San Francisco to Monterrey

The day of reckoning. Picking up the hire car. Although we thought we had hired a mustang it was actually a black Camara. The sleekest car I have ever travelled in. Comfortable with endless electronic gadgets. But no room for luggage. We discovered that not only was the boot too small to take more than one case and the rucksacks,  but also with the boot full you cannot convert the convertible. After a good half hour we managed to cram my case into the back seat and the rest in the boot and had sorted at least the basics of the gadgets (but not the air-conditioning...)

First stop was Pacifica, a short scenic drive from the airport. We stopped at a beach full of surfers.

Then we headed down the coast to Maverick's Bay. This was a disappointment. Windy, grey and a beach full of dog walkers.

But as we ventured further down the Coast the sun came out and the beaches looked increasingly lovely. We got out for a brief stroll at Pescidero near Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

It was all just too gorgeous and rashly I said so. Bad mistake, my friends.

We had scoped out a number of quality restaurants in Santa Cruz to enjoy for lunch. But what we got was a town in gridlock. After a good while we gave up and decided to push on to Monterrey for a late lunch and then whale watching. Unfortunately due to an accident (not ours) this route also ground to a halt. Our late lunch became ever later. One or two cars even decided to go off road and drive along neighbouring fields, but we weren't going to try that trick in a hired sports car!

Eventually we got Monterrey at gone 3 pm. We just went for one of the ever so touristy seafood restaurants in a twee shopping development. Food was predictably dire. A lukewarm glutinous clam chowder and half a steamed crab with doughy bread. And bizarrely Thibault's attempt to order two glasses of tap water resulted in us receiving two mugs of steaming hot water. Not a good meal. Only plus was a nice view of the marina behind Thibault's head. He didn't even get that. But we were starving. Thibault commented that I didn't leave much of a tip but I pointed out we didn't get much service. Or indeed food.

And with my long trousers and mac trapped in the back seat, I headed onto the whale watching trip in shorts and sandals with linen jacket. Boy did I get cold! But was very happy in the end for seeing about 20 Humpback and Blue Whales. Stunning. I had rather hoped to see a whale, but not anticipated so many.

We had been chatting away on the right hand side of the deck getting a fair amount of sea spray and staring at endless waves when suddenly a  Humpback just appeared and dived right next to us. It was amazing if only because it was so unheralded. After going out maybe for an hour and a half and 15 miles we hit this pod of Blue Whales. First signs were the blowholes. Little fountains appearing in the distance. Well I say little but they were apparently about 30 feet high. There is just no scale out here. And suddenly all around us were Blue Whales. The largest creatures ever to roam the Earth. You just see this flume of spray and then a smooth greyish sleek mass appears, arches and silently returns under water. Awesome. I know it's a crass comparison but it made me think of the Loch Ness Monster, only this was real!

As you will gather from photos below, photographing whales is a task best left to professional wildlife photographers. Apart from the obvious difficulty of snapping them in the brief time they are above the surface of the water, add that you are craning over other people, the boat is pitching and rolling and your fingers are cold, and you are getting occasional bursts of sea-spray. But I have my memories.

Highlight of the long trip back to the Coast was seeing a huge basking Sunfish. Lowlights were the cold and, if we went inside, the smell of vomit from those passengers who couldn't take the rolling motion. Luckily we were fine. If cold and damp.

We managed to rediscover the car somewhat more easily than we had found parking it, and headed off to our hotel before an almost immediate turn round, well after adding long trousers and proper shoes and socks to replace shorts and wet sandals, to get dinner just before the restaurant shut.

We plumped for a well rated Italian Il Vecchio, partly because it was the best rated restaurant reasonably close to the hotel. Unfortunately it was too late to walk so Thibault had to settle for a single glass of red wine and I stuck to that in sympathy. Food was very good in a nice environment, although they did run out of bread.  But a nice end to a long tiring day. We had had a whale of a time. Literally. And you can't often say that!