We spent our time at the Sea Lion Cave itself. It was very windy at the coast today. It was so windy that I had a hard time holding the camera still to take photos outside. A big gust of wind actually pushed AJ down and he ripped a hole in the knee of his pants. He didn’t seem to care all that much that he had scraped his knee. All he was worried about was that his pants were broken. The cave is the largest sea cave in the world. You take an elevator down the 220 feet into the cave. There is an observation platform walled off where you can watch the sea lions in the cave from behind a fence. The cave is home to hundreds of sea lions. Most of the sea lions are Stellar Sea Lions, but there are a few of the California variety as well. Stellar Sea Lions are larger a
nd look furrier. The male bulls can weigh up to 1500 pounds! They truly are king of the rock. When they haul out they pretty much bark their way to the top and everyone basically gets out of their way! (Tony thought they had the right idea – bark at people and have them get out of your way and leave you alone!) The cave has a very distinct odor (what is it with all of the smelly places we have visited?) and the sounds of the sea lions barking echoes off of the cave walls and produces a kind of eerie sound. AJ kept saying it was a ghost – I think that boy has seen one too many Scooby Doo cartoons! We just stood and watched the sea lions for a while. There are informational exhibits and a lookout over to the lighthouse as well as the fossilized skeleton that was discovered in the cave in the 1880’s. The cave has been open to visitors since the 1930’s. We finally made our way back up to the top to take a look at the 
rookery just outside the cave. There were hundreds more sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks with many more swimming just off shore. It was really cool to watch them in their natural habitat. We kept our eyes out for whales. Grey whales migrate up and down the coast and swim close to shore here. We saw a few on our last trip out, but didn’t get to see any this time. The caves have had a few pods of killer whales come to dinner in the past. The most recent visit though was back in 2006. I personally was happy not to have to explain the whole circle of life to our kids! After our visit to the gift shop for snow globes and smash pennies, we grabbed a couple of boxes of popcorn and decided to head down to Florence to check out the local sights.
nd look furrier. The male bulls can weigh up to 1500 pounds! They truly are king of the rock. When they haul out they pretty much bark their way to the top and everyone basically gets out of their way! (Tony thought they had the right idea – bark at people and have them get out of your way and leave you alone!) The cave has a very distinct odor (what is it with all of the smelly places we have visited?) and the sounds of the sea lions barking echoes off of the cave walls and produces a kind of eerie sound. AJ kept saying it was a ghost – I think that boy has seen one too many Scooby Doo cartoons! We just stood and watched the sea lions for a while. There are informational exhibits and a lookout over to the lighthouse as well as the fossilized skeleton that was discovered in the cave in the 1880’s. The cave has been open to visitors since the 1930’s. We finally made our way back up to the top to take a look at the 
rookery just outside the cave. There were hundreds more sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks with many more swimming just off shore. It was really cool to watch them in their natural habitat. We kept our eyes out for whales. Grey whales migrate up and down the coast and swim close to shore here. We saw a few on our last trip out, but didn’t get to see any this time. The caves have had a few pods of killer whales come to dinner in the past. The most recent visit though was back in 2006. I personally was happy not to have to explain the whole circle of life to our kids! After our visit to the gift shop for snow globes and smash pennies, we grabbed a couple of boxes of popcorn and decided to head down to Florence to check out the local sights.Florence is home to a Moe’s Restaurant and we just couldn’t help ourselves. We decided to have a late lunch/early dinner. Tony and I opted for chowder again but mixed it up with the seafood sampler. The kids were happy to find that although their kids’ meals didn’t come with rubber toy sharks,
their plates were Moe’s Frisbees that they got to keep. We sat and watched the boats in the harbor and enjoyed another wonderful meal! After we ate, we walked around and enjoyed the town a little before we headed back to the campground. Florence is a little over an hour away from Beverly Beach. Everyone took a much needed nap in the car on the ride home except poor dad who had to make the drive. Good thing he had an audio book to keep him company!
their plates were Moe’s Frisbees that they got to keep. We sat and watched the boats in the harbor and enjoyed another wonderful meal! After we ate, we walked around and enjoyed the town a little before we headed back to the campground. Florence is a little over an hour away from Beverly Beach. Everyone took a much needed nap in the car on the ride home except poor dad who had to make the drive. Good thing he had an audio book to keep him company! After we got back to the campground, we decided to do a little more exploring on our beach and just had a good time walking the coast. We were more than ready to head back to the camper and crash. There’s just something about the fresh sea air! We are looking forward to exploring some more tide pools tomorrow.
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