Back in da Cruz

Weird-looking huge Sun Fish, or Mola Mola, floats near surface of Monterey Bay. Photo KCS.

Empty beaches.

Crowded surf lineups.

Warm summer weather.

Boardwalk closed.

Empty parking lots.

Trucks and cars fill residential streets.

Some wearing masks.

Most people are not.

Construction in high gear.

Construction stalled.

Hotels shut.

Gas stations open.

Immediate impressions of Covid Santa Cruz swing from one extreme to another. One thing is clear: visitors are not locked out here as they are on Kauai. Santa Cruz is not an island. It is a popular destination, open to all. And many continue to come despite the closures of business.

While we've been mostly self-quarantining since our arrival, we've enjoyed long walks on the beach early in the day. Extreme low tides in the morning have exposed large swaths of sand for comfortable, barefoot rambling.

Frida joins us on our outings. She trots along behind my left heel. She's a working girl and her job is to be with me, ever my loyal companion.

The majority of our time is spent in our backyard pulling weeds, trimming plants, clipping vines, sweeping leaves, digging out roots, recovering areas that had become buried by heavy springtime bloom. Frida lies in shady places hoping for another outing, or an interloping squirrel to chase.

It feels good to be home. We've seen a few neighbors -- outside at social distance, of course. Santa Cruz remains a beautiful town on bountiful Monterey Bay, which is designated a National Marine Sanctuary replete with a wide range of sea life.

A shark attack on a 26-year-old surfer who bled to death in May, prompted a local newspaper story yesterday about the diversity of wildlife in Monterey Bay.  Juvenile Great White Sharks swimming near Manresa State Beach in recent years have drawn the interest of marine scientists.

The young sharks feed in the deep water Soquel Canyon offshore here. The area has become known as Shark Park. Boat tours to see the sleek-swimming sharks had become popular before the Covid lockdown. One scientist called Monterey Bay the "Blue Serengeti," comparing the teeming wildlife with the diversity of land creatures on Africa's Serengeti plain.

It is rare for a shark to attack a human in the water. Scientists surmise that it's probably a warning by the shark that this feeding territory belongs to them.

Shark strikes a wounded dolphin in Hanalei Bay on April 17. Photo KCS.

Having recently witnessed a shark strike a wounded dolphin in Hanalei Bay, I am particularly interested in the subject. The strike was sudden and frighteningly impressive.

And so it goes. Hanalei to Monterey. In this respect, both locations offer proximity to another world that we do not control, or fully understand. It is a privilege and pleasure to live on the edge of the vast, beautiful, deep and dangerous Pacific.

In that sense, we were never far from home.