Moss Landing - Blue Ocean Whale Watching Tour

We were up early and you could feel the excitement in the air.  We were going whale watching today. This is something that we really enjoy doing and we were thankful that the tour wasn't cancelled due to the really wavy conditions we had yesterday.

We arrived early at Moss Landing and enjoyed a coffee while waiting.  Before the tour started we were each given a few drops of White Flower oil to put behind our ears. This was supposed to help with sea sickness and since the ocean was so rough today, they recommended that we try it. I thought it worked great (it's good for motion sickness in cars - available via Amazon).

The water was pretty rough with large rolling swells.  It was hard to stand without holding onto the railing.  The boat wasn't really crowded which made things really nice and the tour guide was great offering lot's of information about the whales feeding and migration. I would say this was one of the best tours that we have taken.

We were only about 1000 meters off shore (just outside of the harbour) when we came upon a humpback whale feeding.  Wow, so close to shore.  We stayed for a while watching him go up and down before slowly heading out further. Our speed was slow and you could really feel the waves and swells going up and down.  Boats off in the distance would disappear between the swells.

First humpback sighting!!

While we were watching, we suddenly heard this loud sound just in front our our boat and two whales surfaced right by the bow.  With a loud blowing noise from the blow hole, the whale announced it's presence.  Wow was that ever exciting!!

We came upon other humpback whales as well.  Sadly none of them breached but it was still exciting to watch. Our guide then took us a little further out and to our surprise and excitement we came upon a pod of pack ice orca's (Killer Whales).  There were about 5-6 whales with one really large male and female.  They were teaching the younger whales how to hunt and sadly there was a "sea lion" that was being used.  The larger whales would stun the sea lion by smashing their tale on it and then there would be a frenzy of activity.  This teaching went on for quite a long time.  My heart went out to the sea lion as you could see the fear in it's face.  However it was amazing to watch.

An Albatross is often seen near the whales as it will feed off the leftovers.

If you look closely you can see the Sea Lion

After returning from the tour we enjoyed a nice lunch on the beach and then returned back to Pacific Grove.  I did some packing to get ready for our next part of the journey.  Tomorrow we are driving to Ventura where we'll spend the night before heading to San Diego.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at Jacks, in Monterey and we are now relaxing back at our room. What a great day!!

Poor man's Pebble Beach

Today was our first round of golf in California.  We played at Pacific Grove Golf Links - which is also known as the "Poor man's Pebble Beach" course.  This course runs along the ocean and is modestly priced but is rated as a must play by Golf Digest.  You don't need a caddie and you can enjoy the sights along the coast, along with the wildlife walking on the course.  Deer are everywhere and aren't at all concerned with golf balls wizzing by.

It was a beautiful day although cold and windy.  It was 50f as we were driving to breakfast at First Awakenings and warmed up to 52f by the time we started our golf game. Our round was finished in 4 hours and it was so nice to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather and ocean views.

We received a severe weather alert early this morning cautioning about the rough ocean.  It read as follows:

* WAVES AND SURF...Northwest swell 10 to 12 feet with a period
of 14 to 16 seconds. Breakers up to 20 feet possible.

* TIMING...Late tonight through 7 PM PDT Friday evening.

* LOCATION...West to northwest facing beaches along the Central
Coast from Sonoma County through Monterey County...including
but not limited to...Ocean Beach, Montara State Beach, and
Marina State Beach.

* POTENTIAL IMPACTS...Impacts include rip currents and large
shore break. Never turn your back to the ocean!

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Beach Hazard Statement means the potentially dangerous
conditions may exist on specific beaches. These hazards may
include large shore break...strong rip currents. All of which
could be life threatening. Be sure to always keep your eyes on the
ocean.

As we witnessed last night - the waves were so incredibly high that we can understand why this alert is needed.  We're not sure if this will impact our whale watching tour tomorrow,  we'll have to wait and see what the day brings.  

Later this afternoon we decided to take the 17 mile drive along the coast.  It was awesome to see the scenery and enjoy the sunshine and wind.  The beaches continued to have really high waves,  We stopped at Pebble Beach and enjoyed a coffee while waiting for the sun to set.  We. were surprised to see that they are already selling merchandise for the 2019 US Open.  It seems so early to be doing that.  This will be held at Pebble Beach as they celebrate their 100 year anniversary.  

We stopped by the Lone Cyprus and took some photographs.  This Cyprus is 250 years old and is a really popular attraction.  Many people stop here to take selfies with their phones. After taking pictures of the Lone Cyprus we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

We finished the day by enjoying some Tai Food before heading back to the hotel.  It was a fun day.

Finding the Garden of Eden and exploring Pacific Grove

We were up early this morning in anticipation of another hike at the Henry Cowell Redwood State Park. It was cool out this morning with the temperatures in the low 50's.  The park is only about a 20 minute drive from our hotel so we thought we would go before we checked out. We're a little nervous about leaving any valuables in the van so we asked if it was ok to have a "late checkout". They were very accommodating by letting us leave everything in our room.

The hike itself was pretty challenging with steep downward paths which were slippery with mud and rocks.  I went down once on my rear end and walked the rest of the way with a muddy bum lol.  We were in search of "The Garden of Eden" but it wasn't to be found (or so we thought).  We discovered a small "swimming hole" which we later read was called "The Garden of Eden".  It was still enjoyable to be out in the fresh air and see the magnificent Redwoods.  As well we spied a Banana Slug which was pretty cool, it was the size of my hand.

After our hike we went in search of a "Covered Bridge" which was in the area. It's the tallest covered bridge in America.  There were some "homeless people" sitting at the entrance.  Initially I was nervous about approaching the bridge but decided that I would try to talk to them.  We enjoyed a nice conversation with them.  They were pretty proud of the bridge and gave us all sorts of information.

After checking out of our hotel we drove down to Pacific Grove.  We sat by the ocean and enjoyed our picnic lunch and then went out exploring for a little while before checking into our new home at the Monterey Peninsula Inn.  We have a nice room and  I think we'll enjoy staying here.

We drove to Cannery Row for dinner and then came back to try to take some sunset photo's.  There wasn't any sunset this evening but we were spoiled with some extremely large waves.  It was so amazing and exciting to watch and take pictures of.

We had a great day!!

A day in Big Sur

This morning we were up early.  The plan was to drive to Salinas and enjoy a nice breakfast at First Awakenings before heading out to Big Sur.  We really enjoyed this restaurant as we have been here on each of our visits.

After breakfast we drove to Point Lobos State Reserve and went walking along the shoreline.  While there we went looking for some starfish and other sea life but the tide had not yet gone out so we weren't very successful.  Ralph and Lawrence however saw a crab and some anemone and we all saw some whales in the distance.  It was fun and relaxing to spend a couple of hours here.

Whale paparazzi

First whale sighting

From Point Lobos State Reserve we headed south towards Big Sur.  What a fantastic drive.  We stopped at the Rivers Inn for some lunch and explored a little before heading towards the Pfeiffer State Reserve Beach.  What a beautiful place!  We've never stopped here before, but it's definitely a place we would go back to.  There was fog starting to roll in so we decided not to stay for the sunset as we still had to drive back to Santa Cruz and it didn't look promising for any colour.

We stopped in Pacific Grove to check out where we will be staying next.  I think it's the same place we stayed with Ron and Anne many years ago.  It's nice and close to the golf course and within walking distance to the ocean.  We are leaving Santa Cruz tomorrow and will be spending the next 3 days in Pacific Grove.

Not sure I'd want this bird sitting on the hood of my vehicle!!

We enjoyed a nice dinner today from Coles BBQ.  The serving sizes were huge so we'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

We have been blessed with good weather and have really enjoyed all the places that we have visited.  Tomorrow morning we plan to go to The Garden of Eden at The Henry Cowell State Reserve.  This is supposed to be a nice area to go hiking and is highly recommended by the people we spoke with.