Has anyone noticed that about a fourth of Seal Rock is missing? When I got back into town a few days ago and checked the surf at the Lane it appeared that the whole left side of the little sea stack had fallen into the sea.
There must have been some pretty solid storms that hit NorCal during the second half of February to do that kind of damage. Just a reminder that in the contest between sea and land, the sea will always win, no matter how many sea walls, jetties or groins we erect. I’m sure there are plenty of old carps around who still remember when that big rock on the inside near the Lane staircase used to be part of a natural arch.
And with sea levels rising the natural rate of coastal erosion could increase dramatically. A silver lining? Maybe in the not-so-distant future the wave at Pigeon Point will be cleared of its minefield of jagged, barnacle-encrusted rocks and transform into California’s longest point break. Then all you’d have to worry about are the sharks.
Seal Rock before.
Seal Rock after.
Notice the large indentation cut into the left side of the rock. Now it looks more like a crescent than a circle. Who knows, maybe in ten years time the rock will be scoured out all the way to the other side, leaving the top intact, and we’ll all be referring to “Seal Rock” as “Seal Bridge.”
More evidence of gnarly February storms.
1 response so far ↓
dan // Mar 10, 2008 at 5:58 am
A few of us remember the arch at The Lane. That was back in the day when there were no stairs and the only way to climb down the cliff was by using an old fire hose that was tied off on top and used as a rope.
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