grunion greeting, 2009 no go

grunion greeting
new moon cycle (11:05pm-12:35am), overcast skies

We had signed up to watch Del Monte Beach, but Dr. Martin e-mailed us and suggested we not go. Maybe I've been complaining too much about being tired from these late grunion nights, because she thought we shouldn't lose any sleep under the circumstances. A colleague of hers tried to catch grunion Tuesday night by beach seining (have no idea what that looks like) and didn't get any. I have to admit I'm starting to feel slightly discouraged that we haven't witnessed a big grunion run here in Monterey.

We almost went to Carmel Beach instead based on a 2nd-hand report of a big run July 7. I was hoping to see grunion hatching and my husband simply wanted to see grunion spawning. Dr. Martin said the hatching grunion would be too small to see and likely happened a few days ago. Unfortunately, getting back from camping around midnight Monday after 14 hours of driving and Tuesday's late night of grunion watching finally caught up with me and I fell asleep on the couch. My husband wasn't exactly motivated to rouse me from my sleep... (Okay, in full honesty I did say I was too tired to go out right before falling asleep. He's giving me grief right now for stretching the truth a little in an e-mail, but I do think he was relieved to not go, too. Had he really wanted to go, I would have pulled on my boots!)

We're all keeping our fingers (fins?) crossed for a decent grunion run during the full moon in August.

ps 07/25/09 - My hubby joined his regular Saturday morning running group this morning and they were talking about the grunion article in last week's Weekly. Amazingly, they went to Del Monte and Asilomar on Wednesday night and did not see any grunion at all. I am so glad I fell asleep that night. Apparently, these people are hooked and will join us on the full moon in August! LOL!

grunion greeting, 2009 #13

grunion greeting
new moon cycle (10:15pm-12:15am), overcast skies

Holy mackerel! I've always wanted to say that, but haven't had a good opportunity until now.

We arrived at Del Monte at 10:10pm and to our surprise couldn't find a good parking spot. The pier was crowded with tons of fishermen (actually both men and women)!!! We got out of the car and asked the nearest fisherman what was going on. He said the mackerel were out. We asked how he knew and he dryly replied, "Because the buckets are full." We had to laugh at his comment and then asked how all the people knew to come out to fish. He then said, "We have cell phones." LOL! We meet some interesting people during grunion nights. I walked down the pier and talked to some folks and asked if I could take pics of their mackerel in buckets. I'm thinking there's a grunion in the pic shown above. Apparently it's mackerel season from July to August. I wonder if we'll see more fishermen Wednesday night, too.

We didn't see any grunion on the beach but had a nice night of socializing just the same. We ran into some old friends from SoCal. Their mom, our 70+ year-old friend who poo-pooed the idea of grunion in Monterey Bay, told them what we were doing and they brought along their son. His twin sister wisely chose to stay home. Our fellow grunion greeter Diane and some of her friends were also there. The reporter from the Herald never showed. The tide came up to the 5th and 6th parking meters. It was a fun change of pace seeing a beach party at Adventures by the Sea and watching the fisherman toss their lines with little lights into the water (same kind of glow sticks one sees at Halloween or at amusement parks). We left at 12:05am in good spirits despite not seeing any grunion.

coast redwood
Sequoia sempervirens
Cupressaceae

I neglected to take pics of the incredible redwoods during our last trip north to Humbolt on June 13, 2009, so I made sure to take some this trip. According to the wonderful interpretive signs, coast redwoods are the tallest trees in the world reaching heights over 350 ft. and can live 2000 years. We have patches of redwoods near water all along the coast, but the old stands of redwoods up north are truly impressive. The second pic is a nice example of a "chandelier tree."

longhorn beetle
Cerambycidae

This beetle landed on my husband after his trail run at Richardson Grove State Park. Its antennae were extraordinary.