Back in May when the Refugio oil spill happened, I had mentioned at the time that we were talking about going back to Refugio some time this year. For about 2 months they were shut down during their prime season as the oil spill clean up was carried out, but finally opened a couple months ago. Fresh with Burning Man in my brain and with all my camping stuff still strewn about my apartment, I proposed the idea of going camping a couple days ago. Soon I was making reservations to go camping at Refugio State Beach, which is where we went last night.
And this is what I was treated to this morning when peeking out the window in my tent:
....and so of course it was then time to go explore......
Unfortunately the low tide was earlier in the morning, so I didn't have as much beach to explore as I'd like and it was a bit overcast, but I still greatly enjoyed the chance to have the beach nearly to myself in the early morning, as I had last time we visited Refugio Beach. To have time alone like that on the beach in LA is a rarity. I was also glad to see very few visible signs of the oil spill. There were scattered signs about "development" for the Plains All American Pipeline. On some parts of the beach there were little chunks of tar outlining the high tide line (brought some home unintentionally on my feet. Boo.), but I don't know if they were naturally occurring or left overs. I also saw some huge piles of kelp on the shore that I don't recall seeing before, but I also don't know if they are from some natural die off or not. There were still a variety of birds flitting around as well as a variety of animal prints all over the beach. I'm sure there's unseen effects of the oilspill still lingering, but I'm hoping this little stretch of beach is able to recover because it really is quite beautiful.
I wonder if the kelp you saw is related to the unexplained massive amount of sargassum (seaweed) that's washing up in Mexico. Granted that's primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. But maybe? El Nino!
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