A day on the ocean

As the sun was rising, we started our day at the harbor at Half-Moon Bay, ready for a day at sea.

The harbor authorities were raising the flag.

We were booked on a small boat to go out into the Pacific just beyond the
beginning of the continental shelf 30 miles offshore.

On the rock walls defining the harbor we saw huge numbers of birds,
especially pelicans.

Flocks of thousands of shearwaters were feeding, and sometimes flying up out of the water with their eccentric wing beats.
It's impossible to capture the incredible experience of being surrounded by such huge numbers of sea birds1

Some sea lions were sitting on a buoy.

Huge rafts of sea birds and sea mammals were feeding on schools of anchovies. Whales were coming up for air, seals and
sea lions were breaching, and birds were flying in a chaotic and spectacular displan.