It’s the deceptive nature of sleeper waves, sneaker waves, rogue waves — all names for the same phenomenon — that people unfamiliar with the California coast are lulled into a false sense of security. They are rogue or sleeper precisely because they strike randomly, out of the great blue . . .
Above SF From Twin Peaks
“It’s the magic towers of a steel fairyland — the beacon atop the proud Mark, the red, thermometer-like cap of the Drake, the sturdy, four-square crest of Mother Russ, the sudden, blunt end of Coit Tower — that make up the minarets of a metropolis . . .” “It’s the indescribable conglomeration of beauty and…
Ahimsa at the Tidepools
I swear, if I have to ask one more kid to stop throwing rocks at animals . . . It was an imperfect plan to begin with: super-low tide on a Sunday at the gorgeous but hardly-secret Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. I’ve been waiting for a daylight minus (-) tide for a few months. I’d even…
The Unheralded Hulet Hornbeck
Until this week, I didn’t know how much gratitude I owed Mr. Hulet Hornbeck. The sign below marks the head of a commemorative trail at Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline — a park in the vast and lovely East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). When Hornbeck began his tenure as Chief of Land Acquisition for EBRPD…
Sir Sea Otter
I saw this otter on my way home from Morro Bay last week. He was foraging and grooming around the public pier at Moss Landing. The otter was awfully far away for my lens, so these shots are heavily cropped, not too crisp. But they capture the moment. He (or she) had repeated success diving…
Hues of the Central Coast
Hugh and I spent the weekend in Morro Bay, attending a conference that included a dynamic keynote address from photographer George Lepp. It’s an admittedly geeky endeavor when you consider that a ball-head and a bubble level can get some rousing applause in this crowd. I love it. Events like this validate my gear brain…
The Ghostliness of Black Diamond Mines
Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve isn’t haunted, but it’s a park grown upon the ghosts of California’s history. The spirits of the Ohlone and Miwok people still permeate the land. When I stand on wild hilltops, I look to the expanse of tract development over what, by all accounts, was once a natural paradise in…
Black and White
I almost expected Man-Thing to come crawling out of the mud this morning. The humidity evoked spirits of the bayou: moss, mosquitos, mint juleps. The only time California resembles a swamp is in the wake of a tropical storm, the same wake which pummeled us with record rains a few days ago. We did about…
Where Old Docks Go to Die
Old docks smell, this much I can tell you. You’ll catch a whiff of decomposing mussels and sea greens long before you ever see the old boards stacked, as these particular boards were, in the parking lot of the Berkeley Marina. The Marina is renovating — replacing the old A-B-C docks with improved versions. And…
Reclaimed: Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds
Reclamation is among my favorite themes — especially as it pertains to nature. I root for the vines overtaking fire hydrants and windblown seeds germinating new habitat in former refuse sites…
