Searching for the Unknown: Santa Cruz

I stopped in Santa Cruz for a couple of nights on my way back to San Francisco - my hostel dorm was this this cute little cottage.

The Wharf in Santa Cruz had a few families of Sea Lions visiting - you could here them barking from quite a distance away.

Feliz was taking a risk getting so close to this big Pelican I thought he was about to snatch him and fly off!!

The views from the Wharf.

Think this cycle path must have been here for a while if that's the bikes they were riding!!

Some big houses with some very pretty views over the coastline - wonder if anyone would like to exchange for my deluxe Kilmarnock abode???

Even the surfers monument gets a Santa hat!!

Surfing is definitely a lifestyle choice in Santa Cruz - when the surf is up the message quickly gets around and very quickly at least 40 surfers are at Steamer Lane looking for that perfect wave!!

There is a number of memorials to surfers along the coastline here - some seemed to have died from natural causes but are remember for their love of surfing whilst others. The one at the bottom was from a mother to her son who loved surfing but was killed in Iraq.

The Surf Museum tells the story of the surf from it's beginning over a 100 years ago and had some pretty impressive photo's highlighting the achievements of surfers.

Rock art carved into the side of the embankment on one of the beaches.

Santa Cruz coastline.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk was founded in 1907 and is California's oldest surviving amusement park and it has the worlds oldes wooden roller coaster. Though it was closed for winter it is still a popular place to visit when it is open - some of the scenes from 'The Lost Boys' were filmed here.

An old bridge.

The Walton Lighthouse is built on a man made breakwater jetty to reduce the current going into the small harbour and is made from 900 Tetrapods that weigh about 25 tons each. Interestingly Tretapods were designed by an engineer in South Africa after he watched children play a game with 4 pronged goat knuckles that when thrown were very stable.