Today’s newsletter is presented by Emiliano’s Mexican Restaurant.
Hello, Navajo and College Area!
Newsflash: San Carlos and the Navajo area gets hot.
The past few weeks, going from Times of San Diego headquarters in downtown/south Bankers Hill home to San Carlos is like coming out of the ocean and right into a sauna.
Luckily, the ocean is a straight shot down the 52. In recent weeks, after years of gentle (ok, not so gentle) prodding my two kids have officially become surfers and are paddling, or at least attempting to paddle out to the lineup with their old (nearing ancient) man.
Last Thursday, the whole family hopped in the car and headed to Scripps for an evening session.
The waves were a bit too big for the youngest to paddle all the way out so he stayed on the inside. On his last wave of the day, I looked from my board and saw my wife run towards him. I saw him grab his foot on the sand and knew right away what happened: He got hit by a stingray.
Most surfers have been hit before. I still have a barb lodged in my foot that doctors decided to leave inside. But, I wasn’t 10 years old when I got nailed.
The little dude handled it pretty well. With the help of a little near-scalding hot water, my son got through the pain.
Shockingly enough, the weekend came and the kids wanted to surf. I feared the stingray officially ended my father/sons surfing excursions.
We returned to Scripps for another session. My older son got caught in the current and took him pretty far north from the pier. I paddled in while he and his buddy were on the sand. They said there were a bunch of stingrays where they were at. They weren’t lying.
About 100 yards or so north of Scripps Pier, there were dozens of stingrays, all huddled together. In my 39 years of surfing, I have seen some crazy stuff. A few sharks in Florida, dolphins, sea turtles, an armada of Portuguese man o’ war, but the squad of stingrays at Scripps may top the list.
Stingrays are nothing new to Scripps and our beaches, especially the sandy beaches like Scripps, but I have never seen dozens in such a small area before.
We saw three people in the thralls of stingray pain that day.
Long story long, if you’re searching for relief from the heat and hit the beach, be on the lookout. Shuffle your feet. The stingrays are out.
Dorian Hargrove
Mission Times newsletter host
Navajo, College Area story spotlight
Poinsettia Bowl, last played in 2016, returns to San Diego in December
By Noah Perkins • Special to Times of San Diego
The Poinsettia Bowl was discontinued after 2016 following a 12-year run as an NCAA-sanctioned bowl.
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