After our visit of the Hearst Castle, Marc and I were determined to head straight home and beat the traffic back to the Bay Area especially before it got too dark and too late.

We hadn't been in the car too long when we passed by a stretch of the coast where many people congregated. It turned out the elephant seals had arrived. There they threaten, intimidate or when necessary fight for dominance over a portion of the beach. It is said that a dominant or alpha bull emerges from this competition along with a few beta males that are lower in the hierarchy. During this same period, pregnant females also begin arriving forming harems around the alpha. The babies are born in less than an hour and all birthing takes place within a week of arrival. The pups are nursed for four weeks quadrupling their original weight. By the fourth week, the mother goes into estrus, mates many times then weans her pup by heading back to sea. The pup is left to fend on his on from then on.

The rookery is home to these elephant seals for three months.