Elephant Seal Rookery

Towards the end of Highway 1 we came across Piedras Blancas Northern Elephant Seal Rookery. The rookery is 4 miles north of Hearst Castle on California Highway 1.

Basically a stretch of 7 miles of protected beach, no access for humans but you can get really close, viewing them from a coastal boardwalk where you are just a couple metres away from them. Elephant seals started coming to Piedras Blancas Rookery in 1990 and now about 25,000 of the estimated total population of 250,000 use the beaches to breed and give birth.

The males are unbelievably large (measuring up to 5m and weighing up to 2,300kgs) and make an absolute racket – especially at this time of year (mating season). Females are quite petite at only 4m and 800kgs. Pups are 30-35kgs at birth – a tad more than us humans 🙂

Some pics and videos of our visit below – or you can check into the 24-hour live elephant-seal cam.