The next part of our journey is characterised by some spectacular scenery, mountains and trees, and wild huge seas and the wildlife that lives within the ‘Big Sur’. We have seen some amazing things driving along route 1, that here stays close to the sea and is often under repair, due to damage from rain and sea erosion, or rock falls. We have just heard on the news that part of the road we drove today, has fallen away this afternoon!! And is now closed to traffic…. Just made it!! By a couple of hours. Utube video here It has some incredible bridges and they build out across bays to produce a safer roadway sometimes. Goodness knows how they will repair this part that is now closed indefinately.
Santa Barbara is a lovely town, partly sheltered by a peninsular, so the only effect of the tsunami here was that sand was moved so much they had to re-dredge the entry channel. The harbour was untouched and contained a great selection of boats, some beautiful, some bizarre. There is also an historic mission there, which was very interesting with adobe walls, pantiles and lots of timber. Inside the walls were wash painted, sometimes very elaborately and sometimes very abstractly. The sculpture, old and new, was fantastic and we enjoyed the historical scenes.
Along the way there are great lodges, some with very good views and good cafes and shops for travellers. Some with free internet. We spoke with Iona from one of them as we had lunch. We saw a hummingbird in another. Along the way we have also seen pelicans, condors, and herons but they are all very hard to photograph in flight of course. Easier to catch were the elephant seals that were breeding along parts of the coast. Despite promises we did not see any whales today. Maybe tomorrow.
Our favourite photos were from the McWay waterfall, where a stream falls directly onto the beach, unique in the world. Hope you like them too. Photos
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