Sea Otters at Morro Bay

Just a quick one night stop at the Pacific Dunes RV Resort in Pismo Beach in central California but even though we arrived mid afternoon, we could not let the day slip by without a quick trip to our beloved Morro Bay to see the sea otters.

We have visited Morro Bay a few times now, including earlier this year. It is such a special place for wildlife, we all love it!

We arrived late in the afternoon, driving through some moody sea fog to get there, and were delighted to see the sea otters frolicking in the bay. The sea otters love the kelp sea forests of the deep central Pacific coast of California. We loved watching the otters play right there in the misty, sheltered bay, close to shore, bobbing, diving, lazily swimming on their backs, some of them were in groups called “rafts,” nibbling at food, cracking open clams, crabs, sea urchins and other undistinguishable shellfish. Sea otters are the smallest of all marine mammals and they are agile and quick. They can dive up to 250 feet for their food, using their whiskers to locate their prey in tight crevices and then using their strong forepaws to dig them out. We saw one otter using both its teeth and a rock as a tool to crack open its dinner. A joy to observe.

Even though Morro Rock is a haven for birds including the endangered peregrine falcon, it was so quiet and still, we only saw a couple of gliding pelicans, a few seagulls who were surprisingly quiet and some cormorants in the distance.

We stood and gazed out towards the shrouded rock for ages, taking in the sights, sounds and salty smells of the magical bay.

Not wanting to cook after a long day of travel, Henry suggested we stop at In N Out Burger for dinner. So we did.