This campground is one of the older ones in So Cal- it started as a simple surfers camping spot. It is even mentioned in the Beach Boys song “Surfin’ USA.” Unlike Faria where the water is right at the campsite, here the sand is right at the campsite and you have a lovely, almost personal, stretch of beach. The campground has been upgraded too. It is a truly beautiful, typical So Cal beach! And we finally got some sun!
Eric and Edna drove down to meet us and we had a lovely visit and lunch at a tiny bar right on the beach/marina – Turk’s Tavern and Grill. Tiny but tasty. We were also able to meet up with Derek, Sean and Alyssa at the Monarch Ocean Pub which had an amazing view and pretty good food. It was is Del Mar. It is definitely a foodie type of area. It is right in Dana Point so we were able to easily stock up on fresh supplies.
We decided to go out again to find cetaceans, and chose to go on Captain Dave’s catamaran. I loaded up on my ginger and Emetrol and what a nice ride. Much smoother but also the ocean was like glass. But unfortunately, the marine layer came back in! But it wasn’t fog just cloudy. We found a couple small pods of Longnose Common Dolphins and then hit the jackpot- a pod of about 250 came up to the boat and raced around in the wakes etc. It was totally cool! And as a catamaran, there is netting in the front between the hills and the kids could lie down and reach for the dolphin spouts. We played with them for more than a half hour. We also saw a whale spout but it never came back up. So we don’t know what type of whale it was. And we also saw sea lions, a Harbor Seal, Mola mola and tons of sea birds. It was a pretty fun ride.
We also decided to go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park ( old Wild Animal Park) since we hadn’t been in many years. It was as hilly and long as we remembered, but we got there early and it didn’t get too hot until after lunch. It is very pricey so we brought our lunch and found a nice picnic table to sit and eat. Dave saw the platypus – this pair are the only ones in a zoo outside of Oceania. It was quite a bit of fun!
Our final stop on this leg of the trip was Valencia RV Resort so that we can see my Aunt and Uncle. We got to see Eric and Edna again for the first afternoon but had them to ourselves all day on Monday. It is always so fun to gab and see their cats and chickens.
As usual, Dave has better pictures than I do so come back and check after a while!