Late March on the central California coast can bring anything from strong storms and waves to nearly calm conditions with balmy temperatures. During our short stay in the Monterey area this year, we saw mild weather with modest waves crashing on the rocks. And this year, there was an added visitor in the form of millions of "by-the-wind-sailor" creatures washing up on all the beaches.

These creatures are about 3-4 inches (7-10 cm) long and float on the surface with a translucent sail poking above the surface of the ocean. The creatures go by many names, such as sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella. They have tentacles that extend beneath their body to catch plankton as they float. Their closest living relative is the Portuguese man o' war. They have no means of locomotion and are at the mercy of the wind, with their small sail catching the wind to propel them where the wind may be.

This year, millions have been washed up on beaches throughout Central California. They are clearly visible in the image scattered along the beach and sitting on the rocks just above the high tide line.

On this particular day, I was trying longer exposures with an ND Filter to make the ocean surface as flat as possible. I used an 8-stop filter and a small aperture to increase the shutter time to 60 seconds. This longer shutter also caused the clouds to form into streaks, with their movement blurred. This image was captured several minutes after sunset, with the sky still glowing orange and yellow from the sunset.