Notes of a (Couch) Roamer 宅女漫遊: Kayaking for Sea Otters 北加州的海獺

Sea Otter 海獺

Southern sea otter maybe the symbol of Central California Coast. They can often be seen around Monterey Bay. Last year on the way to see the California Condors, I accidentally found a pod of sea otters hung out Moss Landing harbor close to Jetty Road. （Coming from north, Santa Cruz, on Highway 1, you will see Jetty Road first, then Moss Landing Harbor.) Since then, I have visited twice more, and they were always there. By now what my camera can take from the road was no longer good enough for me, I wanted to see them closer, from the water, approaching from kayak. We rented a double closed deck kayak from Kayak Connection right next to Moss Landing Harbor, half day for $55, and got to see harbor seals, sea lions, and sea otters all from a different perspective. April is the time for birth of harbor seal pup, we were a bit early, but already saw one three-day old pup at the shore of Elkhorn Slough. Next time hope to kayak in the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.

海獺大概是中加州海岸最有名的動物了，到 Monterey Bay 附近的海岸常可以看到幾隻。大圓臉總是仰天浮在水面，可愛極了。
牠們是瀕臨絕種的動物，（全世界只剩三千隻南方海獺，）喜歡吃甲殼類，抓了蟹必須放在胸前敲開來才吃得到。曾經在Monterey 水族館看見潛水夫教小海獺孤兒怎麼轉身，面向上，敲甲殼類，以確保牠們有生存能力。我去年偶然發現Moss Landing （一號公路邊小鎮，在 Santa Cruz 和 Monterey 中間）碼頭後面有一群海獺出沒，以後為了去看牠們，又去了兩次，也都看到了。大概成天都在那裡混的。現在覺得隔那麼遠看不夠爽，旁邊有租獨木舟的，為什麼不乘舟去看呢。就這麼在碼頭前面的Kayak Connection租了雙人舟，半天五十五美金，老公在後面操舟，我在前面照相。在碼頭附近就看到斑海豹，海獅和那一群海獺。四月是小海豹出生的時間，我們去的有點早，只看到一隻（據獨木舟店主說）剛出生三天的小海豹，身上都是斑點，真是名符其實的斑海豹。幾隻年輕海豹在我們周圍查看究竟，時而出入水面，圓頭加超級大眼，真是迷人。這一帶潮水營養補給充沛，所以食物很多，碼頭附近加上相鄰的Elkhorn Slough 就成了這些海獺，海豹，海獅的常居地。這次獨木舟之旅很愉快，下次打算去Monterey Bay 再探。