Vacation Day 3: Monterey Bay

Monday: The phone rang with Anne's wake-up call and I opened my eyes. What was I doing up before six in the morning? Oh yeah, whales!

Breakfast in the lobby opened at 6:00 and Jordan and I were down there by 5:45. We had to be over at Fisherman's Wharf by 6:30 to check in at the Monterey Bay Whale Watch for our 7:00 trip. I had some delicious scrambled eggs, a few little sausages, a few strips of bacon (yum, bacon) and a glass of milk. I had my scarf, gloves, jacket and dramamine. I stuck a banana in my bag and I was ready to go.

On a 70-passenger boat, our group was only 17. Just the way I like it. No crowds. Other than the three of us was a couple from Majorca and a 12-member family group from Denmark (an older couple, their two sons, their wives and 6 various kids, I discovered as I chatted with one of the daughters-in-law).

Up top in the bridge was the captain, our guide and her two dogs and I think one other dude. Both the captain and the guide would talk to us over the PA system letting us know any wildlife they may spy as we headed out to where they thought the whales might be. Most of us congregated in the bow where the waves would shoot us up in the air and drop us down fast. Really, who needs a theme park ride?

We saw various sea birds and a sea otter and a bunch of sea lions who were lounging in the marina. And then the call came out, a spout had be sighted and we were headed that way. We slowed and waited and waited while the whales were doing their thing underwater. Soon we saw a spout and then another. There were two humpbacks a little ways out. We hung out while they dove (we saw tails!) and surfaced and dove again, about 4 or 5 times.

Then we set off in search of other whales. We were headed out into the ocean when we started speeding up. The guide said they had spotted a pod of dolphins and we were in hot pursuit. Well, the pursuit was hot but not hot enough. The dolphins were headed away from us as fast as they could go and we weren't going to be catching up in our little boat. I saw some splashes way up ahead but no dolphins. We had gone quite far quite fast so had quite a way to go to get back in our three hours so we headed back to the bay.

We spied our two humpbacks again on the way back but nothing else. We were well-satisfied though. In fact, before we found the whales, Anne and I had agreed that even if we saw nothing, we'd be happy just being out on the open water. It was like nothing else. I really must go again. And when I do, it'll be the early morning trip because when we got back to the dock there was quite a crowd waiting to take the 10:00 trip. I'd rather get up before 6:00 than share a small boat with a huge crowd.

We had waited to check out of the hotel until after getting back from our three-hour tour in case we wanted to shower off the sea spray so we went back to the room and showered and packed up and headed back to Cannery Row for lunch and exploring at the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Monterey Bay is an unusual area because of the deep sea canyon that lies beneath. The canyon is bigger than the Grand Canyon. It is one of the reasons that whale-watching trips are so successful as the whales can come relatively close to shore. The canyon is also why there is such a variety of sea life in the bay and why the aquarium was founded.

My favorite areas in the aquarium are: the kelp forest, the habitats of Monterey Bay, the anchovies and the outer bay. I could watch those tuna swim around for hours. Now another of my favorite areas is the fancy sit-down restaurant. Anne talked the hostess into squeezing us in right at lunchtime. I again ordered the halibut and loved it. And again we shared the crème brûlée. It was a trio of ginger, mocha and vanilla. Delicious!

We drove back through the rolling hills south of San Jose with a quick stop at the mission in San Juan Bautista. I had forgotten how beautiful that area is. Maybe I've never been through there when it was so green. But really when has it ever been so green out here?

We got home in time to throw together some tacos for dinner with the great handmade whole-wheat tortillas from Trader Joe's. A delicious end to an entirely delicious day.