They taunt me

The monk seals are still AWOL, but giant sea turtles enjoy bobbing in a small cove just at the end of our street. At first, you can’t see them at all. And then with surprising quickness, they pop their heads out of the water for a sip of air and duck back under the waves. Blink and you’ll miss it.

Under water, they float with the strong tidal currents and swim from spot to spot, so it’s difficult to track the five or so minutes between breaths. Even with four or five or six of them all clustered in the same rocky alcove, you have to be extremely patient and quick to catch a shot of them.

It’s especially challenging with a long lens, as the field of vision is so narrow. All I can say it, thank God for digital. I probably shot 300 photos to get a couple OK shots. I can’t imagine doing that with film. I’d be bankrupt.

While shooting them, I moved down to the rocks, which the surf pounded with alarming power. As the water flowed in, you could hear the air pressure release under the boulders, causing spurts of water to spit up between the rocks. One could be forgiven for imagining a monster lurking beneath.