Año Nuevo State Reserve

Año Nuevo State Reserve is about 25 miles south of Half Moon Bay and is one of the few remaining elephant seal haul outs in this area. It is the largest remaining breeding colony of the northern elephant seal. Breeding season is December through March and you must be accompanied by park personnel. It is about a 1.5 mile hike to the beach head from the parking lot and visitors are restricted in order to keep from overwhelming the seals by crowds.

Año Nuevo is prime white shark territory. The sea lion shown raising his head in the photo titled "Irritating Avian Visitor" had an obvious bite mark that was quite deep. He probably will not survive.

The first of the photos were taken in 2004 with a Nikon D100. Starting with Año Nuevo Island, they were taken in 2008 with a Nikon D300.

Click picture to see larger image...

The Beach Crowd	Irritating Avian Visitor	Juvenile Molting Male	Tough Afternoon?	Mock Battle	Complain Complain!
New Arrivals to the Beach	Ano Nuevo Island	Soaring Brown Pelican	New Year Creek Cove	Looking Down the Coast to Santa Cruz	Grasslands
Quarrelsome Adolescent Males	More Serious Battles	Gull