personal reflections

Happy Holidays from Monterey in California

This has been a week of visitors and local sightseeing around the Monterey Peninsula for me. My sister wanted to see whales when she arrived in town. We drove to Point Pinos in Pacific Grove and saw spouts from at least six whales immediately upon arrival to the beach. I pulled out the binoculars and my sister and I watched gray whales heading south. The gray whale migration is in progress to Baja.

I’ll get back to regular posting on Loyalty Traveler by Wednesday, December 28. The weather is so gorgeous that I am spending all my waking hours out and about and unchained to my computer.

a pelican standing on a railing
Brown pelican at Monterey Fisherman's Wharf.

The wharf was like a scene from Hitchcock’s film “The Birds” when I eyed one brown pelican on the railing. Within a few minutes there were nearly a dozen pelicans sitting on the dock on the bay.

pelicans on a dock near a boat
Pelicans sitting on a dock at Monterey Fisherman's Wharf.

I was surprised how the pelicans did not appear intimidated as tourists approached within a few feet of the birds to snap photos. This is the closest I recall being to live pelicans. I adore watching them glide inches above the water over the ocean. They are graceful frequent flyers of the sea.

Sea lions were also enjoying the warm sun of Monterey on a December afternoon.

Sea lions sitting on a dock at Monterey Fisherman's Wharf.

Greetings from Monterey and wishing you happy holidays.

3 Comments

  • Andy December 26, 2011

    Happy holidays, Ric!

  • California traveler December 29, 2011

    Hey, loved the posts about Monterey. My favorite times were traveling up and down the Cali coastline. I never seemed to get lucky enough to see the whales (glad your sis caught them) but I’ve had a few shows from the sea lions. They are pretty cool too, and at least you can see what they are doing out of the water. 🙂 Glad to hear you unchained yourself from your computer to enjoy what you do. 🙂 Have a great holiday!

  • Ric Garrido December 30, 2011

    Record numbers of gray whales being seen off California coast this December. I saw probably a dozen whales in a ten minute span while sitting in the Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn lobby Tuesday morning Dec 27. The most whales I have seen in one sitting.

    LA Times had an article Wednesday about the large number of gray whale sightings in Southern California.

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/gray-whales-arriving-early-in-record-numbers.html

Comments are closed.

BoardingArea