We went to La Jolla today to walk around before dinner and decided to take the kids to see the seals at Children's Pool beach. For those of you that have been to La Jolla to see this, it's amazing...the seals swim right up onto the beach and bask in the sun all day. This small cove in La Jolla used to be completely closed to people, as there are viewing areas on three sides to see the seals. Unfortunately, the pro-seal and pro-people environmental groups have been duking it out in court for years, and in 2010, the pro-people group succeeded in getting the barrier ordered down and opening the beach to people again. While the pro-seal group succeeded in 2011 in getting a rope barrier put back up, it does not completely block people from going onto the beach, but merely posts a sign and warns them of the seals. Not that I am a crazy environmentalist or anything, but I think it's really sad that we have this amazing natural wonder with the seals coming onto the beach, and on such a small part of the beach. San Diego, and La Jolla, have miles of beach for use by people and the seals only swim up to this one small part.
As you can see in the picture below, the people walk right up to the water and the seals are afraid to come up onto the sand. While this beach used to be filled with seals, there were only 4 or 5 in the cove today, which seems to be the norm since the barrier came down. There were even reports of seal abuse by two women a few months ago. I just hope the seals continue to come back to Children's Pool so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy watching them!
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