It was time to kick back in SF's own OB before calling it a night...
As we walked along the shoreline, we noticed a few things sticking out of the sand...
At first glance, I thought it was a used, uh "you know", but it looked very very blue to be one of those. I used my flip flops to uncover one in the sand and then I recognized what it was. It was a Velella Velella, otherwise known as a "by the wind sailor". It is a type of jellyfish with one fin that just floats along on the ocean. They are at the mercy of wind currents. Earlier this summer there were stories of mass strandings along beaches in the Central Coast and the Bay Area. I vaguely remembered those articles and was excited to actually see one.
This was TC picking one up...
This other one had a mangled fin.
We washed them in the ocean and they looked really cool with their clear fins and brilliant blue bodies. Although they have stingers that dangle underneath, we didn't see any.
According to my cousin who lives nearby, she said there hundreds of them that washed up earlier that summer. During this visit, we only saw a few here and there. It must have been quite the sight tos ee these en masse.
Another animal that washed up was the sad remains of this sea lion. I didn't want to get any closer. It was dead and reeked. There were no limbs/flippers. They were decomposed. Part of the bones were exposed as well. I
The waves were choppy with super cold water. TC still enjoyed running around by the beach's edge.
Cool graffitied wall parallel to the Great Highway.
We had walked a bit north while on the beach and now we had to head a few blocks back south to get back to our hotel.
Here's a cool video I found about those Velella Velellas with mentions of OB:
More info on Velella Velella:
wikipedia
animaldiversity.org
Articles about the mass strandings last summer:
Thousands of blue creatures...wash ashore" Huffington Post, July 31, 2014
"Velella Velella on Pacifica Shores..." Mercury News, August 5, 2014
It was pretty interesting seeing these creatures! They were quite alien looking but still beautiful.
We wanted to just keep it simple tonight so no dinner out but instead, got sandwiches for takeout before heading back to OB one last time...
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