Spring Break Day 6--Whale Watching and Tide Pooling

We had tickets on a whale watching tour first thing this morning.  I will admit that I was super excited to go see whales, and hoped desperately that we would see something.  How exciting is it to think about real live whales, out in nature, doing their real live whale thing?  Super exciting!  Monterey Submarine Canyon, with canyon walls measuring over a mile in height (rivaling the Grand Canyon), is in Monterey Bay.  Because the canyon is in such close proximity to shore, Monterey Bay has deep, cold, nutrient-rich water all year.  This brings in many diverse  marine mammals and sea birds that feed within the canyon.  Some migrate through, but some come to spend half the year, meaning the likelihood of seeing something is pretty good.

We got lucky!  We saw a number of humpback whales throughout our three hour tour and learned all sorts of fascinating facts about whales in general and humpback whales specifically.  There was a marine biologist on board who told us about feeding, breeding, and migration habits.  We got close enough to a whale to smell the air expelled from its blowhole, the whale snot smell, described by the marine biologist as both special and disgusting.  We learned that sometimes scientists are able to discern the age of a whale by looking at its earwax.  One whale was aged at 95 based on earwax.  They were also able to determine that a bowhead whale had lived to be 211.  That's pretty old!  We saw one whale doing some tail smacking which made a tremendous splash.  I wanted one to swim right up to the boat so we could see it really close, but that was probably getting a bit greedy.

In addition to the whales, we saw a couple of otters, sea lions lazing on the rocks not too far from where we began and ended, and a large flock of Brandt's Cormorants, black sea birds that were in the process of nesting on the same rocks the sea lions were hanging around on.  I took lots of pictures, not all of which I will post.

One of the suggestions for the whale watching tour was to take Dramamine an hour before getting on the trip.  This would help prevent seasickness.  Very diligently, at 8:00, we all took our pill.  Brandt is not good about taking medication, but I told him he would need to take it or would likely spend the whole time on the boat throwing up.  He doesn't like to throw up, so he took the pill.  The thing about Dramamine is that it makes you drowsy.  While I thought the whole trip was highly mentally stimulating, both Brandt and Blythe were overcome and ended up falling asleep.  Half the whale watching was instead a really expensive nap.  Thanks okay, however.  I would have hated to have half the whale watching be a pukefest.

As we were getting ready to go, 

Brandt was showing me he could still work the phone with his gloves on.

I was able to work the phone without my gloves on.

There is a kid right behind Blythe's head who must have also taken his Dramamine

because he slept through the whole whale watching.

If he saw anything at all, I would be surprised.

This is the otter.

That's two!

The children went inside the boat because it was chilly.  

Tail slap!

Brandt asleep, Blythe still awake.

In the end, she just couldn't stay awake.

This is the sad remainders of the former cannery section of Monterey.

A Brandt's cormorant with nesting material in its beak.

As the boat was coming into the dock, a sea lion swam right up next to us.

We hoped off the boat and had some lunch on the pier--clam chowder and fish and chips.  It seemed appropriate.  I had really wanted to go poke around some tide pools and was told that Pinos Point was the spot.  It was rocky, not far from where we were staying, and just at lunchtime was at low tide.  Off we sped to look for small sea creatures.  

We found lots.  We saw bright orange star fish, shell camouflaged anemones, lots of crabs, and some very small fish.  It was all interesting.  I hoped to see an anemone open up a bit as the tide came in, but I was out too far to last long enough--the water would have rushed up too high for me to get back in safely.  The kids played in the sand, Kent sat on a bench and enjoyed the sun and surf, and we relaxed a bit watching the water.   

This was as good as I got of Brandt.

It's an anemone covered in shells.

 

That's a bigger crab in a crevice.

Anemone AND orange starfish.

 

My favorite creatures I saw on the beach.

 

After poking around the tide pools, we took what was touted as "The Drive of a Lifetime!"  A brochure we picked up says, 

17-Mile Drive is widely recognized as one of the world's most scenic drives.  Since 1881, this famous coastal landmark has run through Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach, from the dramatic Pacific coastline and through the majestic Del Monte Forest.  The awe-inspiring vistas and legendary sites can easily fill an entire day with exploration and discovery, although visitors with less time should not miss the opportunity to experience this wondrous journey as well.

We were unaware there was a fee to drive this "wondrous" 17 miles, but we paid because we'd heard how great it was.  Perhaps we had a bad attitude, but we weren't impressed.  We drove past many large (very expensive) homes and really a lot of golf courses, but we didn't see many vistas, and the "majestic Del Monte Forest" was filled with lots of scrubby pine trees.  We didn't make it the full 17 miles because everyone was bored and just wanted to go back to the hotel and down to the beach.  

In the evening we went into downtown Monterey, a bit away from the tourist sites.  There was a street festival we wandered around while trying to decide upon where to eat.  It's difficult with the children who don't have adventurous palates.  In the end, we stopped at Subway so they could have a sandwich, and Kent and I ordered take-out Indian food.  We returned to the hotel to eat, watch TV, and pack for our return to Oakland in the morning.  We loved our time by the sea!