Returning from a trip to San Francisco to see the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play at the Curran Theater, Cory and I decided to return to SoCal by way of California State Route 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). While stopped at the Davenport Roadhouse, in Davenport, CA, where Cory had, "the best mixed Seafood Stew ever," Cory also looked at the Map along our route and noticed that there was an area labeled Elephant Seal Vista Point. According to the map and the inter-webs supposedly you could see Elephant Seals at the Vista Point, from a pull off on the PCH. This viewing area was near San Simeon, CA and Heart Castle.
It would take us another day to get there. We stopped a couple of times along the way in the Big Sur area for a couple of hikes to other vista points. When we finally got there, we were not disappointed. There were hundreds of Elephant Seals along the beach and wading in the waves. There were adolescent males practicing sparring, there were pups nuzzled close to adult females, and there were a couple of adult males. The adult Bull Elephant Seals occasionally would raise their bodies and make this rather disgusting guttural sound, that reminded me of the sound of a toilet being unclogged. One bull made a series of calls before another bigger bull responded and began to move in its direction; first bull backed down rather quickly for an animal without legs and weighing on average about 4,000 pounds (2 tons). Though we are not experts, through this behavior, we figured this second larger bull was the beach master, at least for this stretch of beach.
At one point there were two younger seals, we assume males, practicing sparring. In the tussle they got closer and closer to the the beach master and ultimately annoyed him. As the large bull bared down on the adolescents, the younger seals began to flee. One of the young seals was too slow however. The large bull caught up to it and violently slammed down half or more of its weight onto the young seal, and on several occasions bit the young seal's neck. The young seal cried in pain and in submission. Eventually the beach master tired of the young annoyance and allowed him to slink away.
The scene was both terrifying and awesome. You couldn't help but feel bad for the young elephant seal, but at the same time the action was enthralling. I kind of wish I could have seen 2 adult bulls go at it. Maybe I will get to see that on another trip.
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