We went whale watching yesterday. Not only did we get to see lots of sea mammals, we got to see lots of coast. By-and-large it’s very different from the East Coast.
From Florida to Southern Maine beaches are mainly the extension of a flat coastal plain. Not here. Because the West Coast is on a tectonic subduction zone, many spots have cliffs right down to the water’s edge.
That has led to terracing. Row-upon-row of homes get ocean views because they’re built into hillsides.
If we had snow or got ‘the big one’ this would be a major problem. Right now homeowners try not to think about it and spectacular views win the day.
Great pictures! Many thanks. Reuben
As a lover of seacoast – and having spent four decades traveling the three coasts of America, I too was shocked at the intensity of development in many areas.
California actually seems to have it worse than much of the East Coast and Gulf Coast (except Texas maybe) due to topography. With the exception of a few cities (Boston, NYC, VA Beach, and Miami), most of the development of the East Coast is located landward of the tidal basins (because it’s difficult to build in marsh and wetlands, of course). This has led to vast unoccupied wild areas on the East Coast like Assateaege National Seashore, the Outer Banks, the South Carolina islands, Cape Canerval (FL)…etc. where nothing but hundreds of miles of unbroken beaches, dunes, and marsh are. In Southern California, which is a much higher energy coast and has much fewer marshes and wetland environments might be rugged – but it’s buildable. This seems to have led to intense development and now after 75 years of growth, the California coast from Santa Barbara south to Mexico is likely the most intensely developed coastline in the entire USA.