'The Boatyard' (Moss Landing California)

Tourists are often famlliarwith historic Monterey, CA and its southern neighbors , the posh gated community of the gorgeous and exclusive 17-mile-drive ,and just south,, the quaint,charming town of Carmel. All photos are copyright their EXIF embedded dates and also date of posting through and beyond Dec. 19, 2019. The black and whtie image of pelicans and sea otters is available as a fine art photo print, in a collection of 15 throuh my gallery, Saatchiiart.com which has this image posted. It also is available in color. Prices are according to size for unsigned prints in the 'general edition' and signed collecgtor edition prints are at the price indicated 0on the site, Saatchiart.com -- search for images of John Crosley, over 130 of them. One of California's treasures , ls just a little north of Monterey at Moss Landing,CA., a small, quaint, hjistoric town that once harbored a huge fleet of fishing boats but has more lately become a harbor devoted mostly to pleasure boats now that the Pacific fishery is so depleted and when allowed seasons are too truncated. There is a substantial small boat boatyard there, for hired or personal boat repairs and sometimes extensive marine vessel work. I The boat yard is about the gateway to the historic harbor at Moss Landing. adjacent, and the channel through two jettys to the Pacific nearby provides ocean entry to a little known but important ecological gtreasure known as the Elkk Horn Slough nature preserve, a diverse, important and protective sea critter and bird rookery that is a feeding ground for birds omn the Pacific flyway headed for Central and South America, and provides oideal, protective place for laying and hatching avian eggs and raising young birds. Fertile, shallow waters providee ideal growth for microscopic marine orbanisms al the way up the marine food chain to the otters and birds that feed off lesser developed organisms. Elk Horn Slough, at the long-ago mouth of the Salinas, River wa dammed up ages ago, and now the 100 plus mile drainage of southern Monterey County fields is through a new river mouth some distance south, leaving thjis older entrance a slough amnd a great rookery. Once threate4enehd wit being filled in to create new, fertile farmland, the land was rescued by a Silicon Valley founding family's trust and placed permanently into status as a wildlife sanctuary and rookery, that is barred to power boats except by permit. Access is to the slough is by by kayak, rented there, and by a firm that daily holds ecological tours narrated b y a resident naturalist which daily carries inits shallow water boat loads of tourists and nature enthusiasts. Ages ago this was where the 100-miles drainage of southern Monterey County emptied into the frigid Pacific Ocean. Long priot to that the long prehistoric Salinas river emptied the entire west from the Rokies to the Pacific, that helped generate a huge submarine trench off the Monterey County coast, that is deeper below the sea floor than the Grand Canhyon is to nearby land. That now bypassed channel with its ocean entrance became a tidal slough, teeming with marine life which feeds adult animals and nourishes their young while its isolationo protecgts them all from predators. See the story accompanying this 'fine art' image for sale on Saatchiart.com Both this image and both captions/stories here =and on Saatchiart.com are copyright, John Crosley, Crosley Trust, all rights reserved. Situated next to farmland and the small marine harbor town of Moss Landing, Elk Horn Slough is relatively little known to the public which unknowingly often passes over it on a high bridge on Highway 1, that takes them to Monterey; the gated, exclusive, famed and beautiful 17-mile drive with its golf courses and mansions, and then farther south to the quaint,charming seaside town of Carmel. and south of all, Pt. Lobos a place of photographikc fame that was home to Edward Weston, famed large format photographer and his clan of Weston family photographers well known for their artful, large format photographs. Pt. Lobos neaby also has been home to Ansel Adams / This wildlife is on what now is a nature preserve, set aside for public use as an ecological and wildlife rookery for the entire future, rescued by foreward thinking electronic manufacturers' family foundation to keep it from being filled in and turned to farmland. It is an ideal bird rookery both providing food for birds migrating farther south and a place for marine birds to raise their young. and the same for marine mammals such as sea otter and harbor seals, all which can be spotted there in large numbers, after once facing extinction, but now flourishing in legal protection for sea mammals. Nearby a short distance from harbor jetties that protect the small harbor from ocean turbulence lies the sleepy but now burgeoning and suddenly chi chi marine town of Moss Landing. In addition to a landmark power plant at highway's side, Moss Landing provides large anchorage for pleasure, fishing, and commercial boats, and a landmark boat yard. In that boatyard professional boat repair persons work alongside boat owners in the seemingly never-ending maintenance and repair of their craft, in all aspects, stem to stern. Sometimes grizzled and often sunburned men toil over splintered peeling or blistered hulls, latrines that do not function, engines and sails that need maintenance, repair internally and topside. including occasional full restoration of aging vessels that can take years. Elk Horn slough, once rated among the top ten must-see places in California by Arthur Frommer guidebooks is just next to to the anchorage, berths and boat yard at Moss Landing harbor where sometimes grizzled and often sunburned fishermen, boat owners and its own workers toil over small to very large sail and power boats that need seemingly endless maintenance and repair. Tidal, slightly brackish and fairly shallow Elk Horn Slough is an ideal rookery for vast varieties of marine birds, a vital stopover where northern birds can pause and eat before continuing their migration to points south including Mexico and even farther where they can feed in winter and it's a place where seabirds can lay their eggs and nurture their young. Local marine birds often live year round here in the mild California climate, while other species choose it for nesting, as it provides good protection from predators and abundant food from plants and critters which teem in its fertile, protected waters. These photos are from the boatyard at Moss Landing. Text and photos, copyright 1994-2018,J John Crosley/Crosley Trust, all rights reserved. No reproduction,rewriting or other use of these photos and/or text is permitted except with express prior written permission of copyright holder.