The Shack

The "Shack" is one of the iconic figures in La Jolla and the historical feature that marks Windansea. These are some of my photos from over the past year highlighting the Shack.

Pink Waves - Imperial Beach

Have you ever seen pink waves like these? The water in Imperial Beach is sometimes questionable but usually does not take the form of a pink blob drifting north from Mexico. The true story is not so exotic except if you are a water quality geek like myself. Scripps Institute of Oceanography is conducting a number of ocean current experiments along the coast at Imperial Beach. This particular experiment will be used to model the long-shore or littoral current under different swell conditions. When this information is combined with the offshore current that is already modeled using land based radar, then Imperial Beach will have a very powerful tool that can be used to precisely model northward moving currents or the Tijuana River plume during winter months.

Langosta de La Jolla

Over the past year I have been diving the local reefs around La Jolla. When the surf is small I like to dive the reefs to explore all the holes and ledges so when lobster season comes around I know where to find the best bugs. We picked these bugs off of Big Rock around sunset and then within the hour had them on the BBQ for dinner.

Gaviota Surf Adventure

I headed back to my graduate school stomping grounds for a weekend of ghetto camping and surfing along the exclusive Gaviota coast. The weather was exceptionally windy and the swell was pumping all weekend. With the boat we were able to find some sheltered waves but in the precess of getting there required a sever beating by the elements.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP

Julia and I took a road trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon national park. We did some great hikes around the high elevation alpine lakes among the picturesque treeless granite fields. We backpacked in to a lake for the day where I fished for a delicious dinner of wild trout. I feel most at peace camping when I have a big open sky overhead to ponder on the endless sea of stars. The contrast between the towering granite peaks, open sky, and surrounding wilderness helps me escape the normal fast pace of life and and get back to some primal state of existence where the complications of day-to-day life disappear.

Offshore Fishing for Tuna and Mahi

The fishing has been good this summer and I finally got the chance to make it out on a buddies boat to get in on the action myself and put some blood on the deck. The warm water has brought in the exotics like mahi mahi and thick schools of yellowfin.

Imperial Beach Sancastle Event

Imperial Beach holds the annual US Open Sandcastle building competition. The event draws over 200,000 people into our normally sleepy little beach town. The sandcastles are impressive in both detail and size of the structures. The event includes two days of celebration with a street fair on Saturday followed by the main sandcastle event on Sunday. This year's event marked the 29th consecutive sandcastle day in Imperial Beach.