Otter Love

Whiffen Spit
Sooke, BC
4/17/2014

We were trekking back up the spit, feeling pleased with ourselves for spotting several harbour seals and two baby otters on the rocky, stump strewn beach.  And then...

An otter galloping toward...past...tackling a second otter on the beach two feet away from us.  We could see the struggle through the rock crevices, and a moment later one otter was being dragged by the scruff of the neck into the water.  And then things got very National Geographic.

We watched until it started feeling a little creepy.  Then, standing in the rain, we stayed for another half hour.  About twenty minutes in we noticed another tiny commotion thirty feet farther out in the water and realized that it was actually another otter couple going at it.  Oh, Canada!

The Wharfs in Monterey

On Safari in Elkhorn Slough

I love otters, obviously.  Which is why our private Safari boat through Elkhorn Slough was the perfect birthday adventure to close out the weekend.

The Dream

I've been searching for otters in the wild for the past few years with some minimal success.  There was a spotting, but no pictures (they all came out blurry), at Grizzly Island and then more recently in Big Sur.  I don't think Sam really counts, though technically he's wild...

Anyways, I'm (overly) proud to announce that after several hours spent crouched at the edge of a marsh, scanning the reeds and acquiring one of the worst sunburns I've gotten in northern CA, I not only spotted but also managed to snap a few subpar photos of my otter friend. 

Sam of Sutro Baths

Apparently I didn't have to go to Big Sur to see otters.  Or rather, otter.  Sam is a river otter who somehow made his way to the Sutro Baths and has taken up residence.  After hearing about this amazing creature I decided I absolutely had to see him. Since I live in the neighborhood, I popped over one evening to catch the sunset, hoping to see Sam!  No otter, but the sunset was beautiful!

1/320, f/9, ISO 1250

1/400,  f/14, ISO 320 

1/320, f/10, ISO 1250

Luckily my friend Christine was in town the next weekend visiting from Hawaii, so I took her on the Land's End Trail, starting near the Legion of Honor with gorgeous views of the Golden Gate Bridge and around the point to Sutro Baths.  And there was Sam! 

1/400, f/5.6, ISO 320

1/400, f/5.6, ISO 320

After watching Sam frolic across the pool for a bit, we climbed up the hill for the aerial view and ate our sandwiches.  We noticed a hawk lurking low in the sky...

1/400, f/6.3, ISO 320

 And the next thing we knew, a poor rat was was being carried off into the wind.

1/400, f/5.6, ISO 320