15 Thursday

Today was the Monterey Aquarium day. Vern and I had been here on our last trip and we wanted to see it again and knew that both Raewyn and Brendan would enjoy it as well. We spent nearly four hours walking around the exhibits and studying the varied marine life in the various aquarium tanks. The exhibits consist mainly of the extensive sea life found in Monterey Bay extending from Santa Cruz down to Monterey. We had particularly chose a Thursday to visit because it was one of the feeding days for the giant blue fin tuna in the huge outer bay tank and also feeding day for the otters.

The jellyfish exhibits were amazing – extremely colourful and delicate
and looking like parachutes gently falling from the sky.

Heaps of sea life that you would not see anywhere else in the world. Schools of sardines and mackerel really were quite out of this world.

Many of the feeding sessions were very popular and an early presence was essential to get good vantage points. We spent some time waiting for the scuba divers to appear who were going to feed the fish in the main kelp tank.

Scuba diver copes with a 'feeding frenzy' in the main kelp tank

Later in the afternoon we went on the 17 mile drive which included the Pebble Beach Golf Course and the coastline around Monterey Bay – of course we had to pay for this. We exited at Carmel which is a quaint town of a couple of thousand people. Saw heaps of craft and art shops but all were really upmarket – way out of our budget. We wanted to see this town as the Lonely Planet had mentioned it as being so neat and tidy and quaint. No letter boxes allowed and no chain restaurants or stores. It certainly lived up to expectations. Clint Eastwood was a one time mayor of this town and apparently still lives in the area. On the way back to Monterey we detoured to the Carmel Mission Station, but as the main gates were closed we decided to come back in the morning to have a look through. Bought food at Safeways and had a picnic dinner in the motel room.