by Julia Catherine Lee

Created on: January 06, 2009   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Half Moon Bay is a beautiful coastal town on the Pacific coast in San Mateo county, California..A young couple we met during our Baja sea voyage had talked much about the big waves at the challenging surf spot called the "Mavericks" at Half Moon Bay. There were many stories about the big waves and how they can be as high as 50 feet certain times of the year. Our two friends were avid surfers who had brought their surfboards with them on their sailboat as they explored the waters off Baja coast in Mexico. Naturally, their tales about this special coastal town piqued my interests.

I left San Jose where I was staying around eight in the morning, headed north on Highway 280 and took Highway 35 west. Highway 35 is also called the San Mateo Highway. It is scenic drive that traverses the Santa Cruz mountains. Needless to say, scenery along the way was magical with the Santa Cruz mountains still shrouded with the morning fog. The view was simply breathtaking. It was early December and along Route 35, I saw a dozen plant nurseries with yards full of Christmas trees for sale. Colorful Christmas ornaments and trinkets decked the front of each nursery. It was a very pretty sight.

After driving for 20 minutes, I arrived at the town of Half Moon Bay around 9am. The drive over the mountains had invigorated me..At the junction of San Mateo Highway and Cabrillo Highway (Highway 1), I turned right and headed north. Scenery on both sides of the rural road was quaint and soon the Pillor Point Harbor and its breakwater came into view. Pillor Point Harbor at Princeton-by-the-Sea is a popular destination for tourists and location for much of the town's fishing commerce. I took the exit for the harbor. Parking was free and plentiful at the pier. It was quiet and still very early on a weekday. I like the tranquility.

I was not disappointed as I was greeted by the beautiful scenery. Armed with my Canon 10D and Tamron 18-250 Di-II zoom lens, I spent a leisure morning walking on the beach, enjoying the sea breeze and watching the waves wash ashore. At the pier, fishermen were unloading their catch and seagulls waited patiently to get a piece of the action. There were many sailboats, salty fishing boats, trawlers, and deep sea fishing boats. It was still a wintry morning but the sun was breaking out of the morning clouds. A wooden sign at entrance to the harbor reads "Johnson Pier".

I did a lot of photography. The sea breeze felt really good and I told myself I must come back soon again. Having

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