Cheek by jowl

The beach is really full now, packed solid with seals. There are more seals on the beach during the May-June molting season than during the breeding season., All the juveniles come back to the beach at this time of year, as well as the adult females. The youngsters leave the beach to the grown-ups and the new babies during the winter breeding season.

 Many have already completed molting their skin, leaving them with an attractive pearl gray coat. That soon fades to brown.

 Seals show up with amazing scars. This one looks like she nearly had her head bitten off. She somehow lived to tell the tale.

Several showed multiple cookie cutter shark scars, like these.

Low tide

There was an exceptionally low tide last week during the time I was at the bluff, a minus tide. It left some pools of water around the rocks that are usually immersed. The young seals took advantage of it and played. That's unusual. These seals are pretty humorless, or perhaps I should say pragmatic. If it's not about the basics, they aren't doing it. But on this day, they cavorted in the water.

Some preferred to snooze in the quiet kelp beds.

Another busy day at the beach.