Wednesday, July 23. A sunny morning -- unusual in Carmel -- at Carmel Beach. This is the North Dunes habitat restoration area, with a few in-bloom native beach flowers.

Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia (beach evening primrose).

Abronia latifolia (yellow sand verbena).

Abronia umbellata (pink sand verbena).

Carmel Beach.

Across the way lies the Pebble Beach Golf Course.

A wider view of Pebble Beach.

Now over to Pt. Lobos. Like last year, I spent time over at Bird Island. Unlike last year, it's sunny.

Dudleya farinacea (sea lettuce) ... probably. D. caespitosa (sand lettuce) or an intergrade is possible too.

Coming up on Bird Island. It's full, as usual, of Brandt's cormorants. There are more birds to the right of this picture ...

Hard to get a decent picture of the whole scene.

Some of the cormorants were nesting.

Scattered seagulls too.

Ramalina menziesii (lace lichen or Spanish moss). I concluded my hike on the well-named Lace Lichen Trail.