La Jolla, CA Kayak Tour of the 7 caves and some fun facts:

La Jolla, CA Kayak Tour of the 7 caves  and some fun facts:

The kayaking tour took us through the Ecological Reserve and provided a lot of fun interesting facts about the area.  While we didn’t get to paddle through the 7 sandstone caves because of the strong swells, we got to cruise alongside them and see the sea lions.  They were quite funny with their barking as they played king of the mountain.  One even ‘bitch’ slapped another and then tossed her bum smack dab on top of the others head!  She then proceeded to get situated while keeping half her body on top of the other sea lion…How Rude.  These creatures carry quite the horrendous smell especially the males.  The males have a hard knot on their skull for fighting since they will battle it out for the land of women….more or less male sea lions are pimps.  Another interesting fact is the sea lions has whiskers which act as feelers much like our fingers.  When you see them balance a ball it never touches their nose.  It is actually held up by their whiskers.

The Liberal Waters:

The garibaldi fish is the California State Saltwater fish.  It looks like a large, glowing orange goldfish.  It is a hermaphrodite.  The fish starts out as a female, takes up shop in a portion of the ocean where it is uninhabited by males and proceeds to eat up the green string looking seaweed which gives it the energy to morph into a male.  This fish can change sex twice in it’s lifetime.  As our guide stated, “This quite fitting since California has a high rate of sex change procedures every year.“

There’s a Leopard in the Water:

The Leopard shark inhabits La Jolla’s Ecological Reserve.  This shark has a small mouth and provides people the opportunity to swim with the sharks without having to get in a cage or worry about being taken down by Jaws.  As our tour guide stated, “You need to worry more about the cougars on the beach attacking you than the leopard sharks!“

Cave drinking:

It’s thought that back in the 1920s during Prohibition all the alcohol that was smuggled in through Mexico came through one of the caves along the La Jolla Ecological Reserve.  Someone should turn this cave into a bar! 

There’s an underwater band:

The guitarfish is a bottom feeder.  It has the head of a skate and the tail of a shark. 

Rose Canyon Fault:

Along the coastline line lies $5-10mm homes with no home owner’s insurance because of the fault line.  Due to the continual weathering of the shoreline these homes backyards shrink year after year and eventually are deemed condemned.  Two options exist.  Tear it down before it falls into the reserve or leave it to pollute the ocean.  If the owner leaves it they will be heavily find and required to pay clean up fees as parts of the home fall into the waters of the reserve.  This is one of California’s highest fines.

The commentary was great from our guide, David, at Bike and Kayak Inc. in La Jolla.  It was extremely disappointing and pricey to paddle out to the caves only to be told we would not be venturing into any of the caves.  We didn’t realize this could even be a possibility since we had paid for the 7 caves tour.  Oh and there was a group with another company going in the caves.

South Carlsbad State Park

An interesting place to camp….it’s nestled on the cliff tops over looking the beach yet they offer both inland and beach camp sites.  The beach campsites are beautiful views with a rather deceiving name because the site equates to looking through a fence 50 yards down at the beach. Overall these campgrounds were good and conveniently located near the beach, close by shops and about 25 minutes from San Diego.

Pannikin Coffee and Bakery

A fantastic café! Pannikin Coffee and Bakery is home to the old Santa Fe Railroad Station.  There’s always a line out the door at this place but not to worry it doesn’t take long.  The waitresses approach you while you’re waiting in line and take your order before you reach the checkout station.  We went here for breakfast Saturday morning and had to return Sunday to try the carrot cake.   We tried the juevos rancheros, the greek eggs, pecan bar and carrot cake. The greek eggs were steam scrambled eggs with basil, feta and tomato….yummy! All the egg dishes were steam scrambled which I was not familiar with but thoroughly enjoyed.  The steam made them very light and fluffy.  The coffee was incredible and so was the Blue Lady black tea.  Highly recommend this place if you’re ever in the Leucadia/Encinitas area. 

Cleveland National Forrest

Just outside of San Diego lies a very remote national park (Cleveland National Forrest) with no water or electricity but a great California countryside getaway.  After traveling down a slender, windy road for several miles and contemplating if we were going the right direction we came to the Corral Canyon campgrounds.  Not a sol to be seen until the motor cross bikes rolled in the next morning to hit the trails.  This was a great campsite to overnight before heading to our final destination: San Diego.

Dateland, AZ

Date palms galore! I had never seen a date tree nor did I realize tgey existed in Arizona. The branches of dates were super heavy. Close by was a date everything store...literally. We had date ice cream which was deliscious. There were numerous types and yes, I tried them all.