Highway 1

8^th October – Moss Landing, Monterey Bay

Leaving our campsite north of San Francisco we travelled through a continual concrete jungle for over 70 miles, along the east side of San Francisco Bay; towns such as San Quentin, Oakland, and San Jose.  Once we got to the coast we took the by-pass around Santa Cruz and continued south on Highway 1 along the coast line of Monterey Bay.

We stopped at Moss Landing for lunch and were delighted at the wildlife there.  Sea Otters were floating in the harbour in-let.  Seals and Sea Lions were dozing in the sun by the harbour, and  Pelicans gliding by.


There were a couple of Researchers from the Monterey Bay Research Institute who were monitoring the sea otters.  Some of them had been tagged so it was known that this group of more than 30 were all male, either fairly young or old. 

Those in their prime were elsewhere with the females.  It was really delightful to watch them cleaning themselves and playing, swirling about in the water.

 

Just off the coast there is a Deep Water Canyon that is up to 2 miles deep and hence the Marine Research Institute’s presence at this location.  We decided to stay in the vicinity and found a camp site near the harbour.  Later in the afternoon we went down to the beach and watched the sea otters fishing, along with a couple of seals and dolphins.  The Sea lions on the dock made a continuous noise and some kept clambering over those that were trying to sleep.

9^th October – Big Sur

We carried on down Highway 1 to Big Sur stopping once or twice to enjoy the sea views from the hill side.  Big Sur is a name given to; the river, the lighthouse, the village and this coastline stretching 94 miles.  The road hugs the cliffs around 500ft above the sea crashing below.  The few sandy beaches are not easily accessible but there were many lay-bys to enjoy the views.

We parked the RV in the camp site in the Redwoods next to the Big Sur River.  After lunch we took the car down to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where we enjoyed views of McWay Falls which tumble onto the shore.  Prior to 1989 the falls fell directly into the sea but a landslide further up the coast line meant sandy soil was carried by the tide building up the shoreline into a beach.
 

We stopped at the Coast Gallery for a cup of tea on the way home.  Established in 1958 the Gallery has been created inside dis-used Redwood Water Tanks overlooking the sea.

10^th October – Monterey Bay Aquarium

We drove back up the coast to Monterey passing through Carmel Highlands – where Clint Eastwood was Mayor for a time.

We spent over 4 hours in the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  There were some enormous tanks with a variety of local sea life including Giant Bass and huge Tuna.  There were lots of hands-on exhibits for the kids (both large and small). 

The Jellyfish Sections were the best and included florescent Jellies glowing in the dark.  The  

Aquarium is home to a number of rescued animals including coastal birds that would not survive in the wild.

We sat in on a couple of presentations; one about inventions inspired from aquatic animals and the other about Sea Otters.  The story was told of a rescued pup that was fostered by an adult female sea otter at the Aquarium, who taught the pup survival skills which enabled it to be released later.  There are only about 2900 Sea Otters off the California coast so the ‘raft’ (collective word for sea otters) we saw the other day of over 30, accounted for 1% of the population..  The populace of Sea Otters have proved beneficial for the survival of the forests of Sea Kelp off the coast, as they eat the Sea Urchins that would otherwise eat the Kelp.  Unfortunately the Sea Otter exhibit was closed undergoing repairs as the animals can be a little destructive at times.

On the way home we stopped at the Monarch Butterfly Grove Sanctuary.  The Monarch butterflies east of the Rockies migrate to Mexico for the winter, but those on the west side of the Rockies stop off here in California.  Unfortunately it was a cool breeze today and only one was spotted in flight. 

11^th October – Hearst Castle

Our journey, continuing south on Highway1, took us past Piedras Blancas Beach upon which was an Elephant Seal Rookery. There were hundreds of juvenile Elephant Seals lying around on the beach basking in the sun, flicking sand over themselves and play-fighting in the sea.

It was terrific to see them so relaxed with the tourists taking photos from behind the fence line.

We stopped at Hearst Castle high up on the mountains at San Simeon.  It was built over a 28 year period during the 1920/40s for newspaper and movie tycoon, William Hearst, who entertained celebrities of the day such as Charlie Chaplain, Clark Gable and Howard Hughes etc.  It was built in a Mediterranean design and we enjoyed a guided tour of the Grand Rooms on the ground floor. 
We wandered around the gardens, patios and pools and imagined what it must have been like spending a weekend as a guest in such lavish surroundings.




W Hearst also had a personal zoo on his land and although most of the animals are long gone there was still a small heard of zebra to be seen from the highway.

We then continued on Highway 1 to Oceano.  We had lost the rugged cliff tops and were now down at sea level.  Our campsite at Oceano was right next to the Sand Dunes so we had an exploratory hike down to the sea – which took nearly 30 minutes. 

There were many people with their RVs and dune buggies gathering on the beach for the weekend.  On the way back over the dunes we met a family who let Alison use one of their boards to slide down the dunes.