re: San Francisco Sea Serpent

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When it got within a few yards a long, black tubular object telescoped about ten feet straight up out of the water and then it lunged forward almost falling on top of the sea lions.They immediately began swimming away, leaping in and out of the water as they fled toward shore. The creature churned the water as it swam behind one of them moving so fast it was a blur, but we were able to see it creating vertical undulations which seemed to move down the length of the animal.

The creature followed close behind stirring up the water as it made a final attempt to procure a meal. Now only 25 yards away, an arch of the animal was exposed which looked like half a truck tire. It appeared black and slimy, yet at the same time it glistened in the early sunlight. The creature was swimming slightly below the surface almost parallel to the shore. As the animal swam parallel to the shore the head headandarch1.jpg was underwater followed by two exposed sections The water was very clear allowing a silhouette of the creature's head and snake-like neck to be observable. A short flat snout, eyebrow ridges and lots of neck could be seen. It must have been 30 feet of neck because we both thought a big snake had just swam by. We were expecting to see the end of the snake but instead of getting smaller it began to get much larger! [img]What we watched wasn't a big snake but something even more unbelievable. [/img]There was a loud crash and with a spray of water the creature seemed to stop dead in its tracks. The sea lion, apparently being familiar with the shoreline, had swum over a shelf of rocks bringing the beast into shallow water, only three feet deep. Instantaneously, a long black neck popped up, twisted backwards away from shore, then splashed as it hit the surface of the water and disappeared. We sat there trying to grasp the reality of what was happening. For a moment we were mesmerized as the creature was practically laying at our feet! The creature twisted clockwise like a corkscrew and exposed its midsection above water,giving us an excellent view of the underbelly, which was creamy white with a tint of yellow. It resembled an alligator's belly with a soft leathery look but was divided into many sections several feet wide. There was enough room to accommodate a human being inside it. The midsection had hexagonal scales which fit next to each other rather than overlapping. The largest scales appeared at the widest part of the midsection where the underbelly and side of the creature met, gradually reducing in size as they approached the top, front and end of the midsection. If the smallest scale was compared to a dime the largest scales were larger than a silver dollar. The midsection was about 20 feet long, black on top, and slowly changed from a mossy green to a grassy green and ultimately to a yellow-green as it approached the underbelly. There was a distinct line where the texture of the skin changed from the scales into the smooth, leathery underbelly. The animal rolled off the rocky ledge picture4d.jpg exposing a padded underbelly and lateral fins While it continued twisting another section six to nine feet long arched upward three feet above the water, as if pinched from both ends. Then the arch twisted away from us exposing a fan-like appendage that was attached to its side at the waterline. It looked like a flag flapping in the wind. It was triangular in shape with a serrated outer edge. Mossy green ribbing ran out from a single point attached to the side of the animal like the spokes in a wheel. A paper thin green membrane stretched between each rib which extended farther than the membrane, creating the serrated edge. The appendage was equilateral with each side several feet in length reminding us of a "dragon's wing" in miniature. Bob concentrated on the fin trying to remember as much detail as possible. He counted the number of ribs but stopped when he got to six since there were too many. All this time it hung open against the side of the animal . The fin unfolded like a fan fin.jpg and had many spikelike ribs creating a serrated edge! While Bob concentrated on the fan-like appendage, Bill looked at the rest of the animal and saw two appendages, one at the beginning and one at the end of the midsection. They looked like stabilizer fins as opposed to flippers for propulsion. The arch slowly sank beneath the water, settling on the rocks. With the sun rising behind us, the sunlight penetrated at least six feet through the clear water making the silhouette of the upper section of the creature's neck visible beneath the surface of the water. It had four coils tightly folded behind the head. After the animal rolled off the rocky ledge 4humps.jpg it resettled and created 4 archs behind its head The creature turned its head to the left and then to the right looking for the sea lion but by now it was a hundred yards away crawling onto the shore near Stone Tower point. Bob wanted to get closer to the creature while it was sitting under the water but when he opened the car door and began to get out Bill yelled at him to get back in the car. It was not worth the risk of being attacked to get a few feet closer. Realizing he was right, Bob got back in. Later, we would joke about Bill having to explain to the police that his brother was eaten by a sea serpent. The creature moved its neck with a whipping motion and the four coils traveled backwards in a packet down the length of the neck dissipating upon reaching the midsection. Instantly, it created another packet of four coils behind the head and again these were whipped backwards towards the midsection. This was repeated several more times until the creature began to pull itself off the rocks and into deeper water. The front of the animal arched through the water while at the same time the rear end slid across the rocks. It was like watching a freight train pulling out of a station. Each section had to wait for the section in front of it to move. The fins acted like a stabilizer as the animal headneckfins4.jpg pulled itself off the ledge like a freight train About this time we saw the outline of the head under the water. No details could be observed except a snake-like head with large jowls. When it began to swim towards the middle of the bay we thought we saw a ridge line along the top of the rear section of the animal. However, we never saw the tail. As it swam away at a leisurely pace, several arches could be seen undulating above the surface of the water. A few seconds later it slipped beneath the surface of the water. Since we never saw the tail end of the animal it is hard to estimate the total length but it had to be at least sixty feet and probably closer to a hundred feet.

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