Wildlife Photo Opportunities from La Jolla to Morro Bay, CA

[dufferdj]

Maybe some of you RVer's with cameras can give us a few suggestions. My wife and I are headed to La Jolla next week to photograph brown pelicans but we would also like to expand our options to include some other wildlife along the coast. We will be staying at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve where there are a number of ponds with a nice mixture of ducks, herons and egrets but we would like to go to some other spots along the coast where we might encounter some additional birds, mammals or different backgrounds. Our plans are that we will then head up the coast and possibly go as far north as Morro Bay.
Any of you that have visited that region, spend the winters there or live in the area that might have any suggestions as to where to photograph and/or RV parks to stay at along the coast, those ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your ideas.

[Baja_Man]

Although not along the coast, Blue-Footed Boobies were at Lake Skinner about a month ago. The lake is in the Temecula area.

[Two_Hands]

Continue north on SR 1 from Morro Bay to see the elephant seals just north of San Simeon. Cambria has a very nice boardwalk that winds along the beach and has great views of the wildlife. Have a great trip.

[rmasonschneider]

i just got back from pismo and morro bay over the weekend.
I think your best bet for capturing pics of of wildlife around here will be in the following places in the order from where you'll be starting up to morro bay.
-Bolsa Chica ecological preserve, decent size and not too many people.
-Seal Beach national wildlife refuge, large, parking is not the best over weekends but nice.
-Jalama Beach county park, there's a stream that exits to the ocean next to the park.
-Morro Bay, as you're probably aware has their own estuary. Very peaceful place.

Hope that helps.

[navegator]

Santee lakes has racoons that come at night and if you have a cooler and forget it out side, they will make sure that you have an empty cooler in the morning, there is a feemale duck that will come up to you and eat out of your hand, purchase the bag of feed at the office and then have fun with the ducks.

You might be able to catch some of the migrating whales of the coast and some of the dolfins, you might even catch a nuclear sub from Point Loma, there is an over look at the Military Cementery at Fort Rosecrans, (Point Loma) that has a view of the Pacific and if you have a good telephoto on a tripod you might catch the whales.

navegator

[Sloop_Smitten]

Check out Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad and Guajome County Park in Oceanside. Oceanside Harbor is also a good place for wildlife viewing and dry camping. Camping is also avaialble at Guajome.

Batiquitos Lagoon
Guajome County Park
Oceanside Harbor
Ocenaside Harbor Camping