Wandering around the West Coast - Day 8 – Travelling to Monterey, Whale Watching, PCH to Big Sur

[jocat]

Index is here.

Day 8 – Tuesday 1st August 2017

We woke just before the alarm at about 7:50 am, got ready and packed, then checked out just after 9am. Breakfast would have to come later as we needed to be in Monterey by lunchtime, due to booking a whale watching trip for the afternoon. I made sure I took my travel sickness tablets whilst on the journey, as I felt sure I'd need them later. I noticed that the temperature as we left Cambria was just 60 degrees.

We headed inland towards the 101 road, and programmed into the satnav a stop at Walmart in Paso Robles. There were a few things we wanted to pick up, namely some dry biscuits for me to help with any potential queasiness while whale watching, some breakfast for us both and some wine to take to Yosemite. About half way to Paso Robles, we noticed that the temperature had already increased to 85 degrees - the change in heat is unbelievable, just by going 20 minutes inland.

We arrived at Walmart and picked up some bits. There wasn't a bakery section, so breakfast consisted of a berry flavoured nutrigrain bar for me, along with the last bit of a cinnamon roll that Martin had bought himself yesterday as we passed a bakery – unfortunately that was all they’d got left at that time in the afternoon, or we’d have picked something else up for breakfast to save worrying about it this morning.

Back on the road, and my Stugeron kicked in, meaning I slept for most of your journey. I did wake as we passed through Spreckles, which seemed up be a very cute little farming town, about 15 minutes outside of Monterey.

We arrived at the Hotel Abrego just before 12:30 pm and luckily there was a room ready for us, so we checked in, left our luggage in our room, then set off towards Moss Landing for our trip with Sanctuary Cruises.

We arrived there at 1:15 pm and put extra layers on. We sorted out the payment for the parking permit and waited at dock A for our skipper to arrive.

We'd purposely booked a Whale Watching trip with Sanctuary because I read that they hire out electronic motion sickness bands. I wanted to do everything I could to make sure our outing was not spoilt by me vomiting. We had a safety talk, I paid my $7 for the band, then we boarded the boat just before 2pm.

We had to travel about 45 minutes before we saw the whales, but then see them we did. None of them did a full breach, but we saw plenty of them just above the surface of the water and flicking their tales. There must have been about 15 or so in all, and spotting them was made easier by the sea lions right by them. I tried to stand by the railing at the side of the boat, but there was quite a lot of movement, so I made the decision to stay sitting in the middle. This means though that a lot of our photos have other people’s elbows, arms or heads in them.

We stayed close to them for about an hour, before heading back to Moss Landing. Although at times I still felt queasy, I was really glad we'd done it to see whales in their natural environment. I did have to nibble on a couple of ginger biscuits on the boat though. I could also have done with an extra layer to wear, as the wind was so cold out at sea. One child got soaked by a rogue wave, and they really felt the cold then! Luckily his mum had got an extra hoody, so at least they had something dry to put on.

We were back in the car for 4:45 pm and on the road back to Monterey.

We drove through Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row, before heading back to Highway 1 and heading south. It was sunny in Monterey so we made the decision to go as far south as Big Sur in case of cloud and fog tomorrow. We hadn't gone very far when we spotted the first of the fog.

We stopped a couple of times, although not for long as it had turned cold. We managed to get some photos at Bixby Bridge, although again it was quite foggy.

We reached the road closure at Big Sur, then turned around and decided to stop at Big Sur River Inn for dinner as we were starving - it was 7pm by now. We really need to rectify this missing a meal thing that we seem to keep doing!

We sat at an outside table with a view of the trees and both ordered a burger - we both felt the need for something substantial to eat. I didn't quite finish mine though. We left $60 inclusive of a generous tip - the waitress was on her own serving us all and worked her socks off.

We made a couple of stops on the way back to Monterey, to watch the sunset and to take a photo of the Bixby Bridge from the other side of the road. It wasn't foggy by the bridge at this time, but was still foggy by the ocean.

We made it back to the hotel by 9ish, opened the cases and did not do much more. Hopefully tomorrow would be a bit more relaxing!

[Melbatb]

How lucky to see so many whales - I am glad you didn't feel so queasy!

Again - fab photos. The one with the very black road looks like it could be a road in Yorkshire (or is that just me )

[tocpe321]

Glad you got to see the whales and worked through feeling poorly.

Like the photos of PCH especially Bixby Bridge. We ran out of time to see it.

[LLKJDisney]

Another great read... lovely photos of the wildlife too

[Pussycat Doll]

Great whale photos, you're braver than me, I don't do boats! Fabulous photos including the Bixby bridge one, I have the exact same photo as I suspect lots of people do! More lovely food!

[WileyCoyote]

The whale watching looks incredible. Well worth the drive , even with hungry tummies! Love the pics along the PCH, even the weird fog ! Glad you got a substantial dinner . You must have been shattered by the time you got back.

[Animagus]

The whale watching looks wonderful. Would love to do that! Glad your sickness didn't spoil the experience.

[Jake71]

Amazing to see the whales, but I just couldn’t go out to sea, boat phobia! Great photos.

[summersun]

great day and fab pics x

[mrmoo123]

Wow the Whale watching looks fantastic and that fog! Simply breath taking to see it like that.