Monterey Bay Walk

This is the second part of our day 2 Big Sur-Monterey Bay vacation. In the morning, we took a 4-hour whale watching tour with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, and in the afternoon, we took a very relaxing walk at Monterey Bay.

Sea Lions are Probably the Most Visible Wildlife in Monterey Harbor

As soon as our whale watching boat docked at Monterey Bay's Fisherman's Wharf, everyone sprinted away. However, as I got out of the boat, I saw a beautiful jelly fish swaying gracefully under the water. I took some time photographing until I was reminded by someone who was obviously hungry as you could hear from the 5-seconds video below. :) 

Hmmm, sometimes, foods do get in the way when you are having too much fun! :( Hehe. Realizing it was past lunch time (a little bit past 1:00 pm ), I put my camera inside my backpack and we looked for food at the Fisherman's Wharf. We did not really look hard, since Isabellas Italian Seafood and Steak is right next to Monterey Bay Whale Watch harbor. We were seated upstairs which has a beautiful view of the wharf. Even though Isabellas is a sea food and steak Italian restaurant, but thankfully, they have some vegetarian pasta for hubby. Usually, I would have vegetarian dish too, but that time I was tempted to get a shrimp pasta. 

Lunch at Isabellas 

After lunch, we decided to take a walk around the wharf, hoping to find some surf and dive shops where we hope to find a 7 mm flexible wet suit. The two dive shops we went to did not have a lot of wet suits, so we came out from the shops empty handed. After a little bit shopping for warmer wet suits, we took a relaxing walk at the Coast Guard Wharf. I saw some snorkelers and divers taking off from the beach. Seeing them, how I wished we also brought our wet suits and snorkeling gears. I knew however, that our 5 mm wet suit from San Diego won't be enough to warm us up snorkeling in Monterey Bay. Maybe, the most time we could snorkel with a 5 mm wet suit in Monterey Bay is 30 minutes - 1 hour. For me, 1 hour in the water is not always enough. While walking at the wharf, the first one that caught our eye was this strange looking fish hauling out on top of the rock. Hubby and I were debating whether the fish was alive or not. 

Baby Mola Mola ( or sun fish )

I described the mola mola above as a baby, since mola mola is the heaviest known bony fish in the world, with an average weight of 1,000 kg ( or 2,200 lbs ).

My Proof that the mola mola is alive :)

After mola mola, another surprising sight that came our way was a sea otter catching his prized fish. At first, I thought I saw a mola mola swimming away from a sea lion, but when I took a closer look, the small fish caught was not mola mola, maybe it was a small halibut. What I thought to be sea lion was actually a sea otter. Look at how the sea otter hugs the fish, probably saying, "oh, my precious!"

"Oh My Precious"- says the sea otter

It was dark where we spotted the sea otter because the area was under the shade, and the moment came so quick and sudden that I did not have time to change my camera settings. I decided to take a video instead of the very active sea otter trying to really get hold of the fish. The sea otter sure contaminated us with his pure "Oh My Precious" joy! :)

Sea Otter With His Prized Catch

Special Moments for Sea Otter

After a while, the sea otter swam away with the fish. I kept on saying, "ohh, poor fish", and hubby kept on reminding me, " but dear, you pity the fish, but you were like the sea otter too, you EAT FISH!" Hehehe, either someone was trying to make me feel guilty, or was just reminding me of the realities of life. When the sea otter with the fish was nowhere our sight, we continued walking towards the end of the wharf. We saw a pair of sea otters on kelp bed, and again, we were fascinated by all the live shows we were experiencing. So thankful to God for giving such a nature treat!

Shy Sea Otters :)

In the video above, you'd hear hubby saying, "I'll go to the sun", to seek for some warmth. His search for a warmer place brought us to this another amazing sight. Seeing so many jelly fish in the water, I no longer feel bad when hubby had to stop me from photographing one jelly fish I saw before lunch! So, this was hubby's treat to me coz he was the one who found these jelly fish.

Jellyfish

Ahhhh, how great is our GOD indeed, leading us in our unplanned walk. HE gave us treats one after another.

"COOL Hah?" - says hubby :)

It was way to cool watching them. The joy in seeing them made us giddy like a child, filled with joy and awe.

The jelly fish were like coming from another planet who had a taste of water that sent them dancing. :) We actually spent a long time enjoying the sights of jelly fish.We used to see them before only in aquariums, but this time, we were seeing them right there at the wharf, so it felt really special. After a while, we decided to walk back to our car so we could drive to the tidepooling area. Before leaving the wharf, I took a picture and video of mola mola.

Mola Mola With Jelly Fish

Mola mola at Monterey Bay

Hubby and I at Monterey Bay

Since we spent so much time in the Coast Guard Wharf watching ocean wildlife, we were not able to reach the tidepool area early enough. I was not sorry though for spending so much time at the wharf since I know I could always go tidepooling in San Diego. So, instead of tidepooling, I just spent some time taking pictures of the bay at low light.

The Tidepool Area at Dusk

We definitely had an awe-inspiring 2nd day nature exploring with the whales, sea lions, mola mola, jelly fish and more at Monterey Bay. My heart was so filled with joy, singing again, "to the sea...to the sea..." Yes, I love the sea, so much....and the mountains....that's why Big Sur is so special for me, since the mountains are kissed by the sea. 

♥♥