Story & Photos by John Vonderlin
Email John ([email protected])
Hi June,
More photos of things we saw on the trip to Secret Beach.
1) Finding complete sea urchins with spines intact is rare in my experience. Finding twenty of them in a hundred foot stretch of beach was an oddity I have no explanation for. 
2) This cute little fellow had made this odd trail down the beach some time after high tide a few hours before. It didn’t seem to be aware of our approach, so I went close enough to observe if there was a problem I could help with, like fishing line entanglement. It’s eyes were open, but unresponsive. While I was walking back a few hours later I wondered if I should move it closer to the water or call the Marine Mammal Center for a rescue. Two vultures told me that wouldn’t be necessary.
3) Nature can seem horrific, if it’s not a food source we utilize. I’ve been told the high protein eyes are usually the first to go on fresh marine mammal carcasses.
4) The short inlets eroded into the cliffs by seasonal streams had a lot of floats in them. As many float collectors as there are, that tells me few people come this way.
5) Limpet Town. I occasionally see shallow depressions in rocks filled to their edges by a limpet colony. Two together is highly unusual.