Davenport to Marina-47m

Last night I was placed in a very difficult position when confronted with this dilemma on the menu:

With encouragement from Geoff that I was in a room by myself, I went for it!

And they were magnificent!!!

So, with my wind powered turbo boosters on I was able to blast my way to scenic Santa Cruz this morning!

A leafy green town with many tempting flea markets, which I resisted, focusing on my map reading.

It was nice when a group of school children were encouraged to cheer in unison by their teacher "awesome job rider!"

I realised I was in danger of de-skilling myself so forged on with the maps solo. It was absolutely fine. I take back my chastisement of the maps. They're only trash in the rain, I mean rubbish.

Today had a strawberry theme. The aroma from the fields was amazing and the cravings grew and grew, like the heat of the day.

After my first strawberry smoothie stop I nearly missed these guys, except luckily they called out to me!

As did these thistley vegetables:

Oooh I love artichokes, nyum nyum nyum!

I pedalled on, aware how hot and exposed it was out there in amongst the fields. Great for the lizards, who were scurrying about today, evading my lens.

The bike path towards the end today was pretty much a road, separate from the road! Fantastic. What really made it, just when I was saying please let me see a snake (Mike has seen three now!) this cheeky chops popped up:

He was like a beige squirrel! Very exciting!

On arriving at Marina I had a strawberry feast:

They were as strawberryish as they could possibly be. We may be finding the Californian sun quite a challenge but berries love it!

After a walk and nearly falling asleep, Steve informed us of nearby whales and dolphins on the beach. Sleep can wait! So I cycled down to see with orange Mike (who is now on 9 punctures). I've never seem dolphins before and that was a lovely sight, albeit a tricky one to spot. 

Fins and squirts were plentiful but too far to see the details of their creators really.

Perhaps tomorrow will bring a boat trip as it's pretty much a rest day, before a BIG day on the rock. Batten down the hatches spots of bother!