Field Notes

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36°36'34.0"N 121°53'45.3"W

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On being no one.

 

It was nearly impossible to breathe in the thick, musky, and sour-fecal smelling air while looking over the temporary chain-link fence. Though none of the beachgoers seemed to be bothered. Many of the visiting sealions slept peacefully, others barked and swayed drunkenly, a few fought over coveted concrete steps or jagged rocks, and eventually some lurched across bodies in a seemingly desperate attempt to return to the sea. ​This is sealion spring-break, a visit through the nutrient rich waters off the Monterey Peninsula at this particular strip of sand. Thousands of individuals, relaxing, gossiping, swimming, sharing, flirting, reuniting, and dying.

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Doing exactly what I was doing on the other side of the temporary chain-link fence.