grunion greeting
full moon cycle (midnight on), mostly clear skies
full moon cycle (midnight on), mostly clear skies
I can't believe I woke up exactly at 5am again this morning after the very late night last night out on the beach (I'm posting 7/10/09). No, I don't have an alarm clock plugged in these days, but my internal clock is annoyingly punctual!!! I don't have any pics b/c I'm simply too tired. I've spent this morning editing the previous 2 nights of grunion greeting posts, including adding a comment from Dr. Martin. Three hours of sleep a night is becoming my new drug and I'm totally wiggy. Woohoo!
Diane called me earlier in the evening to let me know she wouldn't be able to make it, but to call her if we saw grunion. I really like her and if nothing else am glad to have met her through this "grunion greeting" program. It wasn't an "official" night to watch, but Melissa and Karen asked if anyone could. After initially saying maybe, we, er... I, said we would. My husband is a bit grouchy since he's had a massive headache and is walking around like a zombie, like me, from all these late nights. Despite our many complaints and generally seeing more people than fish, we have thoroughly enjoyed going out to the beach every 2 weeks, 2-3 nights in a row to look for Leuresthes tenuis!
We arrived at Del Monte Beach at 11:45pm. There were 5 people we recognized from previous nights. They had flashlights and buckets but didn't have any luck. There was another group that had a beach fire. We immediately walked down to the cement structure and a bit farther to the condos. No grunion and no Charlie! We miss seeing our night heron and figure he knows of another beach where the grunion are running.
By the time we got back to the pier, both groups of people had left. The flock of unidentified gulls were out again about 70 yards from the pier in the wet berm. However, the night was not a total waste! We saw 6 grunion from 12:25-12:30am and then 2 more at 12:40am. Since it was a particularly low high tide, I estimated they came up between the 8-9th parking meters from the bathroom. We were happy to see them. Hey, it's better than nothing! They were a mixture of scouts and pairs.
There was another fellow who seemed to know quite a bit about grunion. He came out of his car when we spotted the fish, chatted a bit, and watched from the pier with us. By the time we were leaving, he got out his fishing gear and headed down the pier. It's funny, the people we meet so late at night. We left at 1:15am as promised.
Diane called me earlier in the evening to let me know she wouldn't be able to make it, but to call her if we saw grunion. I really like her and if nothing else am glad to have met her through this "grunion greeting" program. It wasn't an "official" night to watch, but Melissa and Karen asked if anyone could. After initially saying maybe, we, er... I, said we would. My husband is a bit grouchy since he's had a massive headache and is walking around like a zombie, like me, from all these late nights. Despite our many complaints and generally seeing more people than fish, we have thoroughly enjoyed going out to the beach every 2 weeks, 2-3 nights in a row to look for Leuresthes tenuis!
We arrived at Del Monte Beach at 11:45pm. There were 5 people we recognized from previous nights. They had flashlights and buckets but didn't have any luck. There was another group that had a beach fire. We immediately walked down to the cement structure and a bit farther to the condos. No grunion and no Charlie! We miss seeing our night heron and figure he knows of another beach where the grunion are running.
By the time we got back to the pier, both groups of people had left. The flock of unidentified gulls were out again about 70 yards from the pier in the wet berm. However, the night was not a total waste! We saw 6 grunion from 12:25-12:30am and then 2 more at 12:40am. Since it was a particularly low high tide, I estimated they came up between the 8-9th parking meters from the bathroom. We were happy to see them. Hey, it's better than nothing! They were a mixture of scouts and pairs.
There was another fellow who seemed to know quite a bit about grunion. He came out of his car when we spotted the fish, chatted a bit, and watched from the pier with us. By the time we were leaving, he got out his fishing gear and headed down the pier. It's funny, the people we meet so late at night. We left at 1:15am as promised.
