Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos with the keyword: Morro Bay

As close as I could get for otter pictures. If you zoom in, you can see that the upper otter has a pup on her belly. I could find no specific information that would explain why the lower one is lighter in fur color, other than that a small percentage are lighter – apparently it isn’t an indication of ‘graying’ with age! (The shape in the water on the upper right is apparently kelp.) Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Morning (7:45AM) view of Morro Rock from the balcony of my motel room. Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

A couple of otters in an evening of lolling around in the bay outside the closed electric generating plant. The story about the generating plant is here, more about the otters later – this picture is really just a placeholder for other thoughts. Barely visible in the background is the coastal collection of fishing boats (sports and commercial) and bayside restaurants, reflective of the area’s economic base in tourism, commercial fishing, and retirement living. Having been in Morro Bay many times, I knew that its midweek tourism is typically relatively low, and that was true this time as well. The motels in town were nowhere near full, and the tourist-dominated bayside restaurant row was not at all crowded, which was consistent with past experiences and not suggestive of the economic effects of the pandemic restrictions. BUT, I was surprised by the tourist and locals I did see who had high levels of compliance with pandemic behavioral recommendations. While there wasn’t complete compliance, the majority of people that I saw wandering around in the tourist restaurant-row area were wearing masks except when eating. That contradicts what I see in the resort parts of my hometown where the accepted standard seems to be that you don’t have to wear a mask even when you’re just looking around for a place to eat. And, down in the waterfront park area near where I took this picture, very many were wearing masks even though we were outdoors, and everyone I encountered was very cautious about social distancing. A disadvantage of Morro Bay for the solo traveler is that there are few diners or chain restaurants that are comfortable eating places for solo travelers – but for a sociologist (me), that created an opportunity to survey what was going on in local grocery stores while shopping for something for dinner. Again I was surprised – I didn’t see any mask cheaters (e.g., worn under the nose), and people were more conscientious about maintain social distancing than I see at home when there are tourist in the stores. I’ll talk more about this at the end of the trip pictures, but I came back with a sense that infection prevention is more widely practice in Central and Northern California, even outside the major cities, than I had expected. Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

The late afternoon light on the coast reminded me of my first experiences of the California coast back in 1968, when stationed in Monterey -- when I first said to myself, “I’ll be back”. Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Sunset at Morro Rock Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Across the harbor, Morro Rock, 576’ high, a surprisingly uniform in shape, volcanic plug. It’s one of a series of nine volcanic mountains in the area called the Nine Sisters. Sources: www.outdoorrevival.com/adventure/nine-sisters-san-luis-obispo-california.html Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

“BYE, DON” – an interesting play on words. Note also the red ‘E’ in ‘BYE’ in the picture is similar to the ‘E’ in Biden campaign posters. Morro Bay looked to be very politically active with lots of Biden signs (only a couple of Trump), and many signs for local races. Quite a few local signs were for Weiss who seems to be running as a businessman that can bring the economy (tourism) back from the virus-related destruction, and many also for Winholtz (on the balcony in this picture) who seems to be running on a ‘no new sales tax’ and control of vacation rentals agenda. Source: www.sanluisobispo.com/news/politics-government/election/article245443180.html Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Nothing pandemic, political, here – just a shot of why Morro Bay is my favorite place to break up the long drive to SF. ***** Oops, I was wrong…. even beauty comes with hazards (actually, that sounds like a truism). The seemingly glorious stand of tall, slender, trees are, I’m fairly certain, eucalyptus. An invasive from Australia, they were brought to California via Europe during the mid-1800’s Gold Rush and planted widely, first as decorations and then as economic speculation that they would provide lumber for all of the trees that had been cut down during the Gold Rush. While they smell wonderful and provide an aesthetically pleasing backdrop, they’re a disaster. It turns out that the plans for using eucalyptus for lumber were based on old-growth forests in Australia, and that the lumber from younger trees is unusable. What they are good at is taking over landscape, driving out native trees and plants, and shedding paper-thin bark that’s wonderful fuel for fires. Fortunately their fire-hazard characteristics haven’t been much of a problem in Southern California (Morro Bay would be Central California), but it is enough of a problem in Northern California that there have been plans to try to eradicate them in some areas. The two articles below are good sources: Sources: www.independent.com/2011/01/15/how-eucalyptus-came-california www.kqed.org/science/4209/eucalyptus-california-icon-fire-hazard-and-invasive-species Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Sea otters were thought to be extinct after having been hunted very heavily by the fur trade in the 1700’s and 1800’s, but luckily some survived and with various protections there are now thought to be just over 3000 along the California coast. Source: www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-morro-bay-otters-20170324-story.html

Somehow I had never before known that a great place for observing sea otters was in the Morro Bay harbor. There were 10 or 12 lazing around not very far from shore – see nearby pictures. I was again surprised at how well behaved were the people watching the sea otters – nobody threw anything out towards them, and boaters (except one) seemed to keep a healthy distance away. One man standing on a surf board, though, did get close to the otters – luckily there was a volunteer from the Marine Mammal Center on the beach and she directed him to get out of the area, which he actually did!

Morro Bay is one of my favorite places along the Central Coast, mainly because of how Morro Rock (on my left) shapes the area, and because it’s a harbor town that has avoided becoming dominated by kitschy tourist stuff. The town initially grew as a harbor for agricultural products, later developed some fishing industry, and its economy now is mostly tourism and retirees. Always notable when coming to the coast at Morro Bay are the three smoke stacks from a generating plant. The plant was always a mixed fact of life for local residents – an employer and a source of tax revenue for the city, but very questionable environmentally in an area with high environmental awareness. The plant (natural-gas) closed in 2014 and there are debates about what to do with it, including what to do about the smoke stacks. I tend to agree with those who argue that the smoke stacks are such an integral part of the landscape for the city that they should remain. Sources: www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article39467643.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morro_Bay%2C_California

Morro Rock, from the trail on its harbor side. There’s an excellent aerial view of the rock on the link below; the spot where I’m standing would be in about the center of lower portion of the picture. Morro Rock is a volcanic plug, one of nine that form a line in the county and are called the Nine Sisters. Though you can barely tell it from this picture, if you zoom to the largest version, you can see that there are three sea gulls quite high up on the rock. That struck me as unusual since I’ve never seen gulls perched so high on a rock. Sources: Morro Rock picture (Wikipedia): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morro_Rock_1.jpg Nine Sisters volcanic plugs: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Sisters

Dredging of the channel into Morro Bay. Per the Wikipedia page, the harbor (created by the Army Corps of Engineers) silts up fairly quickly and thus needs dredging every 3-4 years. It’s also considered to be a fairly dangerous harbor due to fog obscuring the entrance and due to frequent high waves just outside the entrance. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morro_Bay%2C_California

Yes, they look cute. But from what I’ve read, they have very strong claws and jaws….

On the north side of Morro Bay, just off CA-1, a highly unusual facade -- on the front of a Quonset hut. This is at 1600 Main St -- the structure appeared to be vacant.

The north side of Morro Rock; the rock appears to create a popular surfing area.