Tag Archives: Mendocino County

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Ken Hofer enjoys surfing up Point Arena way. There are several nice surfing spots on the coast. Here's a photo of Ken and his surfboard, with Ken's wife, Carol, very much enjoying the sunny day.

Thanks to the Hofers for allowing me to share their photo with you here.
To see some of our areas surfing spots, here are a few links: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/05/20/surfing-on-the-mendonoma-coast/
http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/08/03/surfing-off-arena-cove-in-point-arena-as-photographed-by-michelle-schubert/
http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/12/14/surfing-at-black-point-beach-and-a-day-of-unusual-visibility-in-the-pacific-ocean/

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August 7th was the day Ron LeValley caught magic with his camera. He photographed the setting sun in the hopes of capturing a green flash from the Little River Headlands in Mendocino County. To see a green flash is special enough but this one turned blue and then violet on each side.

What an incredible photo! Rick and I have purchase a copy so we can have it in our home. Here's the link to Ron's web site if you'd like to own a copy too: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/

I have several photos of the green flash on this site. Here's a link to one of them: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/02/07/the-green-flash-was-photographed-by-richard-kuehn/

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share this unique photo with you here.

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On July 5th I saw what I thought was a breach out in the Pacific Ocean. The ocean was calm and I saw a big splash of white water. Now, Rick and I are a half mile away from the ocean so when we see a big splash like this we know something special is going on. Thinking it might be a Humpback, I trained our scope on it and saw it wasn't a breach but a huge spout. Blue Whales!!! There were three, perhaps four of these behemoths.

You can see the back in the photos below. Blue Whales are so huge they do not come out of the water except for a peek at their backs.

I have a much, much better photo of a Blue Whale, taken by Craig Tooley from an airplane. I will share that another day. Any day you see whales is a good day, but seeing Blues is something extra special.

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We knew it was coming but the reality of it is something else. A disaster thousands of miles away swept multitudes of items into the ocean last March. The Japan Current, also called Kuroshio Current, is bringing evidence of this disaster to the Mendocino Coast.

Don Phillips walks at Manchester State Beach nearly every day. He collects debris swept up on the beach as his community service. But last Sunday the amount of debris on the beach increased dramatically. Yesterday and today he hauled out enough debris to fill his car.

Yes, the tsunami debris has reached the Coast. Now the question is how do we dispose of this? Plastic can be recycled but the styrofoam is problem to be solved.

NOAA has a website to track the tsunami debris. It is: http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/japanfaqs.html

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The rare and endangered Coast Lily, Lilium maritimum, has begun blooming on the Coast. It is native to California and in fact is found no where else in the world. It is found only on the North Coast and especially in Mendocino County.

These lilies grow on long, slender stalks and their bloom is quite short. They need moisture, growing in boggy conditions. These are blooming now on a neighboring property in Anchor Bay, next to a spring box. They are growing among huckleberry bushes.

I collected seeds from these plants last year and scattered them alongside Quinliven Creek, which crosses our land. I see at least one plant came up this year - no flower but I'm thrilled to successfully encourage one to grow down by the creek. Perhaps more will join it next year.