fauna in the lineup?

hi everyone, this is my first thread …

yesterday, i went to one of the beaches i usually go to. the surf was junk. but, while i was

sitting there watching it, i noticed something swirling the water just outside of the lineup.

turns out dolphin where herding fish. there would be no action for a few minutes and then wham,

dolphin were all on top of each other at the surface. then, it’d be quiet for another few minutes

before they charged the fish again…

i ended up going to a spot a few miles to the north and surfing with my buddy on some fun chest

to head high wedgy waves. we were the only two out… or so we thought… midway through our

session, 3 beautiful female sealions popped up to check us out and ride some waves with us. a

little later, one of those little grey speckled harbor seals came up and checked us out too. they all

came within about '20 of us and seemed to be as interested in us as we were in them.

it was a great day and it got me thinking… i would love to hear stories from any swaylockians about

animals encountered in the surf or trek to the surf.

Nice. I love experiences like that. I see harbor seals (the small gray spotted ones) just about every time I surf. Saw a couple today. Phoca McNuggets.

Couple years ago, a big old scarred-up dolphin hung around the break for more than a week. Anyone paddling got treated to a little game of chase - he’d stay right in front of you, almost close enough to touch, but not quite. Maybe he was feeling the bow wake of the longboards? Do they have rear-view sonar? That was fun, I’ll remember it forever.

Sometimes the huge male sea lions pop up. That can be a little unnerving.

Pre-dawn drives often being sightings of rabbits and foxes. That always makes my day.

And I absoultely love the otters in the kelp from Santa Cruz to Monterey. Too cold for the little guys where I live, I guess, so seeing them when I get south is a thrill.

well this past saturday a 6’ man in the grey suit came by to visit those of us sitting on the outside during a big set.

I just happened to point this out to those around me including the pack of jailbait bluecrush babies in their bikinis.

I guess no one heard me as everyone on there 9’0 longies scrambled to make it over the incoming set.

(It amazes me what people can’t see in the water most of the time)

Well after the last wave in the set passed our kupuna decide wave to us as it passed and stuck it dorsal out about a foot to a foot and a half as it slid by. Never heard so much screaming and mad panic scrambling to the shore even though we advised them not to. 5 minutes later the entire bluecrush bikini brigade was on shore telling everyone their horror story while those of us sitting outside were either laughing at them or thanking our friend for herding some of the cattle out of the way which they most definitely were.

Sitting all the way outside in water up to my chest on my 6’6" Gemini, I wondered whether it was my dad, my uncles or some old departed friend who helped us out…

Don’t know which was the flora or the fauna but a big 4 foot honu was playing with us all morning as well.

It was a good day…

I saw two and a half to three feet of fin pop out of the water no less than five feet away from me about a month ago. Under the surface I could make out a crystal clear outline of a ~12 foot tiger just moseying along with the current. I feel truly blessed to have been that close to such a creature.

I remember last year in oceano, surfing with two whales. They would only stick their flukes out of the water, and slap back down, then surface and spray a little water with their blowholes, not too far from the lineup outside. That was the grand finale in a morning full of dolphins, otters, and harbor seals. The central coast, especially in the mornings, is filled with beauty. It was also the only time I’ve ever seen a dolphin leap completely out of the water on the west coast. I dont think i’ll ever be able to forget it.

I was paddling out in a rip at cardiff when I ended up being in the middle of a herd or pack or group of dolphins…

freaked me out at first because I never realized how big they actually were…

later that day I came up out of a duckdive with an anchovy between me and my board

and one time in laguna I was on the same wave as a sea lion, that was killer.

then back in texas I’ve grabbed a couple fish, a shark, had a shark brush up against my leg. It’s weird there though when after you do that and go sit on your board on the outside and can’t even see your feet because the water is so murky, you wonder what else is down there.

Late in the evening before sunset at San O, if you watch through the thin lifting lip of incoming waves you can see hundreds of tiny fish swimming in there. Like being underneath an aquarium. Never noticed that anywhere else, but I’m sure its not that unusual. Weird that they go up there, but surfaceis surface to a fish, I guess, they don’t care about the waves…

I’ve seen penguins, which is funny, coz i didn’t think penguins lived where i am. I thought they only lived in really cold water. Shows how much in know hey?. Anyway, it was pretty cool, only seen them twice at the same beach. Closest was about 10 feet away. Once i saw some school fish in a wave at another beach, pretty cool too.

A few summers ago was surfing local jetty on a head high south and as i was paddling back out ready to dive under a good set wave to my surprise there were 5 to 6 dolophin all surfing this wave straight at me . I think i almost shit myself until they peeled off at the last second before i ducked under the lip. what a rush…

The fishermen call the spot where we paddle out the Japanese Hole, two channels come together with a hole in the middle. I see the same five dolphfins fishing at least once a month. One day the dolphins were surfing the same peak and using the same channel. When I was paddling back out I touched one that was swimming under me on the down stroke of my paddle(AAAHHHHH!).

Ian

great thread

About 10 yrs ago, I was surfing about 2/3 the way down Baja on a white board. Early in the morning. Kind of soft pre-sunrise light. Oily calm water. Waves outside the only noise. Clear, clear water. Kept seeing little red strings washing over the deck as I paddled out. This was before I got bad in the eyes. I stopped, sat up on my board and scooped some up. The strings were everywhere around me. As I looked closely, I could make out the tiny outline of lobsters. Bright Red. Millions of them. There was an explosion of a hatch nearby and I was paddling through it. Before I made it all the way out, a sea lion came up beside me and swam with me a while . Magic. Just Magic.

wish I had better words.

Quote:

It’s weird there though when after you do that and go sit on your board on the outside and can’t even see your feet because the water is so murky, you wonder what else is down there.

I try not to think about that… Thanks for reminding me.

I had a great session with a dolphin here. I was out alone, and he was either trading waves with me, or using the waves to help him hunt fish… Either way, he chilled within 20-30 yards of me for at least twenty minutes. I was stoked on that. :slight_smile:

Most recently, I chased down a sea-slug (my first!) and watched him do his thing with such intensity that I didn’t even notice the lip about to connect with my neck. I think the sea slug got the worst of that set, though… didn’t see him again after that.

Quote:

…Kept seeing little red strings washing over the deck as I paddled out…The strings were everywhere around me.

at first I thought you were padding out in the middle of like a jellyfish storm or something and you were gunna wake up the next day a giant blister…

happened to me once…

never felt it then and wonered what was floating around me… but found out the next day…

wherei surf dolphins hang out and surf regularly.i have had one sky over me while i was sitting on my board.the same thing happened to a friend but he got “tapped” by it as it flew by.damn near killed him he was amazed at how strong it was for such a minor graze.i have some footage of me surfing along the point, with a dolphin just out in front of me catching air and matching me turn for turn all the way down the point.that was fun!

I’ve been lucky enough to see lots of dolphins, porpises, and the rare Hector’s dolphin pretty frequently. Lots of fur seals around too, usually laying on their side with a flipper up in the air as a solar panel! Lots of paua and crayfish too, I always look for paua on my way in cause they’re mighty tasty, especially if you can gather up some karengo (seaweed, close relative to nori) to cook along with them…some freinds of mine saw a pair of orcas a few weeks ago! In Fiji I got to see a banded sea snake up close, until it swam away into the depths. Not to mention all of the gulls, shags, terns, and gannets that go flying by! I saw a gull today doing the full pelican swoop and soar over the face of the wave-I want to surf like a pelican.

1994 Scorpion bay, myself and Sean Collins son surfing 3rd point by ourselves. A seal shows up in the line up and comes right up to us and just hangs around the whole time. So when we paddle in Sean was shooting video of us and tells us that the seal was riding the waves behind us, he had it on camera and it was fun to watch.Magic moments.Aloha,Kokua

My only real encounters have been with dolphins.

The most memorable by far was 2 summers ago. There was a beautiful 6-8’ day in the middle of July on my Birthday. I took the day off from work and started with a dawn patrol. My buddy and I were all alone for 4 hours at one of the reef breaks in Del Mar. About an hour in, I was paddling into a good size wave, just about to get to my feet when a dolphin appeared right next to me, his dorsal fin close enough to touch. I was closer to the peak, but let him have the wave. He and about 4 other dolphins shared the peak with us and no one else for hours, obviously sharing the same experience.

Clearly thay had some confusion about proper wave etiquette, but their refusal to embrace the localism to which they were probably entitled more than compensated.

Matt

The most remarkable time was surfing (small) J-Bay with a (fairly large) whale maybe 10m (30ft) from the lineup. It just quietly lolled around there for the entire session, an awesome presence.

Otherwise loads of cape fur seals, the odd very lost looking penguin encounter and the occasional special visit from dolphins.

The dolphin I remember the most was one where as I bobbed over a swell, I saw a darkish shape streaking directly at me at extremely high speed. Before I even had time to let out a strangled “SHARK!” scream, it had torpedoed directly under my board and turned over dramatically as it did this. It was a dolphin that had been swimming upside down and rotated right side up just under me. My mate, who was just a few feet behind me, and I had a good laugh about the mischievous dolphin who managed to almost simultaneously scare and delight us two clumsy humans.

Most memorable was C-Street about a year ago. Long winter session of waist+ to head+. Sat outside surfer point taking a brake and a pod of dolphins swam buy. Sat and watched them for a while just cruising up and down the break on the outside, obviously fishing. After a while I decided to swim out closer. Got right in the middle of the circle where they were diving/fishing and slid of my board and watched for about 10-25 min. They just kept darting past me on the sides and under neither circling around. Nearly close enough to touch. Yet another time I wish I had a mask and snorkle out with me. It was a nice clear clean water day. After a while I decided to get back to surfing so I started to paddle back in to where the set waves were. Then out of no where way further outside than they had broke all day a OH peaky line rolled through right were I was. Caught a great wave. It was like it was a gift from the pod. Had they not been there and had I not paddled WAY to the outside no-one would have been there to ride that gift.

More recently, 2 Saturdays back, SrPato and I were surfing the cove just north of stables (C-Street) and a small pod came through. A little baby dolphin popped his head up and nodded up and down several times. Alomost like the dolphins in the feeding pool at Sea World. Tip of his snout to his dorsal fin was out of the water. Seemed to be about 3’ feet of body out of the water for what seemed like 10 secs.

And again with SrPato, on Sat, at Hobson we had a pod come through and share the peaks with us for a few sets. I sat up and watched. They clearly had the right a way. Very cool to see 3-5 dolphin ride the swell in. Reminded me of the contest picture of two guys in bibs looking at ~15 dolphin sharing a OH peak while the surfer was sitting in just the right place for take off.

Other encounterd include sea lions just barely out of reach sticking around for prolonged periods of time, both at K38 and Leo Carillo.

Nearly ten years ago body surfing/snorkeling at Costa Avul (mexico) kept hearing a werd squeal. After a while figured out it was whales passing by. Very cool to hear the whale songs under water.

And too many great animal encounters while scuba diving to go into hear.

Thanks for bringing back such great memories.

Fauna O’ Vana-------------No matteh. I seldom have experiences with Vana in the lineup. But on entry and exit at certain places around the Island I encounter those of the prickly variety. Whenever I encouter those cute litte otters, I remember back to the day when we used to pluck Black Abs off the rocks during dropping minus tides at Shell Beach. Sometimes the cute little fellas make me think of the days when there were actually “plentiful” Pismo Clams at Pismo Beach. McDing