Uncle Pete's Most Excellent Seaside Adventure

Summer is back, my trusty cyberpeeps, and, as usual, the Monterey Bay is once again going OFF in all its beautiful, wildlife-filled glory! Thus it's time to make a choice, carpe diem and all that jazz; time to do whatever you have on the calendar for tomorrow or next Tuesday or next Whateverday, or chuck it all, hop in the damn car and get a wiggle on.

Time to hit the road. Hit the deck. Hit the beach. Time, in fact, for Uncle Pete’s Most Excellent Seaside Adventure!

"What's that?" you say. 
"Sounds exciting!" you add.
"Pray, do tell..."

Uncle Pete's Most Excellent Seaside Adventure (UPMESA) is an epic, adventure-filled day out on the road and on the water. Assuming you're starting in San Francisco—or Oakland or somewhere else North Bay—the idea is to freeway south in the AM to get where you're going fast, spend a few awesome hours on a boat in search of aquatic wildlife, and then mosey back up the slower, more scenic coast road in the PM.

So...with our eyes on the prize of Moss Landing, that krill-sized speck of a town on the edge of Monterey Bay, halfway between Santa Cruz and Monterey proper, let's begin with a basic outline of the round-trip road trip and follow up with some details.

→
Start - San Francisco

Gayle's Bakery & Rosticceria
504 Bay Ave, Capitola, CA
Stop here for to-go breakfast bites and/or snack provisions to tide you over until lunch after the whale watch.

Sanctuary Cruises
7881 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA

or

Blue Ocean Whale Watch
7881 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA

Allow a full 2 hours for the drive south to Moss Landing—including the stop at Gayle’s—just to be on the safe side (one never knows about traffic).

Phil's Fish Market
7600 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA

If they’re on their game, it’s some of the best fish and chips around (I like the halibut). One order is big enough for two people. Ask for extra tartar sauce.

Swanton Berry Farm
25 Swanton Rd, Davenport, CA

Cute little coastal farm stand with organic strawberries, strawberry jam (do not miss!), coffee and some other sweets.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Historic lighthouse and beautiful point of land for a brief walk about.

Pescadero, CA

(Detour to the self-proclaimed artichoke capitol of the world.)
Duarte's Tavern
202 Stage Road, Pescadero, CA

The Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay
1 Miramontes Point Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA

and/or

Dad's Luncheonette
225 Cabrillo Hwy S, Half Moon Bay, CA

Finish - San Francisco
→

Beginning in San Francisco, drive south on US 101 or US 280 to CA 17, up and over the Santa Cruz Mountains, to CA 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway). Head south on CA 1 to the day's first stop, Gayle’s in Capitola. Founded in 1978 as a small neighborhood bakery, today Gayle's is 10,000-foot food emporium loved by locals and tourists alike, and you’ll be blown away by the depth and breadth of all the edible goodness inside; by the cleanliness and organization of the place. Enter and peruse for a moment the mind-numbing, eye-popping, beautifully displayed selection of cakes, tarts, pies, pastries, cookies, breads, sandwiches, wraps, salads, whole roasted chickens, and other cold and hot prepared foods of several makes and sizes. (They also make a killer humus; I like to pick up a container for home.) When you’re ready, take a ticket from the machine by the door and wait for your number to be called. After some efficient and smiling service, grab your goods and jump back in the car.

Continue south to Moss Landing and check in for your whale watch (arrive ½ hour before boat departure time). In the parking lot, over by the first brick building on your right, there’s a drop box for parking fees ($8.00 per car, last time I checked). Good to take your own pen as sometimes the pencil is MIA, and make sure to display the receipt on your dashboard

Next...Enjoy your whale watch on Monterey Bay!

Putt-puttering from the slip, cruise down the harbor channel toward the big briny, toward the beautiful Monterey Bay and the mighty Pacific, passing cormorants and sea lions and western grebes and those cuddly California sea otters while your naturalist for the day points out the different boats, the various buildings, the wildlife, and what to expect once we leave the harbor behind.

And what should you expect?

Well, don't expect. Hope...that's better. You're bound to see something out there, but one never knows what that might be, exactly. Definitely some whales—humpback whales mostly—but also, depending the time of year, big blue whales, fin whales and/or gray whales, maybe orca (!), plus dolphins and porpoises of several different species (in groups that number in the thousands, at times), sluggish mola mola, sea turtles, jellyfish, sharks if you're lucky (great whites are out there and are being seen more often!). Albatross. Pelicans and shearwaters. Tufted puffins? Yup. There's no guarantee. Every trip is supremely different. I adore it out there!

Once back on land, drive or walk over to Phil’s Fish Market for lunch. The menu is large, but there's really no reason to not try the halibut fish and chips. Make the queue, order and pay, and take a number to your table (they deliver the food when it's ready); while you wait, grab a beverage at the bar (you pay separately). There's a quality retail fish market on sight, too, if you're hankering to cook up something for dinner at home. 

Tasty lunch complete, it's time to head north now, this time on the gorgeous, wide-open, curvy Pacific Coast Highway (CA 1), all the way back to San Francisco and/or home. You have to drive thru Santa Cruz proper (traffic can be a pain), but once beyond enjoy the view as you zip up the dramatic coast, pausing here and there should you wish (lots of beautiful vista points and beaches) until you reach...

Swanton Berry Farm is a must stop for fruit and quite possibly THE best strawberry jam on the planet. (About 3 miles north of Davenport, it’s the place with the old truck and the plants/big wooden strawberry display at the road.) Inside, find some jars set out for sampling the different jams, plus a coffee urn for a small cuppa. Honor system payment; accepts cash and now CCs.

Back in the car, 15 miles further up the coast, at wild and windswept Pigeon Point Lighthouse, stretch your legs, enjoy the view, and tour the grounds and the historic lighthouse. Tide pools for exploring (at a low tide) are about 100 yards north of parking lot.

Pescadero, CA. Detour inland to the kinda funky yet charming town for a look-see and some artichoke goodness, which could include the famous cream of artichoke soup at Duarte’s and a big loaf of artichoke heart bread.

In Half Moon Bay you have a choice, should you desire: relax for a spell at the ritzy Ritz-Carlton or get some more casual seaside sustenance at Dad’s Luncheonette, a cute little diner slash train caboose. The main street strip of "downtown" Half Moon Bay is actually kinda cute and might be worth a stop and short walkabout.

After Half Moon Bay I'm usually ready to hightail it back to SF, but should you desire there's a few more potential stops along the way.

Further north find Moss Beach Distillery, a local favorite for casual eats and drinks and jazz on selected days/dates, and Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, a state-protected area of rocky seashore with an expansive intertidal zone perfect for exploring during low tide (naturally).

Moss Beach Distillery
140 Beach Way, Moss Beach, CA
A seaside patio, fire pits, more food and refreshment, and a ghost?

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve - Tide Pools
200 Nevada Avenue, Moss Beach, CA
Great place for kids and adults alike to explore an expanse of protected, healthy tide pools. In addition to the official park website listed above, use the following for more info and to check local low tide times/days: Friends of Fitzgerald Reserve.

As opposed to a big meal/luncheon at any one spot, I like to graze my way through UPMESA. Morning muffin or croissant from Gayle’s; a sandwich and a cookie for the boat from Gayle’s; split the fish and chips at Phil’s; strawberries at Swanton; with perhaps some more snacks in Pescadero and/or Half Moon Bay. I think the old west town of Pescadero makes for an interesting detour, whether or not you're hungry. Moss Beach Distillery is very popular and has some interesting history but is not my top choice for a food stop (tho many would disagree). The tide pools at Fitzgerald Reserve don't offer food but are def worth a stop if time (and the low tide) allows.

There’s so much to see and do on UPMESA, on the big day out, especially during the late spring and summer when daylight lasts and lasts and lasts. Enjoy sunset from the road or back in SF, then, if you're still even remotely hungry, head out for dinner!

Happy trails,
Peter J. Palmer

Dietary Concerns

"It's a bad day to be a krill."

Thus spoke Giancarlo, our naturalist onboard the Sanctuary, as he gazed down upon the surface of Monterey Bay from his perch atop the wheelhouse, as my fellow passengers and I watched a pair of 45-foot long adult humpback whales sink back into the briny depths, as thousands upon thousands of teeny-weenie marine crustaceans became lunch in one gargantuan gulp. Make that two gargantuan gulps.

Hello again, landlubbers. Meet krill.

I've only one picture to post - the above - and it's stolen from the National Geographic website, as is the text below. Hope they don't mind.

"The lowly krill averages only about two inches (five centimeters) in length, but it represents a giant-sized link in the global food chain. These small, shrimp-like crustaceans are essentially the fuel that runs the engine of the Earth’s marine ecosystems. Krill feed on phytoplankton, microscopic, single-celled plants that drift near the ocean’s surface and live off carbon dioxide and the sun’s rays. They in turn are the main staple in the diets of literally hundreds of different animals, from fish, to birds, to baleen whales."

Okay, back live.

In my quarter century - and counting - of avid Pacific Ocean whale watching I'd only ever seen krill as a Show and Tell curiosity, usually a few utterly dead individuals in a small glass jar on a boat out past the Farallon Islands, 26 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. But a few weeks ago, on Wednesday April 30, 2014, to be exact, I saw krill by golly - a whole lotta lotta krill - on the surface of Monterey Bay. Buckets and buckets of live, active krill that tainted the water a brick-ish red color, that you could actually see in the sea (what those in the know call a "surface bloom"). Surrounding our boat the Sanctuary and swimming frantically, their little shrimp-like legs paddling overtime to navigate the ocean currents and collect tasty phytoplankton; even more importantly, perhaps, to escape the massive cetacean maw that might soon become their final destiny.

Because humpbacks were on the prowl. Hungry hungry humpbacks.

From the boat we could see a half dozen or so misty spouts in the distance, but we paid them little heed. Our eyes were instead trained on two hefty whales that were much closer; casually going about their leviathan lives, casually lunge-feeding on the blooms of krill as if we weren't even there. It was so cool. And rare, as krill usually spends the daylight hours submerged, which means most baleen whale feeding happens below the surface as well, unseen by humans, during dives that can last many, many minutes. I'd only even witnessed surface lunge-feeding once before, again out past the Farallon Islands, and I remember the spectacle to this day.

For an hour we watched one of the largest creatures in the ocean feast upon one of the smallest, gazed in awe as the two big humps (40 tons a piece?) performed a slo-mo aquatic ballet of startling precision and beauty; working in unison, using their exhaled bubbles to corral the krill into a tight knot on the surface, then lunge up at the mass from below, baleen-fringed mouths agape, for the kind of mouthful your mother always told you not to take. Over and over the pair kept at it - surfacing port side then starboard, a ways off the bow and then aft, their appearance always preceded by that strategic eruption of bubbles - intent only on Food Glorious Food! Even more memorably, a few times the whales popped up maybe 10 feet from the boat (surprise surprise!), so incredibly close we could see inside their mouths and watch individual krill, a whole lot of individual and panicked krill, do their acrobatic best to jump the hell out of harm's way and live another day.

By the way…humpback whales will gorge themselves on krill when it's around, sure, but they will hunt anchovies and other small fish as well. You know what pretty much eats krill and only krill? That would be the blue whale, which can reach lengths of 100 feet and weigh 120 tons, and is the largest animal to ever roam Planet Earth.  Crazy stuff, eh?

Point of this brief post is to bring to your attention the wee but mighty krill - Ocean Superstar Extraordinaire! - but also to let you know that it's once again going OFF in Monterey Bay (because of said krill), and if this year is anything like 2013 the aquatic shenanigans will continue straight thru October. I've been out on the water three times in the past couple months, and each trip has been so worth it. Worth the time to drive down and back from San Francisco (very pretty, both ways), the expense (cheap thrill, overall), the planning (usually last minute for me). So if you're into whales and other marine creatures get your ass to Monterey Bay and get out on the water with Sanctuary Cruises Whale Watching. Pronto! Tell 'em Pete sent you.

Hell...call me and let's drive down together. I can tell 'em in person. Plus, it'll give me the chance to remind Giancarlo that I still need to sample some freshly netted specimens, because, along with the memorable one-liner at the beginning of this post, I believe he also thus spoke: "Yup, krill is delicious."

Whale watching and a daily dose of heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids?
Sign me up!
Peter J. Palmer

Livin' la Vida Lobos

Here's a fact: There are oodles of places on the California coast that rival the beauty of Point Lobos State Reserve, which is located a few miles south of Carmel in Monterey County. Here's another fact: Many of those places are just as picturesque, just as jaw-droppingly dreamy and dramatic, but none are more so. The meeting of land and sea at Point Lobos is one of the loveliest on Planet Earth.

As the crow flies California is 840 miles long from top to bottom, but if one were to (and actually could) walk step by step along the entire shoreline -  on sandy, wind-swept beaches; inland around bays and lagoons and tidal marshes; atop mountains and cliffs and headlands; through forested ridges and wide open, seaside fields - once accomplished the pedometer would clock in at a whopping 3,427 miles. Yup, the coastal caress of California is not straight. (What?) Instead, it's chock full of ins and outs and ups and downs and easts and wests - intimate nooks and crannies alongside vistas so grand they'll take your breath away - and Point Lobos State Reserve has them all in spades.

Point Lobos is relatively small, as well. At just over 500 acres, compact, and many of the in-and-out or loop hikes can be enjoyed in 30 or 40 minutes (longer, of course, if you linger). Thus one might explore several of the well-maintained trails in a single day, especially during the late spring, high summer and early autumn months when sunset retreats toward the 9 o'clock hour in these parts. The entrance fee is $10 per car and includes a spiffy, fold-out brochure containing, among other things, the history of the reserve, facts on native flora and fauna, a list of brief hike descriptions, a very handy, well-executed map, and supplemental information on adjacent Carmel River State Beach (the gist of which seems to be: no matter how calm and inviting it looks, don't swim there).

A recent Rent-a-Sommie gig at Pebble Beach Food & Wine found me shacked up in Monterey-town for a slightly overcast but warmish April weekend. My work load for the festival was light, so after a tasty Friday luncheon featuring a luxurious, five-course menu paired with Portuguese wines I parked my Kia Soul rental car at Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed a leisurely, three-hour round-trip stroll along Monterey Bay: south through John Steinbeck's romanticized (but now pretty touristy) Cannery Row, past world-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium and into the quaint, seaside hamlet of Pacific Grove. Along the way there are loads of tacky souvenir shops and restaurants in the heart of Cannery Row, lots of historic buildings and plaques, and, at the south end, a handful of small, rocky, crescent-shaped beaches that are permanently fenced off as they are protected haul-outs for the endangered California harbor seal. Springtime is prime time, and I paused for a spell to observe the newborn pups as they made their way in the world: snuggling and suckling on mom, learning to swim with her in the shallows, noisily and awkwardly sparring with their peers. On the return tramp I parked my rump on a bench overlooking the bay and gazed west as the sun set: watched more harbor seals and sea lions cruise the calm blue waters, watched the offshore beds of giant kelp sway with the incoming swells, watched a group of gregarious, playful southern sea otters go about their aquatic business.

When my work at the Grand Tasting on Saturday finished around 4 p.m. I drove south again, forked over $10 to a smiling park ranger and entered Point Lobos. The park is very popular - for good reason - especially on weekends, but luckily, as I approached, an employee was just taking down the "Lot Full" sign, which meant I didn't have to ditch the car outside and hike in to the coast (a pretty walk, but time consuming). Instead I leisurely drove the main access roads twice, an attempt to get the lay of the land and decide where I wanted to spend the next three hours. Turned out to be an absolutely lovely three hours, and I'm so glad I made the time.

I've got lots of pictures, so let's get right to it.

These first five are from Whaler's Cove, a unique feature of the Central California coast if there ever was just one, and an utterly enchanting place. The terrestrial part of Point Lobos is, as I mentioned, around 550 acres, but in 1960 another 775 acres was added, all of it submarine: one of the first underwater nature reserves in the US of A. Whaler's Cove and a large area of adjacent ocean are part of the reserve. Registered scuba divers and, I believe, a limited number of snorkelers can access the water at a concrete ramp; from there an underwater world awaits discovery - giant kelp forests, rockfish, sea urchins, starfish, sea otters, seals and sea lions, perhaps a passing gray whale. The parking lot has restrooms, picnic tables and several trailheads: one follows the gentle arc of the inlet, another climbs to a beautiful vantage point above the cove and northern portion of the park.  

Next, some photos of the spring wildflower bloom. The park is currently awash in all the usual suspects: the iconic California poppy, fields of Douglas iris, spiky Indian paintbrush, fragrant blue blossom, bushy bushes of Monkeyflower and much more. It's quite the visual and olfactory juxtaposition: the riotous technicolor of flowers, the deep greens of fertile forest, the mysterious blues of vast Pacific Ocean and expansive sky, a wisp of white fog, and myriad earth-tone hues of rich soil, massive stone and fleeting sand.

Below, some landscape shots from the southern half of the park. There is no way the Little iPhone That Could could ever capture the magnificence of the place, but there you have it. This part of the park has, in addition to great hiking, a pair of small, rocky, isolated beaches where one can supposedly walk in the water, perhaps swim (though you should check on the legality of that, and very seriously consider the frigid idea before you do).

And finally, if and when you do decide to visit Point Lobos, a hike that should be at the top of your list; that you should not miss, even if you only take one. I was driving toward the exit when I decided that - Hell yes! - I had time for one more walk: The Cypress Grove Trail. The park brochure lists it as "the favorite of many visitors", and as soon as I started walking I was glad for my change of mind and abrupt U-turn back to the trailhead. It is simply spectacular! A microcosm of all the park has to offer. The views are unsurpassed, both on land and out to sea. The chance to spot animals offshore - seals, sea lions, otters, birds, whales - is in your favor as the trail leads out onto a promontory of rock surrounded by water, and the loop winds through one of the last two naturally occurring stands of endangered Monterey Cypress trees. The orange stuff in the following pictures is a type of algae that finds a happy home on the gnarly, windswept Cypress trees and rocks.

I'll leave you with two artsy-schvartsy silhouette shots. Point Lobos is a Muse extraordinaire, nurturing the artist in us all - be it painter or poet - and there is a whole community (with its own website) devoted solely to the images she has helped create.

So make the trek and be inspired. Feel the ancient soul of Planet Earth where the worlds of land and sea and air collide. Discover the timeless magic of Point Lobos for yourself.

Hopefully I will get another chance in the not too distant future.

Until then, peace out.
Peter J. Palmer

Clandestiny

We'll make this a quickie and get right to the meat of the matter: A few days ago I strayed, found myself in the arms of another, and it felt kinda good.

Those of you who know me know that my decision to do so was not taken lightly, as for two decades now I've been faithful to my one and only: the Oceanic Society. Yup, we're talking about the ocean, the Pacific Ocean specifically, and getting out on the ocean to commune with those fabulous beasts that call the ocean home.

My relationship with the non-profit, San Francisco-based Oceanic Society began way back in 1989, I think, and since then I've been signing up for their 8-hour, summertime, naturalist lead trips to the Farallon Islands and beyond pretty much like clockwork. I'm hopelessly hooked. Smitten. So in love with what they do and how they do it that sometimes I fork over the cash and hop on board twice a year.

Recently, however, my buddy Keith and I drove an hour and forty-five minutes south to the funky seaside settlement of Moss Landing, halfway between Santa Cruz and Monterey town. It's there one finds the departure point for Sanctuary Cruises, a small boat operation that, quite frankly, gets it done on Monterey Bay.

Like many of you, several weeks ago I'd started to read online and in the newspaper accounts of what we'll call Unparalleled Upwelling 2012 (please refer to my previous post for a refresher course on the marine phenomenon). Unlike many of you, tho, I immediately began to fantasize over the reported, and almost unprecedented, animal sightings in Monterey Bay: forty or so blue whales out there, scores of breaching and lunge-feeding humpbacks, fin whales, the occasional orca, enormous mola mola (ocean sunfish), a leatherback sea turtle, a basking shark. All hanging out on the surface because their food source was at the surface and all in sunny, calm conditions, allowing lucky landlubbers a superb opportunity to watch them do what they do do.

I've had my heart set on a Monterey Bay whale watch for a while now, but life in general and other high seas adventures in particular - you know who you are - had always (coitus) interrupted the master plan. This year, once I began to learn of the action down there, I knew the time was nigh.  Still, it took me two weeks to get my shit together and schedule the time to make it happen. I'm happy I did, but I should'a dropped everything and gone sooner.

After check-in and a safety briefing we slowly puttered out of the harbor, delighted with the lack of that pesky petroleum smell as Sanctuary is the only boat on the bay powered by biodiesel. Not twenty minutes into our sea voyage the boat suddenly slowed (always a good sign), veered right, and the captain picked up the loudspeaker: "We've got a leatherback turtle at 3 o'clock." Leatherbacks are the largest of the sea turtles, and they're rare. I'd never seen one before and had to stifle myself from actually jumping up and down. Instead I smacked Keith on the arm and quickly made my way to the side of the boat. Turned out to be a masquerading sea lion; a bit of a disappointment, but nonetheless our whole ocean-top tryst with Sanctuary was a blast. Highly recommended. The day was foggy but winds calm. Our boat and Captain Brian were able and accommodating, and Giancarlo, our young but versed naturalist for the day, was a hoot. Alas the big blues have unfortunately moved on for the time being, and we spotted none, nor any basking sharks. But there were humps (humpbacks) everywhere, spouting and fluking and even breaching very near the boat, several graceful black-footed albatross, plus harbor seals, bottle-nosed dolphins, sea otters, red-throated phalaropes, murres, pelicans, sooty shearwaters and the ubiquitous, noisy and acrobatic California sea lion.

It was a lovely affair, and I'll certainly head back down for one more romp on the water with Sanctuary before the 2012 season is history. You should as well, especially if a trip to the Farallones seems overwhelming: too long, too intense, the water and weather too unpredictable. Won't get to see the fabled islands, the Devil's Teeth as their called, but you'll no doubt have a grand day out on the mighty Pacific. The road trip to Moss Landing is a lovely one, the area is of course beautiful, the 4-hour trips are a worthwhile $50 (sometimes longer if everyone on board is in cahoots), and the undersea drop off (into submarine Monterey Canyon, where a lot of the action takes place) is much closer to shore than than it is off the Golden Gate. An added delight is the chance to observe lots of charming California sea otters on their home turf (so to speak), an animal you don't see on trips out of San Francisco.

I'll leave you with a link to the Sanctuary Cruises website, which contains all sorts of cool information about what they do, where they do it, and a Captain's Log that details recent trips and sightings, including those extraordinary couple of weeks in late June and early July 2012:
https://www.sanctuarycruises.com/index.html

Oh...and one other website. Sanctuary may be my new mistress, my new secret paramour, but the Oceanic Society is still my main squeeze:
http://www.oceanicsociety.org/

As promised, that's it. Outta here.

Peter J. Palmer