It will be an early departure from Cambria as we hope to arrive in Monterey by 12:30 at the latest. We've booked a 2 night stay at Hotel Abrego, and we've been in touch to request either an early check in, or at the very least that we can drop our luggage off - we've booked a Whale Watching trip at 2pm with Sanctuary Cruises at Moss Landing, so don't want to leave our luggage in our car while we do this.
Ideally we would have done the whale watching trip the next day, but they only have an 8am departure that day and we thought it might be a bit foggy and cold that early in the morning.
That leaves the next day free for visiting Carmel, 17 mile drive and going down the PCH as far as we can until the road is closed.