This morning we leave Three Rivers and take the shortest way to Monterey (well known to the hippie's).

Around noon we arrive at our hotel and take care of all the paperwork for the check-in. We get a room on the second level but it will only be ready after 4pm. No problem for us as we planned to drive to the harbour first.

The Monterey harbour (with amongst others their own Fishermans Wharf) is just like San Francisco but smaller, less crowded and very cozy. We park our car (there are several large parking lots) and pay the parking ticket with Visa which is very handy and easy!

We go for a walk by the waterside towards Fishermans Wharf and as we suddenly see something swim in the water we are glad we took our big lens with us as we watch sea lions and sea otters playing in the water. On several rocks there are sea lions enjoying the sun.

We go for lunch at Domenico's on the Wharf, the seafood is very good and we have a fantastic view on the water where there is a pontoon full of sea lions. On the outside of the window, just next to us, we see a beautiful brown pelican! Then we notice sea otters swimming between the sea lions and one of the otters caught a crab which he is opening with a little rock. What a great view!

Later on we walk around the pier which is full of sea-gulls and Nathalie is lucky today... she gets a present from them on her coat... we have been told this means good luck so... Then we walk back to the car and drive to our hotel where we first have a drink. We go to our room for a nice shower and then we have dinner at the hotel's restaurant. The food is amazing and the view is even better! We have a view straight on the beach and the sea. During dinner we watch sea otters and sea lions playing in the water and about 20 brown pelicans flying and fishing. What an amazing scene...

If we had known this before, we would have booked some extra days in Monterey as it really is beautiful here...

Daytrip approx. 371 km