Monterey

Thursday 4th April

The city of Monterey is found on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on Central California's Pacific coast and is known for the abundance and diversity of its marine life which includes sea lions, sea otters and harbour seals. One of the deepest and largest submarine canyons along the North American coastline is the Monterey canyon and It is due to the presence of this canyon that the marine life is so diverse.
Monterey Bay is one of the most exciting stretches of the 'Grey Whale Highway'. During the winter and spring months the entire grey whale population migrates through the marine sanctuary within three km of the Monterey Bay coastline, traveling to their summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea and to their winter breeding grounds in Baja. To this end, a visit to Monterey would not be complete without 'Whale Watching' so we joined a boat that was going out. We had to dress warmly and this was when we noticed the change in hemispheres. Although spring is springing and the temperatures are a lot warmer than our dear family are experiencing at home, after the hot days we had become used to, we were feeling the chill.
We arrived at the Fisherman's Wharf with time to spare so I went in search of the sea lions that we had heard about. In the harbour I found what I was looking for. Literally hundreds of the sea lion were doing their early morning stretch, and greeting the new day with mixed enthusiasm.

As we left the harbour, even more sea lion were on the rocks to watch us leave. We had only just been clear of the harbour when a large pod of Risso's dolphins were spotted so our captain followed two of the other boats into the middle of the pod.  These dolphins are a lot bigger and more docile than the types we had come across in New Zealand. Their lazy pace allowed us to get very close and have a really good look at them.

We had on board a marine biologist who was capturing data so we stayed with the pod longer than the other boats which gave us more time to enjoy the spectacle but we had bought a 'Whale Watching' trip and some passengers started to get a little bored. It wasn't long before we were off again in search of whales and we were not disappointed. We came across  three humpback whales were feeding over the Monterey canyon and we were able to get quite close to them. Unfortunately, our little camera couldn't capture the magnificence of these mammals and it was not quick enough to take some of the spectacular shots that we witnessed, however here is a sample.

Again, because we had the marine biologist on board, we were able to spend time following the whales and this time I didn't see many bored faces. After we had returned to the marina we had to shake our tail feathers and set off in the car once again. This time heading for Yosemite National Park. Phew, what a lot to see and do, but this sea lion had only one thing on his mind and a drive in the car was not it!