Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 39.

The Bicycle Ride From Downtown San Diego to La Jolla.

La Jolla is a resort, 13 miles or 20 km north along the coast from downtown San Diego. It could be reached by taking the non-motorised cycleway through Mission Beach, a strip of smooth sandy beach sloping gently into the Pacific Ocean. On the approach to the resort, the coast becomes rocky, featuring sandstone cliffs interspersed with cave systems. One of them is the more famous Sunny Jim's Cave, where the mouth of the cave, as viewed from the inside, resembles a human head and neck, and is attributed to the cartoon image of Sunny Jim, an American breakfast cereal packet image. However, the outline of the chin and the slope of the neck were an effect created by the position of a rocky ledge just inside the cave entrance.

Cereal box bearing Sunny Jim's image.

At La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya), I found a general store which houses the upper entrance to the cave. The passageway looked more like a mine tunnel than a natural formation, with steps leading to a lookout just inside the cave mouth. 

Strange as it seemed, at first, I didn't liken the shape of the cave to a human head until I looked at the photos afterwards, when I arrived back home. Instead, I was more concentrated on taking a photo just at the right moment, when a boat happened to sail past. I did manage to get a boat within the head, but it was far away, stationary, and not even in the centre of the viewpoint. Perhaps I could reassure myself that had I worked for a travel magazine as a pro, my employers might not have been impressed with my efforts!

La Jolla Cove is exactly what its name suggests, a small, sheltered bay facing north rather than west towards the ocean. Most of the bathers were snorkellers rather than swimmers, and I kept an eye out for a snorkel hire kiosk or a similar place, but I didn't find anywhere to rent a snorkel, so I simply swam instead.

Actually, I was a bit bothered. I was curious about what lies beneath the surface, but I found comfort in the memories of the corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef, and how I had the freedom to snorkel and take underwater photos—adding a new dimension to one of my hobbies. As for the swim itself, I made the most of it and cooled off in the warm sunshine.

The Journey to Santa Barbara via Los Angeles.

Eventually, it was time for me to leave San Diego and travel north. This time, I didn't hold a Greyhound Bus Ameripass go-as-you-please ticket like I did in the seventies and in 1995. However, I also held an "Austrapass" ticket that validated every leg of the bus journey from Cairns to Sydney. But this time, I had to buy a single ticket from San Diego to Santa Barbara. The first leg of the journey ended at the Los Angeles Greyhound Terminal. This station saw the end of long journeys from as far as New York and perhaps Miami. It was at the Los Angeles Bus Station that I had to wait for up to a couple of hours before the connecting bus to San Francisco pulled out, with a service stop scheduled at Santa Barbara.

After arriving in Santa Barbara, the hostel I was meant to stay in had shut down permanently. Leaving me wondering along State Street with a rucksack hanging from my shoulders. It took a while - around a couple of hours - to be directed to a Banana Bungalow hostel housed in a disused military hangar in East Ortega Street, two blocks away from State Street, the city's main shopping thoroughfare. The hangar is still there to this day, but the hostel has long closed, and the hangar was taken over by a superstore. At present (2025), according to Google Maps, the site is now a knacker's yard for towed vehicles.

I must have looked worn out and tired as I walked into the reception with a heavy rucksack on my back. The receptionist, one of the hostel's owners, began in an apologetic tone to say that all the beds were taken. Seeing my face drop like a heavy stone, he laughed and offered me a choice. I could bed down among others on the hangar's floor for a very cheap price per night, or pay more for a proper bed in a side room dormitory. I chose the latter. This is the advantage these hostels have over the official HI ones, thus posing serious competition. When an AYH hostel is full, anyone without a reservation is turned away. That happened in Katoomba, NSW, when a YHA-affiliated hostel turned me away even after I made a booking to make way for a group of students. With this hostel, every effort was made to take in as many as possible. After all, each customer means money.

After I had settled in, I checked out the city, its wide sandy beach and its pier. State Street, the city's main thoroughfare, had a Spanish feel about it and rivalled San Diego in its combined architectural beauty and its abundance of palm trees. Between the city centre and the beach, a railroad track crossed the street on the same level, and I passed the station with an Amtrak train docked in its sidings. 

Backing the city was a mountain range, part of the Los Padres National Forest. This range of mountains presented a background view from the beach. Next week, I will post photos I took of the mountain hike up Rattlesnake Canyon, to be rewarded with magnificent views of the city and coastline seen from the summit.

Click here for the link to the Index for the main Biography, Weeks 101-104, which covers the Santa Barbara stop.

Photos of La Jolla with its Sunny Jim Cave.

La Jolla Town.

Looking across La Jolla Cove.

The cliffs of La Jolla.

Coastal views north of the Cove.

The mine-like tunnel to Sunny Jim's Cave.

Sunny Jim's cave profile.

At the Cove.

The rocky Californian coast.

Clifftop view of another cave in the area.

Facing south along the coast, La Jolla.

Sunbathing on the rocks.

Sandstone cliffs with caves.

I walk along the clifftops.

I pause here as I return to San Diego.

Photos of Santa Barbara.

This Amtrak train is at Santa Barbara Station.

Spanish restaurant plaza, State Street.

The same place as seen from a viewing balcony.

Spanish architecture, downtown Santa Barbara.

State Street shopping mall.

Palm trees line State Street.

Arrival at the Esplanade.

Santa Barbara pleasure pier and aquarium.

At the pierhead.

The mountains of Los Padres back the coast.

Beachside art show, Santa Barbara.

Pierhead views.

The Marina.

A low tide sandspit is exposed.

Pelican on the Pier.

Rattlesnake Canyon - the mountain Hike.

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Next Week: the Mountain hike in full, and my arrival in San Luis Obispo.