We just had such a cool time at Sunset Bay this past weekend!
The weather was perfect. It was sunny most of the time during the day, with some cloudy spots but it was not cold or rainy... and then at night it rained and sprinkled just enough so that the next morning everything was fresh and green and smelled really good! It was that perfect kind of weather where you could get away with wearing shorts or jeans, t-shirts or comfy sweaters, just whatever you are most comfy in and it was fine. I love this kind of weather!
We explored all kinds of tidepools and hiked several different trails around Sunset Bay and Shore acres off along Cape Arago hwy. We saw whales! First we saw the spouts of water shooting straight up, and we heard the sounds that they make, too, when they blow... and then we began to see them coming up out of the water... it was amazing and so beautiful. We had our binoculars with us, but they were so close that you really didn't need them and in fact, we found it a bit easier to watch them without the binoculars. We saw them each night at around 8pm, as the tide had come in quite a bit. I believe these were grey whales?
We also saw murres who were nesting in the cliffs around the Shore Acres area. They are really cool looking birds, and fun to watch.
We spent a lot of time climbing around these really odd sandy cliffs... are they called bluffs? I had never seen anything like this place. It wasn't like sandy dunes at all... with loose sand... this was like a huge area of very hard, packed sand... it felt like we were on some other planet. The sand was smooth and hard like stone, and it had taken on all these different formations - it wasn't flat at all. It formed all these jagged cliffs and deep valleys that you could walk through and climb in and around on. We climbed around and had a blast. At the highest places we sat for long stretches of time and just looked out over the ocean. You could see Simpson reef from there, where we were told grey whales hang out a lot of the time, and we watched all kinds of wildlife... seals, sea lions, birds, we even saw a few sea otters playing around. Lots of tidepools here as well, and we found lots of tiny little shells.
The Sunset Bay area is great for camping. This past weekend it was crowded, and we didn't really appreciate our neighbors shooting off fireworks in the middle of the night... or their loud music in the morning... but we've camped here in the off-season during the week and we really enjoyed it then as there were less people and those that were there were more respectful and quiet. We always stay in a yurt and during the winter it's great because the yurts have heaters.
From the campground there is a sweet trail that will take you right to a part of the beach where at low tide you have access to all kinds of tide pools. We saw - I think - pelicans flying low... then swooping down to catch their lunch. They were fun to watch. You have to be aware of the tides, though, because I would imagine this area would be a very easy area to get trapped in - know when the tide is coming in, you don't want to get stuck!
It was an awesome weekend - despite the noisy, crowded, campsite. We only stayed at the campsite long enough to sleep, use the hot showers or bathrooms, and to pack a bag of food... we spent the rest of the time out running around exploring. It was really amazing to us, too, that even though the campgrounds looked crowded and there were lots of people out driving around... whenever we stopped to hike in somewhere or explore a coastal area - we were alone! It really blew us away. We would spend a long time tidepooling or on those sandy bluffs or on the trails, and we maybe passed one or two other people on the trails the whole time, and they were going the opposite direction so whenever we got to a stopping and exploring place, we had it all to ourselves. Maybe we just timed it all right or something, but it was so wonderful. Everytime we go to the coast it's just an amazing experience.
We saw a lot of homes for sale, too!!! My husband kept pointing them out...
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