After many hours of traveling, I finally stepped off the bus in Santa Cruz, and Stacy was right there waiting. She had no idea what an adventure this had already been for this country gal! (Did I mention that my graduating class was all of 18?? And, there's no stop light in my hometown.) I picked up transit at the airport, made a couple of transfers and thankfully ended up where I was supposed to. I was pretty proud of myself seeing as how I'd never done anything like this before and was very thankful for three very helpful and kind people on the 22 who made sure I got to where I needed to to pick up the 17 to Santa Cruz.
After getting settled and visiting a bit back at the house, we took the dogs, Jesse and Bruno, for a walk. Destination? The beach! My first glimpse of the Pacific was spectacular! It was so much more than I'd imagined, and quite frankly, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect afternoon
Cool
What can I say...my first look at the Pacific was nothing short of breathtaking!
The surge had been building, and trust me when I say that I've NEVER seen waves that big! (Of course, you probably figured that out--"country gal", "no stop light", etc.) They were easily over 15 feet which made many surfers quite happy.
These waves were over 15 feet and were something to see. Check out the surfer on the right. Wouldn't want to be the one on the left!
As we continued on our way, I noticed these "things" scattered about the sand that were the color of overcooked, smooshed canned peas. You know the color, don't you?
Wink
They looked almost plastic like. I'd never seen anything like this before, so of course, I picked one up to get a better look.
Giant kelp (macrocystic pyrifera) float washed up on the beach
It was surprisingly firm and not particularly slimy. In my hand was a giant kelp float. She told me to "pop" it. I squeezed but found I had to squeeze harder than I'd anticipated as this was a sturdy little thing! But, it did "pop". Stacy told me that these "floats" are gas filled bladders which keep the top of the kelp floating in the well lighted surface zone where the kelp can then photosynthesize.
Further ahead was this mass of kelp many, many feet long. Below is a picture of its "holdfast". The kelp attaches to the rocks with this. While it looks like a root system, it is not. The kelp actually gets nutrients from the water through its blades. In ideal conditions, kelp can grow 1.5 feet per day!! Check out the following link: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_kelp/Kelpfacts.html
This is how kelp attach to rocks
Another interesting little fact I learned from the ever knowledgeable Dr. Kim is that sea otters will often tether themselves and/or their babies to the kelp so as to prevent them from getting carried away in the current while they are sleeping.
OK...is he cute, or what!?!?!? Sure wish I could sleep like that!
Not far from the mass of kelp were a couple of other "finds"-a kelp float covered with bryozoan and a hydroid growing on a kelp float. Check it out.
Each of the dots is a tiny, individual colonial animal. This kelp fast is COVERED!
This particular kelp float looked like it had been completely covered with a very fine screen. In reality, each one of the little dots is a tiny, individual colonial animal, and they feed by filtering microscopic food from the water.
Brain Teaser: Do the bryozoan help or hurt the kelp? How?
The hydroid covered kelp float looked an awful lot like Cousin It-LOL
This is a hydroid growing on a kelp float.
The hydroid is an animal which has stinging cells that it uses to capture prey much like a sea anemone does. If you look closely, you can see the how the hydroid would latch on to its prey. Thankfully, the stingers are much too small for us to feel which I can attest to!
I could easily have spent hours out there enjoying the surf, sun, sand and all that went with it, but it was time to head back...heavy sigh. One draw back of traveling light? I had to leave my Teva's at home which left me trying to get the sand off my feet before my socks and Chameleon's went back on.
Jesse rests while I try to get the sand off my feet. Jesse is the proud owner of Stacy and Bob!