Despite being in a party hostel I finally felt I was in a place that I always wanted to visit, warm waters, surfing on the doorstep and skiing only a few hours away, it sounded like heaven and I knew I wasn´t short of potential advocates. A number of people back home had mentioned a desire to actually live there and I felt not only that I was on my travels but on a reconnaissance mission with people back home keen to hear the debrief. Well here´s the report....
I positioned myself in Pacific Beach so I could easily get to the area called Windansea and La Jolla (pron La Hoya) as I´d been reading about the surf and longboarding scene of the area for years. To get out and about and explore quicky, I hired a behemoth of a cruiser bicycle and scaled and plummeted up and down the many hills of Windansea and La Jolla and was taken back at how I´d found such a beautiful area, something severely lacking from nearly everywhere else I´d been already in Southern California. Unfortunately this all came with a rather large price tag of a catch as the area seemed to be home most of San Diego´s elite. However, guessing that if a character such as Ron Burgundy ever existed, he´d definitely live there, I´m definitely putting it high on the list of places I´d have a house if those lottery numbers ever came up.
The area was by far the most scenic stretch of urban coastline I´ve ever seen in person or from the media. Lots of coves, reefs, beeches and plenty of wildlife with seals and leopard sharks apparently frequenting the area. I cycled all the way through Windansea; a small neighbourhood with some brilliant surf and quite a community feel all the way to La Jolla, a larger town that also had great surf and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for art galleries which helped it fuel it´s slightly superficial atmosphere, as it´s objective seems to attract Southern California´s wealthy elite. None the less I loved La Jolla and discovered one particular photography gallery of a chap called John Mangelsen. He travels for 10 months of the year taking some of the most amazing photos I´ve ever seen. A bit cute and cheesy you might think, but take a look, it´s quite staggering. http://www.mangelsen.com/
Pushing ahead with the hire bike (please note: only one gear) I rode to the Birch Scripp aquarium, which only looked like a short bike ride away on the map, turned into a near exhausting 4 mile jaunt up hill in weather that would make even the hardiest of sun worshippers to run for the shade. The aquarium was a thankful escape from the midday sun and showcased a whole array of marine life that I knew I´d pay triple if I wanted to go to Sea World. Not wanting to get killed by a Killer Whale I was content with being a shark geek all over again before enjoying the 4 mile ride back down the hill and back to Pacific Beach.
Every surfer I´ve ever met hates wetsuits, pure and simple. Therefore going for a late afternoon surf at Pacific Beach in just boardies and a vest was something I´m hoping will make a lot of the guys in the London Surf Club green with envy. A few more evenings like this and I was more than content to spend the next day time snorkeling in La Jolla Cove with millions of Gary Baldi fish (bright orange), a group of seals who were more keen to parade and heckle the land dwelling tourists than entertain the hardy waterborne tourists in masks and snorkels. Despite not getting to see the highly anticipated Leopard Sharks I loved the experience of snorkeling so close to the cliffs and caves amongst a vast array of calipo coloured fish and would recommend it to anyone.
The Banana Bungalow hostel where I stayed at became the place to introduce me to America´s premier drinking game. Beer Pong, complete with it´s own purpose built table (like an American Football pitch) I was keen to represent Great Britain and did so with deadly accuracy putting out a pair of Kiwis and duly sending them to bed early. Retiring (not passing out I must insist) undefeated I enjoyed the Banana Bungalow experience but was keen to get some decent kip and hit down town and see what the City which promised much, had to offer.
a few selected photos are on my flickr account....
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