I went to have blood drawn this morning (had to go first thing before I ate) and decided to stop at White Plains beach on my way home to hang out and read my book for a while. White Plains beach used to be a private military beach. It is now open to the public and is about 4 or 5 miles from my house. I parked my car, set up my chair, and started to notice a few people with cameras walking towards a spot a little bit to the left of my chair. I walked over to see what was going on. There, below a little mound of sand was a cute Hawaiian monk seal. I was so happy I remembered to bring my camera. I moved here 25 years ago and this is only the second time I have ever seen a seal on the beach (post on my first seal sighting). I talked to the lifeguard to find out if this was the first sighting of this seal. He said there have been 4 seals hanging out in the area for a while now.
After about an hour or so at the beach, I headed on home. I made a major change regarding my trip...no more Switzerland, and then checked the progress of the "where oh where my new camera could be". After clicking on 4 links to get to the progress of the shipment page, I was thrilled to see that my camera was finally delivered to my school. I jumped in my car and went to pick it up. I am really happy I chose this camera! Of course I just finished charging up the battery and have only taken a few practice shots in my house so far. I am thinking of going back to the same beach tomorrow to see if the seal returns to try out my new camera.
Anyways, here are a few cute photos of the seal on the beach. He or she was inching his/her way up and finally rolled over to snooze for the day.
There...all settled in for a long nap...
Comments (9)
Wow, great shots of that monk seal!
Years ago, I toyed with the idea of relocating to Hawaii and pictured myself as you described... sitting on an easy chair on some beach...
heck, even correcting papers (after school) on some beach sounds pretty good compared to sitting at my desk and doing that. Maybe someday....
Posted by Eden | March 24, 2008 6:46 PM
Posted on March 24, 2008 18:46
Awww, s/he is so cute!! Great photos too, how lucky you were to see this little one make an appearance.
Have you replaced Switzerland with another destination? Or did you decide just to stick with Italy this trip?
Posted by Anne | March 25, 2008 12:21 AM
Posted on March 25, 2008 00:21
Wow! I love seals.
I thought of another blog topic for you - what is your favorite baseball movie? "Bull Durham" was on TV last night - the ballpark where it was filmed is near my office!
Posted by Annie | March 25, 2008 7:25 AM
Posted on March 25, 2008 07:25
What a life! I could do that for a few days...just sleep on a warm beach, go for a swim, and nap some more in the sun!
Posted by Palma | March 25, 2008 3:58 PM
Posted on March 25, 2008 15:58
I was going to comment on the seal (very cute) but Annie's comment has piqued my interest! I saw Bull Durham last night, as well -- I have to say, I love that movie. What are your thoughts on it, Girasoli?
Posted by Sandra | March 25, 2008 4:05 PM
Posted on March 25, 2008 16:05
Eden I did just that (correcting papers - actually test scores for a speech/language evaluation I had administered) when I first moved here. A big wind blew up and all my papers went flying into the ocean. That was BAD! And it was the last time I ever did that :-)
Anne, yes, Italy Italy Italy. I am going to write a post about it - planned on doing it yesterday but then the seal showed up and today was dedicated to my Sox, so hopefully tomorrow I will get one done on the changes.
Palma, ahh yes, definitely "What a life"! He or she was so cute as he/she snuggled into the sand and then did not move again.
Annie & Sandra, I just did my post on my favorite baseball team. You will never have to twist my arm to talk baseball :-)
Posted by girasoli | March 25, 2008 7:16 PM
Posted on March 25, 2008 19:16
Favorite baseball movie? Field of Dreams or The Natural - probably the former though. :)
Posted by Kim | March 27, 2008 2:03 AM
Posted on March 27, 2008 02:03
beautiful photo of the seal, I wonder if they are dangerous to swim with though.
Posted by tuscanartist | March 28, 2008 5:23 AM
Posted on March 28, 2008 05:23
Angie, they are actually pretty dangerous. Their teeth are big and their jaws are very strong. I learned a lot about the Hawaiian Monk Seal on field trips to Sea Life Park. They are amazing animals. I went back on Thursday and the same seal was stretched out snoozing away once again but this time at the other end of the beach.
Posted by girasoli | March 28, 2008 5:37 PM
Posted on March 28, 2008 17:37