepools"

A cauldon of the sea.

Cormorants on the rock.

You're being watched!  Okay you're being counted.
If you want to fight the man you can drop and roll underneath the counter.
Yeah You showed them you're more than a number!

 So it seems as if our journey from Oceanside Harbor to the border could be divided into thirds:
from Oceanside to Scripps Pier was the North Coast, mostly cliffy with some sand. Our view defined by Mt Soledad and the North Coast.  The second phase is between La Jolla Shores and the tip of Point Loma, mostly in the San Diego City limits and our view defined by the two promontories.  Then there is the third phase from Point Loma to the Border.  We mark this transition today with our first official sighting of Mexico:  The Coronado Islands.

Our first sighting of the Coronado Islands

Looking at the cavernous headland to the north.

Waves like waterfalls

See the rock on the left?  We could never see past it.
Wonder what it's like from there to the nose rock at Sunset Cliffs?

Anita gazing 

The endless ocean churning.

So a funny story about this guy (upper right):
The rocks here are rather slippery and this poor fellow had only a
pair of flip flops and decided to remove them before crossing through here.
As he lay has flip flops down however, a wave came splashing up and swept his
footwear out to sea.  He is now barefoot.

The Flip Flop stealing wave looked kind of like this

Perhaps it is a misstatement to say that we were moving constantly, when in fact there occasions where we just sat and tried to take in all the complexity and wonder.  You could sit in one place and the scene would cange dramatically from one second to the next and yet remain perfectly peaceful.  Ephemeral islands would emerge from the lows between the waves and the disppear.  Cormorants, Pelicans, Seagulls would all flock by and disappear around the next point.  waterfalls would pour over layers of rock and then go dry.  I think the annual pass was good plan. I will not be bored here.

Reflecting pool

The journey here was somewhat treacherous 

The going along here was complicated by a super slippery black algae that coated many of the rocks here.  One step on anything less than level would send you sliding to a watery or rocky fall.  It reminds me of the axle grease from those roadrunner and wiley coyote cartoons.  We managed our way though, but not before at least one fall.

Anita on the point

A booming Grotto!

Her beautiful twin stands on the other side of a mirror.

Our efforts were however rewarded by this lovely grotto.  What I struggled and failed to capture was the way that the curved geometry of the cave would focus the sound of waves hitting the cliff nearby into a sort of BOOM! that reverberated back to you if you stood in just the right place.  I'd love to take a lidar system and try to model the passage of sound through there and find the focus.

A red headed siren of the sea!

The Geometry is actually simple.  Part of the tectonic train between the North American and Pacific plate is taken up by a fault running just east of the peninsula on which there is a restraining bend and compressional uplift of the area.   The rocks are primarily cretaceous marine sediments, a lot of turbidite beds, that have bee subsequently tilted and fractured.  The joints and varying harness of the rocks result in a series of parallel cliffs and caves and natural bridges.  We are approaching low tide, though not a particularly strong one (1-2 ft)  Still we do avail ourselves to some wanderings that would not otherwise be possible.

I like the geology here,  some joints striking parallel to
the coast.

I like the biology here.  Hello Crab!

When cloud and rock become one.

Many views into infinity

One of the WW II spotlights was housed here.

The coast as it was in Cabrillo's time

Today it seemed synchronicity was very much with us for not only was it veterans Day, but also the 150th birthday of the Star of India, the oldest ship still sailing regularly today.  She'a a truly lovely boat unlike anything modern and has certainly seen her share of rough seas and far away lands.  We were lucky to witness her voyage along with several other sailing ships for company.  A true delight.

The Star of India sails again!

tide lowering, ships on the horizon

Clear skies above

More wave action.

There's me!

Star of India Again

More examples of rock jointing.

Love the coloring here.

Another natural bridge

rippling

On the other side of a window

Looking back now I have no clue as to where the time went.  clearly we were there, but It seemed to go by so fast.  It was like being in another world, the exploration of which required we tread carefully and backtrack often.  This stretch of beach marks the last of the Scrambling that has been so ubiquitous on the 2nd phase of the coast walk.  Simultaneously  engaging and exhausting we do look forward to returning to the soft sand once again, and yet today we scrambled as much as ever far more than would have been required.  I suspect we will want to do more in the future.

Portal to another world.

Staircase bathed in light

A lot of people congregated here . . . .

That's me!

Rouge waves complicated our scrambling.

Endless Colors

The Star of India is joined by friends!

Sea foam and rocks swirl in an ever changing pattern

There's the lighthouse.

It is said that no trip to Cabrillo is complete without a visit to the lighthouse.  This however is the "Coast walk"  The lighthouse is on a hilltop over 400 feet up,  Is this The Coast?

tide pool reflection in a cave

I forgot to mention that Point Loma is often the coolest microclimate in town.  it stick out far enough into the ocean that it is often graced with fogs frequently accompanied by wind, even when the rest of San Diego is clear and calm (and warm).  We have at times gone out there specifically for the free air conditioning the fog provides.  Today started out clear, but still windy.

A glow from the outside world

Geometric pools

The last bay before the end is neigh

Diagonal photo to get everything in,

A School group!

Even after 2 months of coast walking I still marvel at the population distribution along our coast, how one stretch is nearly empty, while another seemingly identical one nearby is mobbed.  While parts of sunset cliffs fell into the former, The Tidepool trail was among the latter.  It was a lovely day and families both local and from far away were present to celebrate the lovely weather and three day weekend.  As we approached the southern end of our walk we encountered quite the crowd exploring the pools.

Anita Negotiates the rocks

The cliff is our friendIn

In order to reach the southernmost accessible section of the tidepools We had to take off our shoes and negotiate some more algae covered rocks.  This went well for perhaps five minutes or so until the tide started to come in and waves became substantially larger.  It was all we could do to scramble back and try to get our shoes on before we got soaked.  We were however treated to another lovely cave.  We will miss these. 

Until the waves got rough so we turned back

And found a sacred cave!

There are several fences here all which have signs depicting various reasons why you shouldn't go beyond here.

 The Beach ends at some sort of Naval communications center.  Had we been able to get past that last pool, perhaps we could have spied what lies around the point a little better.  As it was we had more coast walk to do.  So we did the 1/2 mile back to car and made our way to bayside trail, but not before getting one last shot of the Star of India.  I learned later that day that my supervisor had been sailing one of the boats alongside the Star of India.  Small world.

And the ships are beginning their journey home.  My supervisor and her family are among them somewhere.