No. I love Halloween because at this time of the year AMC and TCM will be holding their “fright fests,” and I can overdose on tacky monster movies. One afternoon I saw the end of Godzilla,
King of the Monsters! starring a young Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). One morning’s offering was The Devil-Doll (A Devil's Island escapee shrinks murderous slaves and sells them to his victims as dolls.)And who can forget the classic It Came From Beneath the Sea where
a giant octopus, whose feeding habits have been affected by radiation from H-Bomb tests, rises from the Mindanao Deep to terrorize the California Coast. The monster makes its way into San Francisco Bay, attacks the Ferry Building, and is finally killed while trying to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge.So still under the influence of Halloween overload, our recent trip to La Jolla (CA) seemed to be a sequel to It Came From Beneath the Sea (Can a movie fifty-six years later be called a sequel?)--They Went Back Into the Sea.
There was an unusual calm, a different smell to the ocean on this overcast day. Several scenes seemed to blend into the opening scenes of the imagined sequel.
Pigeons gathered as if appearing for a casting call for a remake of The Birds, but there seemed to be an uneasy calm to their wait. Almost oblivious of our presence.
A lone figure offshore may have been a stand up paddle boarder--or.... was he watching for something?
Was this small fishing boat simply one man's means of making a living or... was it waiting for someone?As we pondered the possible answers to these questions, we thought back to
the scene that greeted us as we walked toward the ocean. Atop this home was what appeared to be an abstract sculpture of a storm on the ocean, a bouquet of flowers, or a starburst.But after getting a closer view, we realized this sculpture was composed
of small boats, kayaks, and canoes, appearing to have been washed ashore and piled in this formation. But by now nothing was what it appeared to be. Could this building be a type of mothership? Could the boats in the sculpture be the means by which the creatures in the imagined sequel travel between the depths of the sea and land.
As we walked along the shoreline, we saw this scene. Was this all that remained of the creatures' latest forays on land?
Little do these children know what dangers lurk beneath these murky depths.
What if these figures were not actual scuba divers, but, in fact, were beings who needed this type of breathing apparatus while on land and removed them when submerged...?At this point we had to take a break from the making of a low budget, black-and-white horror film to visit some adorable inhabitants of the Children's Pool--the sea lions.
Yes, sea lions have chosen the tiny cove protected by a concrete breakwater as their favorite spot to reside. It was once a swimming area for children until the seals and sea lions moved in.As stated on the webpage a-zsandiegobeaches.com/lajolla childrenspool: "We
strongly recommend visitors avoid entering the water at La Jolla Children's Pool (Casa Beach)."It's hard to imagine these playful creatures being the center of a controversy,
but such is the case at this beach just off Coast Boulevard. "There is an on-going controversy at La Jolla Children's Pool involving the presence of California Harbor Seals. ...(T)o local
San Diegan's this is a very emotional issue. The vast majority of locals and visitors would prefer the Children's Pool be reserved for the use of the seals. However, there is a small but vocal 
...group of divers and other ocean users that believe the Children's Pool should be for humans only--even if that means the loss of a small but important seal habitat."
During the time we were observing the sea lions, we made comments about the movie sequel. As we talked, we noticed that the sea lions seemed to be laughing at our ideas.
The concept of "creatures" ever wanting to leave the sea in the first place must have been humorous, if not unbelievable to these residents of the ocean.
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