Saturday, July 20, 2013

Communing with Nature (July's Simple Moment)

I grab my jacket to protect against the chill of the evening and walk back to the trail head and over the bridge. I climb the hill to reach the vantage point overlooking the ocean. I had passed through here about an hour ago while on a run with the class from my gym. I had noticed the seals and resolved to come back and take a photograph if they were still here.
 And they are. 
I don't ever remember seeing this many seals gathered together on the beach before. I am astonished by the variety of colors . . . brown and white; grey and dappled. There are small baby seals mixed among mature ones I assume to be their mothers. My eyes begin to catch movement among the herd. One seal rolls over and waves a flipper; another moves across the sand, scooting along on its belly, its body rising and falling like the sea swell in the distance. I hear the dull roar of the ocean and feel the sharp breeze against my legs. One seal raises her head and seems to look directly at me, her brown eyes round and liquid.
I breathe deeply and look around in wonder. 
Although the sky is grey, the ocean is a beautiful array of blues and greens.
I take a picture and post it to instagram:
seals on the beach
#fitzgeraldmarinereserve
#ilovethecoast
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This simple moment is inspired by Alexa at Trimming the Sails. To read other Simple Moments from July, click here.

21 comments:

Amy said...

This is such a great shot because yes, it is rare to see this number of seals on the beach like that - well it is here.
So glad you went back!

Alison said...

I thought they were bits of wood until I started reading!
Alison xx

debs14 said...

Amazing photo. I love to see how totally different your part of the world is to mine!,

furrypig said...

great story and a fantastic picture of all those different seals!

Julie Kirk said...

Goodness! I'm another one who didn't realise what they were until I began reading. What a wonderful sight! A great moment worth capturing Rinda. :-)

Lou said...

Seals eh! I would never have guessed. How lovely to live close enough to the coast to see this x a lovely moment x

scrappyjacky said...

What a wonderful moment...and photo to match.

Jen said...

So glad you went back - and wonderful to see so many seals together, though we have a largish colony of them here - and I do go to the Sound to "seal watch" I have never seen so many together. A lovely moment and fabulous photo. J x

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

Such a wonderful moment! I've never seen seals, outside of Sea World.

The Mann Fam said...

Interesting. You would never know the skies were grey from this photo. I bet the sounds from all the seals was fun to listening to as well or did it not carry up to the trail head?

Jo Murray said...

A lovely piece of writing. Thanks for that.

Miriam said...

What an absolutely amazing sight. So glad you went back. A truly special moment.

Cheri said...

How cool you get to see that so close to home!

BJ said...

How wonderful. BJ

Missus Wookie said...

Amazing - we were excited enough to see one seal on a beach :) Can imagine the sounds of the waves and the feel of the breeze - thanks for sharing.

alexa said...

Sorry to be late arriving, Rinda, and what a magical moment ... I have only ever seen a seal in the wild once - what a very special gathering you witnessed so eloquently and captured so vividly. I do envy you the proximity to the ocean :). Thank-you so much for enriching all our moments this month and for linking up - it is always a joy to pop in here.

Unknown said...

An amazing photo. I have never seen that many seals in one place!

Irene said...

What an amazing moment. Love the colors of the ocean water. You were at the right place at the right time.

Becky said...

Loved reading this and brought back memories of the seals we saw at Monterray last year looking just like this. a great photo.

sky-blu-pink said...

Oh lovely! I have never seen so many at once either! We see the odd one or two grey seals off the North Sea, or sometimes small colonies of Atlantic seals on the Scottish coast.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize at first what they were. They look much better there than at Pier 39 in S.F.