Elephant Seals of San Simeon California

One of my favorite parts about traveling is that you can wake up with an idea of what you want to do that day, but often opportunities come along during the day that will alter your plans and expose you to things you had never considered just hours before. Recently this happened while we were in San Simeon, California visiting Hearst Castle. You can read about the castle visit HERE.

Our contact at Hearst Castle encouraged us to make time in our schedule to visit the Elephant Seals as this is their migration period, and their resting spot is only a few miles down the road. Always up for a spontaneous adventure, we decided to stop by once we left the castle tour. I had no idea at the time that this would become the highlight of my already fantastic day.

We arrived at the dirt parking lot along the side of the Pacific Coast Highway that marks the Elephant Seal’s sanctuary. We weren’t sure what to expect, or how close we could get to the massive creatures, but luckily for us, there were some docents eager to answer our questions. These sweet retired men volunteer weekly to monitor the public to make sure no one harasses the seals or crosses the fence line, and to answer questions from curious tourists. You can see our video interview with them HERE

We were eager to get a glimpse of the seals so we headed down the pathway towards the beach. Quickly we spotted clusters of females, huddled together on the sand. Many had newborn pups at their side, but the majority of them were in their last days of pregnancy, and were patiently awaiting the arrival of their babies any day now.

The beach was littered with a few hundred seals, but the docents assured us that within a few weeks there would be several thousand squished onto this narrow strip of sand. This is the only place in North America where elephant seals migrate down from northern waters to birth their pups, wean them in only a month, and then breed again before returning to the sea. This cycle happens in a very short time, so over the next three months, over 17,000 seals will visit this one small beach.