California & Las Vegas Road Trip Aug/Sep 15! Day 7 - Whale Watching & Driving the PCH

[Lolly90]

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Thursday 3rd September 2015

Up around 7:00 today and had Poptarts and a coffee, from the Keurig coffee maker in the room, for breakfast. The coffee wasn’t that great, but it was still a handy machine to have. We decided to check out now, as we weren’t 100% sure what time we would be back. We decided to leave our luggage at reception, rather than in the car.

We left at 8:00 and took a lovely stroll down to the wharf area, heading for our whale watching tour. It was warm and sunny today but I had my jacket on expecting it to get cold on the boat. I really liked this area, it was a real shame we didn’t have more time to explore.

We got to Princess Monterey and had to wait a few moments before boarding the boat. It was while before the boat actually left and we were sitting with the sun directly on us Anyway, the boat left just after 9:00. It took just under an hour before we found any whales; thankfully the sea was relatively calm and once the boat was on the move we were getting a good breeze.

We reached a spot where the tours had been going for the past couple of days, which was a great feeding ground apparently. Well it certainly was; we saw so many Humpback Whales and some of them got quite close too, which was amazing. We also saw a few Common Dolphins and Otters.

There were some kayakers out there too; they got a little too close to the Whales for me.

We stayed watching the whales for about 50 mins before heading back. Overall, it was a really great experience; we were very lucky to see so many whales. I’d definitely recommend Princess Monterey, the boats are a good size and the staff are really friendly. Our only issue was that the whales were all situated on the left hand side of the boat, so at first there was a bit of shoving to try and get to the front to see them. It would have been better if the boat could have circled the area a little.

We arrived back to the wharf at 12:00 and headed back towards the hotel. We stopped at Starbuck’s on the way and also made another stop at Ike’s This time we just got one sandwich to share, which was the Stephen Jenkins. This was turkey, provolone and pesto and cost $10. It was still tasty but we both preferred the ones we went for in San Francisco.

We got our luggage and some petrol, before leaving Monterey at about 13:00. We started heading down the Pacific Coast Highway and pulled into a stop pretty soon to eat our sandwich and enjoy the beautiful views.

We certainly pulled over a lot on this drive, not wanting to miss anything and we really wanted to take our time.

Our first major stop was Bixby Bridge. It was really busy here, so we had to park across the road. We stopped for a little while and got some great photos. We continued a little and stopped for some views back of the bridge and coast line.

Our next stop was just after Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, for McWay Falls. The beach and waterfall are so beautiful, definitely my favourite part of the drive.

We finally reached Elephant Seal Beach at 17:00, another stop that was really busy. We watched them for a while, there wasn't a lot of movement from them apart from covering themselves with the sand, keeping cool

We arrived in Pismo Beach at 18:30 and checked into our hotel, The Sandcastle Inn. This was my favourite hotel of the trip, I loved the design of the room and we had a lovely view of the beach and pier.

We relaxed on the balcony for a while and watched the sunset. I was really glad we made it in time to watch.

After this we got ready and headed out for dinner. We walked along the decking that follows the beach and then arrived at Giuseppe's Italian 10 mins later. It was really busy here, so we got told there was a 25 min wait for a table. We decided to sit near the bar and get a drink each. Total $16.00.

We had literally just sat down when we were told our table was ready, which was good They brought us some bread and an amazing dip. It was olive oil, balsamic vinegar, galic and cheese, so tasty. For mains, Mark had spaghetti and meatballs and I had Rigatoni with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes. We both really enjoyed this meal, would highly recommend it.

I really wanted to get a dessert but I was too full again So we paid $37.80 plus tip and took a slow walk back to the hotel and called it a night.

Next: Day 8 - Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara & Malibu

[abiknox]

Great day again, seems you had better luck than us with the whales

Fab that you had another Ikes and your hotel in Pismo looks great, isnt the sunset there incredible!?

[anji]

Great day! We did the Princess trip too - just brilliant and would love to do it again. Your Pismo hotel looks wonderful.

[Enchanted]

Absolutely beautiful photos - I must admit I think I prefer the look of the beach views to Yosemite. Food looks lovely too

[lovedisney89]

Your whale watching trip looked amazing! Great sunset photos too

[catlady]

I am really enjoying your trip report and was just looking at the Sandcastle Inn for our trip next summer, glad you liked it

[MissB87]

What a great day. Those views!

[georgemac]

You did the PCH highway correctly - stopping many times along the route and having sandwich and snacks with you - that's what we should have done.

We stayed in Seaventure in Pismo - but as soon as I saw the sandcastle hotel thought it looked really amazing. We loved Pismo.

[Lolly90]

Originally Posted by abiknox

Great day again, seems you had better luck than us with the whales

Fab that you had another Ikes and your hotel in Pismo looks great, isnt the sunset there incredible!?

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It really is down to luck what you get to see, we were there at a good time thankfully

I was very happy to make it for the beautiful sunset, after your recommendation

Originally Posted by anji

Great day! We did the Princess trip too - just brilliant and would love to do it again. Your Pismo hotel looks wonderful.

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That's so good you done the trip too, fantastic experience!

Originally Posted by Enchanted

Absolutely beautiful photos - I must admit I think I prefer the look of the beach views to Yosemite. Food looks lovely too

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The highway along the coast is so beautiful. Not sure I could choose which views I preferred

Originally Posted by lovedisney89

Your whale watching trip looked amazing! Great sunset photos too

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It was, we were so lucky with how many whales we saw

Originally Posted by catlady

I am really enjoying your trip report and was just looking at the Sandcastle Inn for our trip next summer, glad you liked it

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Thank you It was my favourite hotel, would definitely recommend it!

Originally Posted by MissB87

What a great day. Those views!

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Amazing views, aren't they!?

Originally Posted by georgemac

You did the PCH highway correctly - stopping many times along the route and having sandwich and snacks with you - that's what we should have done.

We stayed in Seaventure in Pismo - but as soon as I saw the sandcastle hotel thought it looked really amazing. We loved Pismo.

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That's the thing I would recommend most to others, is to stop as many times as possible. Especially for the driver, they may miss things otherwise

We looked at Seaventure too, both are in great locations!

[Ariel's Mum]

What a fab whale watching trip. I REALLY want to do that. Off to read more