La Jolla Cove has several claims to fame. For the longest time, it was a safe harbor for smugglers who came by sea and left their loot in the "seven caves" (sea grottoes), just to the north of the cove. Six of these grottoes can be explored only from sea, by renting a sea kayak. But one cave, called Sunny Jim Sea Cave, has a man-made tunnel leading into it from a nearby house on the cliffs. The house is now a souvenir shop.
Of course, as soon as I learned about a cave and a tunnel, there was no doubt that our near future held these 145 steps (each way)... The tunnel was probably used by bootleggers during the Prohibition period.
The steps were shallow and not really slippery, a piece of cake after our little Ronda adventure... After the steps and the tunnel, you come to the mouth of the cave, which apparently resembles in shape the profile of Sunny Jim – the cartoon character on the British Wheat Force cereal products of the 1920's. Or at least, L. Frank Baum (who wrote The Wizard of Oz) thought so... he named the cave, and the name stuck.
Here I am inside the cave, feeling like an ancient pirate or smuggler.
And this is how the cave looks from the promenade along the shore.
Even if you are not into caves and tunnels, La Jolla Cove is worth a visit, because it is home to sea lions, seals, pelicans, cormorants, and all kinds of other birds. It is very picturesque, with great views and plenty of opportunities to make up-close and personal wildlife photos. You can barely see some brown pelicans along the far edge of the cliff in the photo above, but here is a better view.
And here are some more pelican photos.
Next to the pelican in the photo above, that's a regular double-crested cormorant, with an orange throat pouch. But further along the cliffs, there is a whole nesting colony of Brandt's cormorant, the one that has a bright-blue throat pouch in breeding plumage.
In this photo, you can see her eggs.
And here is a male doing a typical mating display: "drawing head back with blue throat pouch extended and bill pointed upward, spreading tail, and fluttering wings"...
Going further down (south) along the promenade, here is a view back across the cove...
... and then, when you turn the corner...
Sea lions are so used to camera-toting tourists that they ignore you completely, and you can come really close. Here is Alex taking pictures of a couple of sea lions...
... and here are some of the pictures he took.
After getting back from La Jolla, we had just enought time to prepare for the game. Originally, we planned to watch it from the Duck Dive, the restaurant near our hotel where we had dinner the first night. They had big TVs everywhere... But when we walked over about an hour before the game, to check it out, we realized that it was packed and the crowd didn't look like football fans. Alex, of course, was already wearing his Brady jersey.
So we switched to plan B, got a couple of sandwiches, a salad, and a bottle of wine in the nearest supermarket, to be able to watch from our hotel room. And spent the rest of the time before the game by walking to the Crystal Pier (in the background, behind Alex, in the photo above).
There were some surfers...
... the underside of the pier reminded me fondly of Old Orchard Beach...
... and there was another couple also walking on the beach, along the water edge.
This is the last photo. We watched the game - what an unbelievable game it was! - and then went out for our final dinner to The Patio on Lamont. We walked there (about half an hour each way, but the walk was pleasant - especially because Alex was still wearing his jersey and everybody kept congratulating him with the victory). The Patio on Lamont is a really nice place, a heated patio with an interesting menu and a good wine list. It is not a sports bar, so only a couple of other tables were taken, and we had a quiet and enjoyable dinner there.
And the next day, Monday, we said good bye to San Diego and flew home.
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