The first elephant seal pups of the season are making their arrival along the beach in San Simeon and it’s attracting many tourists to the area.
By 10 a.m. Wednesday, eager visitors started lining the boardwalk in San Simeon, many of them hoping to see a live elephant seal birth.
Kate Pharris and her husband, Jeff, are visiting from Southern California and said they have been coming to this spot for the past three days.
“It’s been an amazing experience being able to stop here after growing up and constantly driving back and forth and never stopping and then being able to stop and realize this is the birthing and mating time of year,” Pharris said.
During pupping season, the elephant seal viewing area off Highway 1 typically gets busier as many visitors hope to take a look at the newborn pups.
“We’re on our way to visit family in Southern California and we like to come along the coast and we know that in January the elephant seals are birthing their pups and we like to watch,” said Stephen Bush, visiting from Bay Area.
The high tide and massive waves that struck the California coast last week affected some of the new seal pups.
“We had a recent one where the pup actually got caught in the wave and swept out and the mother called to it and the pup answered. She tracked it down and she herded it down back up the beach very carefully and got it out of the waves and saved that pup's life,” explained Carla Swift, Friends of the Elephant Seal Treasurer.
Friends of the Elephant Seal is always in need of volunteers. They are trained on all aspects of elephant seals so they can educate visitors year-round.
“The sincerity that they have for the protection and understanding is really neat because this is a very special place,” Pharris said.
Around 4,800 pups were born last year along the eight-mile stretch of coastline in San Simeon and Friends of the Elephant Seal say they expect the number to be about the same this year. But with many elephant seals crowded along the coastline, the lack of noise might be surprising.
“The reason they’re so quiet when they’re on the beach is because they are conserving their energy. People don’t realize that when they come to the beach they’re not feeding. The whole time they’re here, these males will be here for 100 days without eating, so they’re pretty amazing,” Swift said.
According to Friends of the Elephant Seal, the typical pupping season for elephant seals starts in January and runs through Valentine’s Day.
