Otter Fever! This morning was particularly chilly, and Allison, Marjorie, Eriko and Anna were on the otter team. After observing playing otters and the morning raft from the restaurant deck for over two hours, we were all shivering. It was time to take a short break and head for some hot drinks in Moss Landing. En route, Anna saw a lone otter out of the corner of her eye, and quickly pulled on to the side of the road, right after the Whole Enchilada restaurant. This docking area, Area 6, is very shallow and close to Moss Landing road. Lo and behold, there was a single elderly female, resting. Allison and Eriko started a focal observation while Marjorie and Anna continued on foot to the Haute Enchilada to purchase the hot drinks for the crew. Upon our return, Allison reported that our female otter appeared to be doing sit-ups/crunches in the water; rocking back and forth, while we were gone. After more rest, she began these maneuvers again and we recorded some video on Anna's camera. This appeared to be a travel movement for her. After some more resting and slow grooming, a woman and a small boy walked by our observation point and the child asked the woman about the otter. The woman replied that they see the otter there every day. Having eaves-dropped on this conversation, Marjorie told Anna who promptly stopped the woman walking by. The woman in the purple shirt reported that she frequenly observes this very otter as well as up to three young otters in the area. She said that this older one was "very sweet." As we were conversing, the otter had been rocking her way towards the stones on the shore. She rolled onto her stomach and eased up onto the stones!! Then she began nosing around the stones, and the woman said, "she must be looking for a crab." After the woman and boy departed, we continued to observe the female otter that, by this time, Allison had nicknamed Ophelia, due to her rocking travel movements. We observed Ophelia grooming herself as well as resting on the rocks.
Occasionally she would look up for noises such as some children standing above her on the bank, cars passing by and Anna crunching her plastic lunch bag (oops!). She also would scratch the back of her head on the rocks every so often. After sunbathing for a while (although there was no sun...) she rolled back off the rocks into the water.
We were suprised that she never used her hind quarters to help her into the water, perhaps a little lame in the back. However, we did observer her grooming herself with her back flippers. After a little more time resting, she mosied on past the boats and out of sight.

Marjorie and Anna