I'm on a boat... Kinda
Friday night we left work and headed over to Denver International Airport. Within a few hours, we were in San Jose, CA. We got our rental car, and headed down the coast to the Best Western De Anza in Monterey. It was unmemorable, but Tony says the room was large. Some of the guests were a little loud (e.g. like rhinos) but the hotel itself was fine.
Don't mess with this Shark
Saturday morning we got up early and went to First Awakenings in Monterey. The food was great – omelets, eggs and hollandaise sauce, and coffee. Then we strolled down the boardwalk, saw some sea lions and a few sea gulls, before walking back to the Monterey Aquarium. We had heard the aquarium was very large, and very cool. However, we were not quite anticipating that we would easily spend 6 hours there. But we did. We saw anchovies swimming in an overhead aquarium, and sardines, dolphinfish (i.e. Maui Maui), tiger sharks, hammerhead sharks, a small white shark, and large bluefin tuna in a big tank. We also got to see them get fed – fortunately, we missed the time when one of the sharks decided to eat a tuna. The aquarium also has a two story kelp forest (we watched bass and sharks swim by), penguins, and shorebirds. We saw the sea otters get fed, and watched freshwater otters playing in their pool. One of the newest exhibits was the seahorse exhibit. Some of the creatures even looked like small pieces of plankton and algae. Other interesting fish were brightly colored, tube worms, a giant octopus, and flat fish that look like they swim sidways, but have eyes on the top of their heads (which look like the sides of other fishes’ faces). These flat fish like to burrow under the sand, so only their eyes are above the surface.
Nesting Cormorants
In between spending time at the aquarium, we walked through downtown Monterey, got coffee, enjoyed the beach and pier views, and got lunch at Hula’s. Hula’s is our go-to place to eat in Monterey, and this lunch was delicious as well. That night we went back again, this time for dinner, and had lemongrass encrusted ahi tuna and sea scallops. We also enjoyed the potstickers, which come with a delicious peanut sauce.
Check out the photos here.
