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| The Wilderness of the Puerto Nostra Bay Area- A Treatise |
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| Coastline Jagged and unfriendly in all but the best locations along the Pacific side, the coastline nevertheless plays host to a huge variety of wildlife. Undertow, rip tides, red tides, sleeper waves and tidal waves are all potentially lethal hazards, ready to creep up upon the unwary and steal them out to sea. Many rocks and boulders give shape to the beaches, and in some places, there is no sandy beach to speak of, and the cliffs come right down to the ocean. Cliffs are common, and can range in height from thirty feet to nearly a hundred. Driftwood and washed- up kelp litter the beaches, and bonfires are a common sight at night. The water is very cold, and those immersed completely in it without a wetsuit for long are susceptible to hypothermia. The few river estuaries are considerably warmer, mixing colors and temperatures with the sea in blue-brown swirls. The bayside coastline is considerably friendlier; gentle waves lap at broad, sandy shores, and jellyfish and the occasional ray can be seen clearly in the unruffled but often quite polluted water. One hazard of the bayside beaches is fields of inky black mud; sand blows atop these, concealing them, and few people know why they exist at all. However, the most you will ever lose to the mud is your shoe... so people believe. Coastline Animals *I am not going to list the huge number of beautiful animals that live in the tidepools; use your imagination, and it�s probably there. I will however list a few of the most common sights. Invertebrates: starfish, purple sea urchins, mussels, barnacles, limpets, snails, hermit crabs, small crabs, sea anenomies, jellyfish. Insects: wasps, yellow jackets, large black ants, flies. Fish: small and varied; also, stingrays, some larger fish, and the occasional great white shark. Reptiles: racers (snakes). Birds: herring gulls, california gulls, cormorants, osprey, sandpipers, killdeer, brown pelicans, white pelicans, golden eagle (very rare), and many more. Mammals: sea lions, harbor seals; seasonal humpback whales further out. City Animals (just FYI) Insects: cocroaches, ants, pill bugs, yellow jackets.Birds: seagulls, pigeons, blackbirds, starlings, sparrows. Mammals: mice, rats, cats, dogs. Many cats and dogs are strays. Note that it is illegal to own pet ferrets in California. Main / Back |