Lots of Beaches

This is whale watching season, so we decided to go watch for whales with Amanda and Sage.  Unfortunately, we didn't spot any, but Point Loma is a great place to explore regardless.

We checked the tide schedule ahead of time, and decided to go around 8:30 in the morning.  Since it is a National Monument, though, the gates weren't open until 9.  Oops.  We made the best of our extra half hour, by heading down, to nearby Shelter Island.  On the way, I asked Amanda and Sage if they would rather go to the playground, or the beach, to get their toes wet - they chose the beach.  Shelter Island is a beautiful place for a walk, there's a small fishing pier, a playground overlooking the bay, and a very small stretch of sandy beach.  Because it's so small, I've never seen more than a few people there at a time, and the water is generally pretty calm since it is the bay.

Sage getting her feet wet for the first time in the Pacific Ocean.

Eliza and Sage were happy to roll their pants up and jump over the little waves lapping into the shore.  It was so peaceful there with downtown off in the distance, and a few nice boats at anchor just off shore.  Across the bay, a few Navy jets took off right before we left.  It was perhaps the loudest thing I've ever heard.  A car alarm behind us was set off from it!

So we headed back to the Cabrillo National Monument after we killed some time.  We went straight down to the main tidepooling area, and began to explore.  We saw some snails and lots of anemones.  Dominic showed Sage and Audrey how to skip rocks, but they just threw any old rock into the water with a big "kerplunk!"

Eliza was too busy checking out this crevice with anemones to throw rocks.  Amanda decided to touch one and see if it stung.  When it didn't, Eliza and I followed suit, and touched one too.

We moved on down the cliff to see some more, and see if we could find some crabs.  We were able to find some in a little cave like area, that we'd checked out before.  There were some cool fish in one of the tidepools there too.

When we had seen all there was to see at the tidepools, we went up to the top of the cliffs to the monument and the Old Point Loma Lighthouse.  We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oranges, and apples as we enjoyed the views from the visitor's center.

 

My parents had sent their nice binoculars along with Amanda so that we could look for whales.  We all took turns, but had no luck.

Sage with the lighthouse in the background.

We decided to go to Ocean Beach next to find Beach Sweets, where I'd heard they make chocolate covered bacon.  It was yummy!  We checked out some of the shops and got some sunglasses for Amanda and Sage, since they hadn't brought theirs with them.

We walked to the end of the pier and back.  I forgot how long it was, but the kids enjoyed it.

 

Then they were ready to get their shoes off and get back on the sand.  We walked along, and let them pick up some shells here and there.

It was a full day, but so much fun.  Sage told her daddy later that we went to "lots of beaches" when he asked what we did.  We spent the evening at home again, and the kids were pretty worn out when bed time came.