Specific times & areas arond La Jolla

[keith_dowling1]

Hello,

 

I'll be spending a very limited time in La Jolla CA in a few weeks.

I'll be with my wife and her family for most of the trip, but I've got

a Monday night, all day Tuesday through Wednesday early AM in La

Jolla.

I'll have to schedule some "tourist time" for me & my wife (my wife

and I?), and there's not time to scout ahead.

If anyone can give me some tips on where to go, and the best times to

do it, I would really appreciate it. I'm probably be able to get a few

short blocks of time together for photography (I'm not going to make

it to Anza-Borrego this time!).

More specifically, I'd like to get some photos of seals, pelicans,

etc...

 

Thanks again for any info you can provide.

 

Keith

[peter_popp1]

I'm sure other posters will be able to offer much more sage advice, because I've only been in La Jolla proper once. But right in town there is a park on the water. I'm sure you'll be able to find it. The park is set up off the water maybe a hundred feet on some cliffs. Anyways, pelicans everywhere. A great place to practice shooting birds in flight. I actually saw a small whale while we were there.

 

On another visit I was at the aquarium at Scripps, which looks out over the ocean. There were a number of people surfing as the sun set, and there were dolphins porpoising all around them. One of the most peaceful scenes any could ever witness. If you could get down to the water there, there is great potential. Take your longest lens.

[patrick_chase]

Hi Keith;

 

The "park on the water" with pelicans all around described by a previous poster is La Jolla Cove. It's a mob scene on weekends and can be fairly crowded weekday evenings, but you can probably get some good shots by walking up the coast along the cliffs from there.

 

Up the coast a ways, the Torrey Pines nature reserve (between UCSD and Black's beach) offers opportunities galore. The sandstone cliffs react quite spectacularly to sunset, and the hang glides and parafoils at the glider port provide interesting subjects.

 

There'a also the zoo...

[phil_sedgwick]

For seals, head to the Childrens Pool. It's the semi circle brake water south of the cove. A group of seals is usualy sleeping on the sand with a few swimming about. At low tide the seals will swimm out and sleep on a large flat rock (seal rock) that is under water during higher tides.

 

As mentioned above Torry Pines is a wonderful place. Follow Torry Pines Road north untill it drops to the ocean, the entrance to the park in on the left at the bottom of the hill. From the upper parking areas it's a half mile or so hike to the top of the cliffs. No seals but lots of rare Torry Pines.

[roberto_lins]

If it's not too late... I lived in La Jolla for almost a couple of

years, what a great place. For seals I'd go to La Jolla Cove and as

already stressed, don't miss the sunset at the dramatic cliffs of Torrey Pines. If you like architecture, (not really nature!), a sure bet is The Salk Institute on North Torrey Pines Rd. Have a good time.

[john_karsten]

OK, here's the deal. There's a stretch of ocean off the cliffs, childrens beach and the cove off of down town La Jolla. Some seals had taken over the childrens beach last time I was there, I got some pics with a 300, but a 500 is almost a necessity for full frame closeups. The cove is big on diving and snorkelling, if you do underwater photography go there or the kelp beds, but the cliffs north and south of the cove, as well as near the childrens beach are often dotted with cormorans, cal. brown pelicans, and groundsquirrels. Torey pines is nice though, something everyone has forgotten to tell you, the park closes to vehicular traffic at sunsett. If you drive in, park, and then hike down to the beach to photoraph the sunsett off of the rocks, then hike back to you car and drive down to the gate, chances are, you won't be able to get out, and unless you have a cell phone, it's a hike and a heck of an inconvenience to get home. Also, the weather is constantly changing. The weather can go to schlem and you can get fogged in, but on the other hand, the clouds often break and the sea is spotted with bright sunlit patches, shafts of light shooting down between the clouds.

 

Good luck, because that's the best I can offer you, and if you do get fogged in, go elsewhere. I went to photograph the sunsett one night along the nearby torey pines marsh, and the fog rolled in so thick it was as if the sun had come down at 7:00. I did however practically stumble accross a fantastic sight, a pair of male western diamonback rattlesnakes were competing for a female in the ice plant not 10meters from where I stood. Closing in, I was able to photograph them at 300mm with Kodak E100VS pushed one stop. Once in a lifetime!!, I shot plenty of exposures, and picked up two timeless images.

 

luck, K