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Many people ask me, "How is it possible that you find such a treasure trove of sea glass and abalone when beach combing, and all I come back with is a few pieces at best?" the answer is, I am an extreme beach comber. I rappel off of cliffs, rock climb feet above crashing waves and sharp rocks to bring you the very best that the beautiful beaches of northern California have to offer.
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On July, fourteenth, 05, my Sister Erin and I, (Charles Peden) went to Davenport, north of Santa Cruz, CA by about 14 miles on Hwy. 1.
We went to another beach called Scott Creek earlier that morning hoping that the fog would lift so that the sun would be out for the rappel down to the beaches, but by 3:00 PM we decided that we would go even though the sun had not come out yet.
We saw some very interesting animals, not the kind that you would expect to find at the beach. |
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Most people think of seals, sea gulls, crabs, sea lions, otters, starfish, fish and so forth when they think of animal life at the beach. Sure we have seen all of the previous mentioned animals, but here are some unusual ones.
While on the trail to the edge of the cliffs we spotted the rather large snake you see above, he crossed our path, slithered into the poison oak and then stunned us by coming back out and staring us down. With the snake holding our attention a lizard seized the opportunity to come closer to us to determine if we were friend or foe.
The baby scorpion on the right was discovered after I had safely arrived at the bottom of the cliffs and was examining some of the material knocked loose while rappelling down. |
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This is the part where I tell you, "Do not try this at home," I am a trained professional and have been climbing for years. Do not attempt anything you see here unless you know what you are doing. Never climb alone and always use the proper gear. Always wear a helmet or hard hat and inform people of where you are going and what time they should expect you to return.
I always bring a cell phone and a place it in a zip locked baggy so that should I fall in the water, it will still work.
Be sure to bring a first aid kit, warm clothing, water, high energy snacks and wear the proper footwear. I have found surfing booties to be perfect for rappelling and beach combing. The best ones have a split toe and are "hightops" they provide protection from cold water and rocks. |
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Using the "Warning" sign as an anchor, I clipped my gris gris to the ropes, (I had to tie two ropes together to make the distance to the beach!) clipped the carabiner to my climbing harness and lowered myself over the edge.
Because of the unstable nature of the cliffs, I had to descend in a zigzag fashion to avoid debris that was getting knocked loose by the rope brushing against the face of the cliff above me. Several times small rocks bounced off of my hard hat, sounding like hail on the roof of a car.
As I reached the bottom, I quickly backed away from the base of the cliffs to avoid any additional material that may have been knocked loose. I detached myself from the rope and tied the hard hat and climbing gear to the end of the rope for my sister to haul up and use herself, for the trip down. |
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We had a great time beach combing and though it was getting late, we found enough sea glass and abalone shells to make us very happy. What we found was that the sea glass and abalone found at the beach that we rappeled into was larger then the pieces found at the easy to access beach.
Next time we will try and get an earlier start and go when there is a low tide. I have gone to this beach before and at low tide there is even more that can be found.
Be sure to check back often for updates and future beach combing stories.
Here are a few pictures of some of our finds from this trip. We found some amazing abalone pieces, and quite a nice collection of well polished sea glass. |
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