Exploring the Tafoni

 

Our daughter hadn't been here for even 24 hours when we took our first trip to the ocean, the place that she had missed the most. We decided to go to Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park, a place that the Geek and I had only discovered last year and we wanted to share it with Kaefer. It was much calmer this time.

First we saw the harbor seals hanging out on the rocks.

There was much more driftwood on the shore than the last time we had been here, a sure sign of a very high surf during our crazy weather in January.

 When we arrived, Kaefer enjoyed just sitting on the shore and looking out over the ocean while we were taking photos of her as the "solitary mermaid" and the reflections in the tide pools.

But then she started to explore the tafoni and was just as mesmerized as we were.

We also enjoyed watching the cormorants sitting on the rocks and not minding the surf at all. However, there were no black oystercatchers this time.

Of course we had to take those family photos.

But mostly we explored the tafoni. I saw a lot of tiny living things on the rocks and just admired the beautiful shapes and forms.

In between we stopped every now and then just to take a picture of our girl.

A few years ago, Kaefer had given me a lensball for Christmas because she knows how much I enjoy photography and thought I would like to play around with it which I have done often. I had brought it with me and wanted to take some pictures of the tafoni with it - and as you can see, I wasn't the only one who did this.

Eventually it got very chilly at the coast and we decided to go for lunch. Of course we wanted fish and chips (another thing she had really missed) and went up to the Seafood Shack in Gualala. This is one of the best places for very fresh and delicious  fish and chips along the Sonoma-Mendocino coast. We had clam chowder in a bread bowl and, of course, rock fish and chips. Lecker, as we say in German.

Fish needs water - we had it in the form of some good local beer, a Scrimshaw (from Fort Bragg further up the coast) and Kaefer opted for some local cider from Sebastopol. You guessed it, this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth and their T Tuesday.