Day 24: More Nudity!

Just kidding with the title. Our readership jumped with the clothing optional post... now I understand Hollywood.

Mile 3958 Leave Carmel

I went for a run in Carmel before we packed up, and I still wasn't able to find Cypress House for our most dedicated reader. We asked at the front desk if she knew where we could locate it... we looked online... no luck.  I apologize for not getting a photo.

Back on track with our day. Since we were disappointed by our lack of whale sightings, we decide to pay for a whale watching tour in Monterey. A bargain at $40 (they were going for $150 in Vancouver), we didn't know what to expect.

Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey reminded us of the Wildwood Boardwalk (in a fun way). This is where we boarded the boat for whale watching

We saw some California Sea Lions before the boat started moving. We thought for sure that was all we would see. 

More California Sea Lions. They had a marine biologist on board narrating. She helped to identify all the animals. 

View of Monterey from the boat

James attempting to whale watch. 

No whales

The whole boat trips is supposed to be about 2.5-3 hours. It was 55 degrees and misty... and windy. It was getting cold and our fingers stopped working. We saw some adorable Sea Otters and countless Harbor Porpoises, but were too slow to get a picture of them.

We are moving on the boat and all of the sudden we see a huge whale body and then a huge whale tale. It was enormous! We didn't get a picture, because we were too slow and cold. The marine biologist said they go under for about 7 minutes, so the whale would come back up soon. The problem is you don't know exactly where he is going to pop up and the boat is full of people. We didn't do a great job with the photos, but you will have to trust us that it was cool.

Humpback whale coming up

Whale Tale

After the adrenaline of the whale sighting wore off, I was ready to go... but we were about 1 hour and 15 minutes from shore. Because we kept watching the whale, we were going to be late for our return to the dock. 

It took a while for us to warm up after we got back to the car, but we felt so successful seeing the whale. We knew whale watching would set us back for our trip to Santa Barbara, but it was worth it. Now... 5 hours to Santa Barbara

Great State Park

More beautiful scenery along Route 1 in the Big Sur area

Yup- more breath taking vistas

More Big Sur

A long drive with lots to look at. Sadly, I was driving

Mile 3895: Elephant Seals

We decided to stop at this area on Route 1 where there was a flurry of activity. It is a state protected area for Elephant Seals

These 2 were fighting- notice they are not wearing any clothes... more nudity! (I didn't want to mislead you by today's title)

Here's the YouTube Link of the seals fighting. It was really funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYpjmxfvpTM

They were all over the beach

Here's the YouTube Link of the seals throwing sand on each other. If you watch for a second, you'll get the idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuBgXRNyo3Q


We get off of route 1 and onto another small road - Route 154- that cuts across the mountains. We were ready for a change of scenery.

I think we are officially in Central California now

Nice sunset. As I mentioned, it was a long ride and it was getting dark. 

We made it to Santa Barbara and were quite happy with the greeting at our hotel. Fresh baked cookies, champagne, free dvd rentals, pool, gym (a weak one), free breakfast. Brisas Del Mar is definitely a good value for the money. We walked to get dinner to a small local place called Brew House.

Filet Mignon Bites- we thought there would only be a couple. 

Nachos

Half portion of a house salad

All in all, it was a good dinner. We over-ordered, but we didn't understand the insane portion size. So far, we are liking Santa Barbara, but we have seen so little since we got in late last night. Tomorrow- a little investigation of Santa Barbara and then on to LA.