Sunset Cliffs at Point Loma

 Loma is the Spanish word for hill. The original name of the peninsula was La Punta do la Loma de San Diego, translated as Hill Point of San Diego. Its name was later changed to Point Loma.

 On the west side of the peninsula are sandstone cliffs along the ocean called Sunset Cliffs. Geologically these cliffs are known as the Point Loma Formation. They contain fossils, including dinosaur fossils from about 75 million years ago.


There were lots of surfers...guys...

 There are surfing spots below the cliffs.



...and girls.

Most of the ocean frontage of the peninsula is a public shoreline park. 

 The cliffs are unstable and can be dangerous.

The view when we arrived.

 Sights on Sunset Blvd.

Can you see the surfers in this picture?

Harbor seal pups are born between February and April.

The seals were playing.

Going...

going...

gone!

Once the sun has disappeared, there is still plenty of light left. Twilight occurs from the moment the sun dips below the horizon and lasts about 30 minutes

A view of San Diego as we were leaving Point Loma.

We sure enjoyed our day! The sunset was beyond words...I had never seen the sun setting on the west coast before. I hope you have. If you haven't, I hope you can one day.

Thanks for visiting our blog. We do love it when you take the time to comment. Have a great week! If you are on the road to new places, be safe. If you are settled in, enjoy.

Tide Pools at Point Loma

On the western side of Point Loma lies a rocky intertidal zone, a window into the ocean ecosystem. During low tides, pools form along the shore in rocky depressions.

 Tide pools can be huge, deep holes nearer the ocean. These pools are below the low tide line and are filled with ocean water most of the time.

 Some tide pools are small,shallow puddles found high up on the beach. These pools are above the low tide line and are exposed to air much of the day. This poses a special challenge to the organisms living there. They have to survive in both wet and dry conditions. Animals often hide under cool damp rocks and moist seaweed so their bodies do not dry out before the tide comes back in.  During a big rainfall, the pools may  fill with fresh water, a sharp contrast to the usual salt water environment. 

 These are park rangers. Rangers and volunteers monitor the tide pools. The tall ranger on the right is from Helen, GA...our home state. She said the boats in the pic on the right were whale watching boats. A whale had been spotted, but we missed it.

The cliffs are quite pretty too and make for interesting backdrops. There were shells embeddied into the rocks there.

Low tide was at 4:00 PM when we went. It was a beautiful day at the ocean. I love the exploring and Joe loved sitting and watching. I will say, the rocks were way slippery. I got stuck at on spot and had to take a minute to figure out how to get out....right side up.

From here we headed to Sunset Cliffs... a short 4 mile ride. It was perfect timing as sunset was at 5:44 pm.  That will be the next post.

Thank you for visiting...