Monterey Bay and Half Moon Bay

Friday Sept 19, 2014.  We all went for breakfast at one of our favorite places then took Ray to get his rental car for his weekend in SFO.  Eric and I are left to continue enjoying the area.

We headed down to Big Sur to look for birds and enjoy the area.  We ended up getting 4 new birds during our day.  One stop was at the River's Edge Inn and restaurant.  They have chairs in the river to sit and enjoy the scenery and a drink/lunch.

The water was pretty cool but fun to sit and relax in the river.  We continued down to Ventana for lunch.  great place, great view, great food.

We did see the California Condor, making our daily count 4 new.

It was a beautiful ride with lots of stops for hiking and birding.  After we got back to Pacific Grove we had a light dinner of baked sardines, prawn cocktail and desert.  too much food all week made us want to do appetizers only.

Sat Sept 20:  After checkin out of our motel, we headed up to Half Moon bay for a few days. We stopped at a few places to look for birds and hiking.  Too  many places to stop! But we got 3 more birds!

hard to see but there is a Harlequin Duck and a Wandering Tattle in this picture

We checked into our motel "Coastside Inn" in Half Moon Bay then went to the local brew pub for dinner. Early start tomorrow so in our room and bed early.

Sunday Sept 21: We went to the harbor to catch our boat for our pelagic bird tour.  We left the dock at about 7:15 AM, returning at 6:45 PM.  Long day on the boat but we got 20 new birds!  It was such a wonderful day on the ocean, we went out about 25 miles from shore.  The guides and captain were the best.  We also seen some whales, Blue, Orca and Hump Backed, along with some seals and ocean critters.

It was a wonderful day although a bit exhausting.  We will definitely try this again.

Monday Sept 22: Our final day on the coast.  It will be so hard to leave but we must go home.  We took some hikes, looked for birds, went to the Maverick's surfing area.  the waves were not big but still fun to see it.

and of course one last dinner

The lobster roll was good but not Top Five!  the crab sandwich was actually better.

At the end of our trip we logged 39 new birds!  Obviously we can not do it alone, so thankful for our guides.  They were all amazing.

We hope to come back to the area in a year or two, we had not been here for about 7 years!  too long to be away.

Our trip back home was pretty uneventful, just the way we like it!

We hope to be leaving for the winter to Southern Calif by the end of October.