017 Sunrise in South Bay

Always willing to take a risk, we left Point Loma this morning and headed for the very southern tip of San Diego Bay. It was still dark as we passed the Hotel del Coronado.




We headed south on Route 75 towards Imperial Beach.



I brought my vintage Seiko electronic pocket watch today to time our adventure.



We had about 25-30 minutes before sunrise. We got out of the car and started walking out a long man-made spit of land, reaching out into the shallow salt water. 

This one was taken with my iPhone but all the following shots are from my Sony camera.



It was very crisp, cool, slightly windy, and quiet.



Plenty of ducks in this sheltered bay.





It seemed a very long way to the end of the walkway (afterwards I measured about 1000 steps on my iPhone). A bit brighter to the south (my right)



than to its northern side (my left).



I know these pictures can't convey the sense of magic in this light, but maybe they can give a hint.



A huge pelican floated in, inches above the water.



They have to climb a few feet before lowering their landing gear (so their feet don't drag in the water).



View back towards the west and the SEAL facility.





Sunrise is supposed to be 6:45:31. We are ready for it.





A giant heron flew across my view.



We were bowled over by the colors and their intensity (screen saver? desktop? wall print?)



Even the birds were standing expectantly (although this guy is looking the wrong way).



Now he sees it coming



Coming ...



Sunrise!



The light changed suddenly and everything was lit.



We saw a huge flock of tiny birds fly over our causeway and descend (we thought they went into the water). As we drew closer on our way back to the car, we saw them milling around on the shore, pretty much on our path.



We didn't want to spook them so walked very slowly, softly and on the farthest edge of dry land. Cute little fellas, aren''t they?



Staring at the sun. Maybe it's a moment of silence and thanks that the sun has risen for another day...



Here's the sign, which we didn't see in the dark when we arrived.


We were there about an hour, and our hands were numb from the cold. Thankfully I have a heated steering wheel.

Now, how to capture that hour in images and a few words?




Cazalea



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

027 Birds, Bees and Bayside

Image
  We walked along a favorite trail today, with a twist - first we walked up the street where house entrances and driveways are, then doubled back along the bay, where we are able to see (from the path) what they can see from inside their homes, or from their back yards. We have a surprising mix of flowers and other plants, architecture, and animals today. Lots of bright flowers! And colorful birds too! A friend of ours lived for decades in this big wooden home. So much competition between flowers - size, shape, color, alluring items "Choose me, Mr. Bee" "Come to me, Mrs Hummingbird" "Come to us!" they sing in chorus, "Yellow is mellow!" Whoa! That's a bright bird. It must have gotten the yellow memo... With a colorful orange/green competitor amidst the pink/purple flowers. Remember this windvane, we will see it from the bayside too. Could be the south of France -- if you've ever been there, do you agree? I can see the road doesn't con...
Read more

015 Shelter Island from the Storm

Image
Shelter Island provides shelter from storms, to be precise. And that's where we are headed.  It's a man-made island, dredged out of the harbor in the 1930's to provide shelter for commercial and pleasure boats. We've already walked the commercial basin (where we buy the fish) and today decided to tackle the SW end of the island. We started early, at an extreme high tide and under a beautiful moon and Venus. Only one guy was launching his boat into the bay when we got there. But there were other boats zipping or throbbing by, about one a minute, all heading outbound. Half-hour before sunrise, according to my Seiko and the weatherman. This is a monument to the men who caught huge tuna with straight poles and barbless hooks. The US tuna fleet was predominantly Portuguese, who came to San Diego for the fishing.  They dropped their linked lines into a mess of fish and in a coordinated effort, pulled tuna weighing hundreds of pounds up and over into their boat.  We stayed for...
Read more

036 What Can You See by the Dawn's Early Light?

Image
We normally walk near home but extended our early morning drive to get a glimpse back toward our neighborhood: We went to Mount Soledad, a high peak at San Diego's northwest corner. The sky was clear and the views spectacular. Here we are looking south.  A couple minutes later, you can see how the light is changing. In the distance the Los Coronados Islands (Mexico) In the middle is Point Loma. Downtown, San Diego bay, Coronado Bridge -- all places that we have walked in the past 3 years. I can't believe how sharp this image is -- the clarity of the original is fantastic! Those lights on the hillside in Tijuana, MX are at least 25 miles away. Views to the north This memorial sits atop a piece of land now owned by a non-profit organization (to eliminate church/state conflicts). A friend is one of the directors and keeps us informed about developments here, but we only come up about a couple times a year. Today the light is really nice.   From any angle. Since we have about 10 m...
Read more