Friday, November 09, 2012

Torrey Pines to Del Mar

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Paragliding at Torrey Pines Gliderport
Do you think you can fly? If you think you can, you may want to visit my previous post on the popular flying sports here in San Diego, paragliding and hang gliding. For us, we don't fly, we let our feet carry us from down the beach up above the cliffs! :) Maybe, someday, I may try paragliding, but just as tandem with a licensed paraglider/hang glider, because I am not sure I wanted to go through formal lessons to get license to fly and be involved with the sport. Since we let our feet carry us from down the beach up the cliffs, let me share with you our beautiful Saturday last weekend. To fuel our long day, we started with sweet indulgence from Champagne French Bakery. We had napoleon, three layers mousse cake and French macaroons, and a cup of coffee. After that sweet breakfast, we went to Torrey Pines where we started our wandering. Instead of walking up the bluffs right away, we started walking on the beach first to Del Mar. I had that wish of experiencing my hubby's photographing of the pelicans windsurfing in the waves! But, the day was different, no pelicans wind surfing! :( But nevertheless, I was entertained by these cute sanderlings. 

 Sanderlings busy feasting the crustaceans 
Sanderlings are cute little shore birds that really are fun to watch because they would run towards the retreading water and get so busy feasting on the crustacean or mollusks. They are so quick they wait up to the last minute to run away from the rushing waves coming in. 
 Sanderlings Running Away from the Rushing Wave
If they are a little bit late in escaping the rushing waves, they would quickly fly!
Fly, Sanderlings, Fly
After a while of waiting for pelicans to wind surf but did not see any, we decided to climb up the bluffs instead since that is where the pelicans are flying high now, happily gliding in the wind.
Pelicans Gliding in the Wind
Climbing up the bluffs in between North Torrey Pines State Beach and Del Mar Beach, this was how the first few feet of the trail looked like. 
the trail up the bluffs ( cell phone shot )
Thankfully, part of the trail was only the start, so, despite being almost vertical with little foothold, it was not scary since if you fall, you fall only on the sand. :) The trail up is narrow and a little bit slippery though. One surfer froze on the trail and had to wait for his friend to pick his surf board so he could use his hand scrambling on the slopes. 
trail up ( taken by cell phone )
up @ the bluffs ( taken by cell phone)
As soon as we reached the top, we saw dolphins about to surprise this surfer who was trying to catch a wave.
Surfing Trying To Catch a Wave and Dolphins
If you are this surfer, would you still ride the wave or let the dolphin pass by first? Well, I definitely would enjoy being that close to them! Dolphins always go by group, called pods. After our experience with dolphins in a superbowl parade, whenever we see some dolphins, we know, that just a short distance from them, there would be another group of dolphins. True enough, there were 5 other dolphins who were surfing with the waves that caught this other surfer in surprise.
Surfing Dolphins Caught a Surfer By Surprise
Looking at them, I was scared for the dolphin or for the surfer they would hit each other, but silly me, forgot the dolphins can dive down as the surfer stay up. It really actually came to a point where the dolphins were right below the surfer, but they docked further down. We continued our walk to Del Mar Beach, then, turned back to Torrey Pines Gliderport, for our lunch, up the bluffs with the paragliders.
Paragliders
Looking towards La Jolla Shores




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32 comments:

  1. These are beautiful shots of the birds and the dolphins, Betchai. The gliding looks fun too. Perhaps, in my next life, I could do all of these fun things :-)

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  2. Oh my word! Those are lovely pictures! Paragliding seems to be very exciting but not sure if I have the guts to actually throw myself off the cliff to glide away ;)

    Love those dolphin pics! They look surreal!

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  3. Oh my I don;t think I can paraglide yay! Love all the photos Betchai. Thanks for touring us around your area.

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  4. Wonderful to see so many people enjoying the great outdoors though I prefer to keep my feet on the ground too! Beautiful captures of the wading sanderlings and gliding pelicans.

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  5. beautiful pictures and you always have awesome stories of your adventures that i always love to read. must be really great to experience those things. :) thanks for sharing as always. until your next journey. take care and God bless you always! :)

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  6. If only I could fly , I would like to fly like a bird, just soar my wings up high ;)

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  7. Awesome photos betchai. Sarap sigurong mag para-gliding.

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  8. Very impressive pictures...The sea, the birds and of course the surfing lucky guy who has the dolphins at his side.
    Best regards from J&C

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  9. Very impressive pictures...The sea, the birds and of course the surfing lucky guy who has the dolphins at his side.
    Best regards from J&C

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  10. All amazing shots, Betchai! I am so hooked! Very impressive! I so love your place. It's not everyday that you can get a good capture of the surfer meeting up with the dolphins. Those sanderlings and pelicans are always a sight to behold! And of course! The cliffs, the deep blue sea and the palagliding shots! Simply awesome! I remember my brother daring to do the sport. I can only wish I am as adventurous as him.

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  11. awww.. This is so AWESOME!!! kakainggit naman talaga ang mga shots and yes i want to try that paragliding, i want to involve myself in that kind of sports eh!

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  12. Ate Betchai, this is just a breath-taking, exhilarating activity ever. I have always wonder if i can do para-gliding or para-sailing. We had a dolphin encounter when we went to coast but I wish we can even have a much closer encounter with them like swimming with them! Your place is just so awesome ate Betchai and reading your article never gets me bored reading them because you can always pick informative stuff while watching your brilliant photos! Keep it going teh :)

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  13. The photo with the surfer and dolphins is the best! That's one of my dream shots, I hope to surf with the dolphins. :)

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  14. I almost lost my breath by just mere looking at photos of people flying. The photo of the surfer and the dolphins is truly amazing and I am lost in words of how wonderful the experience is.

    Thank you very much for sharing your Del Mar adventures. :)

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  15. All your images are well captured.How I wish to lived in this kind of States that we can drive every weekend to enjoy the beach and panoramic view.

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  16. Ohhh what can I say, I am mesmerized with all your photos :) beautifully captured every actions... the scenery, the animals and the wave of the ocean.. wow!!

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  17. fun and adventurous post thank you sis, love the photography of those birds by the sea, the bubbles by the shore just a perfect shoot, and the dolphins..awesome

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  18. the Sanderlings running away from the waves look so cute! and they have pretty outstretched wings! I would love to be able to try paragliding and fly like birds one day...gee how I'd love to view Torrey Pines in person one sweet day...:)

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  19. I usually would see this stuffs on tv, someday I wanna visit your place and see this beautiful creatures personally :)

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  20. Love, love your bird photos and the amazing scenery! I have a feeling of freedom and weightlessness when I see these.

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  21. now i think i can also fly n swim :)

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  22. I want to try Paragliding one day! ♥

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  23. I wish I was not scared of heights. This looks like such fun. I wouldn't have any fun though, because my eyes would be closed the whole time, and I would be praying not to die.

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  24. I wish to experience paragliding soon...and surf with the dolphins. These are all bucket list materials...or just dreams for me.

    Love all the photos. Happy weekend.

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  25. Beth, i just noticed that you were able to post bigger pic size na. Yey! Mas lalo kaming mamamangha sa mga pics mo nyan. Not that we've not been awed previously, pero the bigger the better. Hehehe! Enjoy your weekend with Khai. Signing off after visiting TSS. Love yah!

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  26. "Follow me if you can fly." The pelican said.

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  27. What an adventure filled day out!! Your photographs always give me the feeling as if I am there with you!! I so love visiting these places with you.
    Have a lovely day Betchai :)

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  28. Bumabalik for the late COMEX visit. Sorry ha.

    Your post demonstrates how beautiful God's creations are. Thank you for the inspiration Betchai...

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  29. It looks like a fabulous hike. And, I love your choice of breakfast food.

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  30. Love these photos and would love to be close to the dolphins but not in the sky. lol

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  31. I love your first photo of the paragliders. My husband began a course to learn to paraglide but the weather became unfavourable and he hasn't returned to complete it.

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THANK YOU SO MUCH!!