The California coastline driving south from San Francisco is nothing short of stunning. Our favourite tourist hotspots are the towns centered around Monterey. Springtime is especially gorgeous as the flowers are in full bloom and seal pups play on the beaches.
None of these photos are photoshopped or edited in anyway, they were captured on a Samsung S22 phone. The is one trip where we wished we had our camera on. This Black Friday or Boxing Day we are going to pick something up because a phone camera can't do such scenery justice.
Looking towards the city of Monterey from the suburban town of Pacific Grove. Cute houses and beautiful gardens line the cliffs. It's so incredible people are painting the scenery.
Can you blame them? Even without the pretty flowers or the semi tropical plants, the rocks, waves and otters playing in the surf would be more than worthy of hand painted art. Thousands of people were out taking photos and enjoying the fresh Spring air mixed with the sea breeze.
Nearby we have Cannery row and marinas with fishing boats. Monterey used to be famous for whale oil. Then it was famous for Sardines, they caught so many they almost fished out the seas which subsequently caused the Seal and Sea Lion populations to crash. Well they are back in full force and while you can't see them in this photo, there would be hundreds sitting on the structures supporting the piers.
Pelicans were also out in great numbers. They're used to the crowds and one can get quite close to these fascinating birds. If you've ever watched them fish, it's a sight to behold. They dive bomb fish in the water again and again gulping them up in one or two swallows before taking off to the skies to do it again.
These expert fishers are probably just digesting their food. Pelicans are a sign of a healthy ecosystem and it's fun to walk along the docks watching the wildlife and taking in the fishy smells. From here one can catch a tour to go out whale watching one of the more popular tourist activities in the area.
Cannery Row is similar to other portside tourist spots in America except they have these bridges to get from the docks to the canning factories on the other side of the street. There would have been crowds of carriages and people wondering about back in the day and armies of fisherman and workers. Now it's just tourists as most of the fish processing industry has moved elsewhere.
We had to have dinner at our favourite seaside restaurant in the area, The Fish Hopper. We got an excellent seat surrounded by water at the far edge of the restaurant. As we ate, sea otters were playing with their babies and diving for crustaceans on the sea floor.
The meal was as good as it looks. One can get Abalone, dozens of types of fresh fish, crab, lobster, etc. Fresh from the sea. There are hundreds of restaurants to choose from, we just like the view.
After a big dinner we took another walk up along the seashore to Perkins Park at the other end of Pacific Grove. We stayed in California for just under a week and spent a few afternoons just walking along the shores of Pacific Grove and Monterey.
Thank you for reading.
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 36.62162 lat -121.91039 long Pacific Grove d3scr))
