Año Nuevo Island is a small island just off Point Año Nuevo along the San Mateo County coast. These place names come from the fact that the first European to see this bit of California, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno, first saw it on 3 January 1603. Of course, the native people of this area, the Quiroste Indians, knew about it for probably around 13,000 years!
I don’t usually make a big deal out of the new year. But I ran across this photo and thought it would be a good way to usher in 2024. I hope it is a good year for all of us!
Wishing you a very happy new year, Allison!
Ano Nuevo…..thanks for the Spanish lesson!
Learning something new everyday.
Happy New Year Allison!! Thanks for your post of Año Nuevo Island. When I started at UCSC in the early 1980s I spent 4 months studying the Elephant Seals that were fairly new (less than 7 years) to the mainland at that point). The first pup was born on the mainland in 1975, the males had been exploring since 1965. In those days, and now, I loved Bob Marley’s music – I had the rare pleasure of naming “my resident bull” in the area of my study site on the dunes very close to the mating/fighting action. Now it seems crazy, but I used a bottle of peroxide and wrote “Bob Marley” across the large left side of the enormous bull elephant seal!
Quite the time to remember – thanks Allison for brining it to my mind.
Happy New Year, Allison. Might have seen the island, we were at Franklin Point for a CNPS walk?! What a glorious day!