Monterey Bay Aquarium - Worth the Drive

Monteray Bay is very close to San Fransisco - only about 1 1/2 drive so many people refer to it as part of the Bay Area.  It's close to Santa Cruz, hosts a Jazz Festival but, if you have kids the thing not to miss here is the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Connected to the bay so many of the fish are actually swimming in the bay water so it's a pretty neat use of the eco-system and a very informative but amazing place to see.  We thought it would be a couple hours but instead, yes as always, we pretty much shut it down.  I almost don't want to write a blog this time.  I feel like just posting photo after photo about the different animals we saw there and the different experiences - shows / feedings. 

They don't put the animals on display but do the feedings and let you watch.  Divers go in and feed the animals wearing a headset and you can ask questions from the outside while the feed.  It's very different than our expereince at SeaWorld which is also an aquarium but is so much more focused on the entertainment value.  This was the opposite.  Much more on the educational.  We loved it and would definately recommend you go!

The picture below is inside the shark tank just after the feeding.  You can see a leopard shark and a school of fish.  The live together because they keep them fed.... otherwise they would go back to natures ways.

This next photo is the kelp forest feeding.  They send the diver in with a bucket of food.  Again, the diver has a mic and outside there is an interpreter who takes questions from the audience.  How great is that....  This is the tank where they let the water come right in from the bay area.  The kelp is grown from the seeds that come from the outside and that grow in the tank naturally.  How amazing is that?  They are truly keeping nature alive.  And, when the fishes get big enough they are able to release them back into the bay waters with no issues.

Next is in the the jellyfish area - loved it!  I had no idea there were so many varieties of jellyfish.  Some that glow in the dark.  Some small.  Some HUGE.  It's amazing to see them all.

And, wow real sea horses and seadragons... did you know they existed?  How cool are they?  Can you spot them in the photos?

Here are some of our favourites - sea otters - splashing and playing!

And, some other fun photos - they have lots of areas where you can touch the sea creatures and they teach you ways to save them.  Which fish you can eat from the part of the world you are from and which fish you should avoid.  They call it Seafood Watch and you can get your copy HERE.  And, yes, we went for seafood because they don't discourage it, but we ate the proper foods!

It's suppose to be for babies - but look how big my babies are now.....

And, then after a fun filled day we were finally off to San Franscico - late but happy!

PCH to Monteray Bay

August 12 - We left LA today and headed off to San Fransisco but it was a lot later in the day than we expected to leave.  Not that we really pushed ourselves, lets be honest!  And, because it was the first day on the road after a long break away from the trailer; and with it being the first time that Maujoo has been in the trailer at all, I decided it might be nice not to push it too hard.  We only went as far as San Luis Obisbo before we pulled into a campground the first night. 

To be quite honest it was kinda nice.  We had a relaxing night. We had time to set up, eat dinner and the kids and I enjoyed time in the pool.  It was a good way to get back into the swing of things.

The next day (Aug 13) we were definately on the Pacific Coast Highway.  The PCH was totally worth the bit slower drive.  It took us 2 extra days to get to San Fransisco than we expected but it was worth it.  The two lane drive took us through small towns, and scenic areas.   It is the coastal drive that winds it's way along the mountains, up and down and sometimes you are above the clouds and it feels like you are floating on air.  It is so fantastic. I kept telling everyone - take photos cause I can't even look away for a minute and I kept pulling over to the Vista Points so I could enjoy the views so the drive took a lot longer than it should have but it was OK.

 

 

One of the best viewpoints was the Elephant Seal viewpoints.  It is the area where Elephant Seals are known to come and it was so neat to be able to see the age range of seals on the beach there.  Sunning themselves, playing the water, play fighting!

We finally made it to Monteray Bay at 5 PM - the aquarium closed at 6 PM so we decided to stay overnight instead of coming back from San Fransisco.  When I had initially told Manu Bhaiya we were planning on taking the PCH to San Fransisco he said, "See you in a week!" turns out we were running 2 days late - not too bad but would I do it again?  In a heartbeat!