San Simeon to Carmell by the Sea.
Disappointingly the fog was thicker than ever in the morning so did not get to capitilise on the great views that were obviously around our accommodation. We saw another humming bird (they are so tiny) Lewis hunted it for a while with his camera but to no avail, so grabbed a coffee and some fuel (Lewis got one called the red eye – 3 shots of coffee then topped up with drip coffee and if needed you can add cream) then off to the Elephant seals again – they were a little more active with mock battles going on in the water AND we saw ground what we think are ground squirrels (California Ground Squirrel Otospermophilus beecheyi) they were cool, one tried to get into the car engine to warm up as it was COLD. I had jumper, jacket and beanie on (lucky Lewis bought 3 beanies).
The off to Hursts castle, next tour didn’t leave for 2 hours and would take over an hour so just went to the loo, bought some food (yoghurt) and headed off to big sur. Still foggy which was a little disappointing but still massively beautiful area huge mountains (well to us) that reach the sea in spectacular cliffs. Around 12 the sun came out and wow was it even more beautiful – great scenery on both sides of the road, we even saw a light house – though some of the photos are dodgy as they were taken in the car whilst moving through the window (no real place to stop) we did try and do a walk but the walks were damaged by fire and were closed. Saw some naughty birds (stellers jay) were stealing biscuits (unfortunately could not get a photo without a biscuit) they were cool but cheeky.
Stopped for lunch at Big Sur bakery and Restaurant which had an art? Shop attached with crazy African inspired art and didgeridoos made in Indonesia – needless to say we did not purchase anything from here. There were more naughty birds (Stellers Jays) at lunch diving and stealing crumbs they were quite bold, lunch was nice and the coffees great (surprising as in the middle of nowhere for a place to to have a barista was not expected). Then drove on – stopping regularly for photos until we got to carmel, drove past our accommodation and went to the beach – water was freezing (apparently – Lewis touched it but I did not) people were on the beach in hooded jackets, lumber jackets and all the surfers had full wet suits but there was one crazy man swimming in just swimmers.
Looked at doing 17 mile drive (costs $9.50 just to drive on a road to ogle rich people’ houses… not really our thing) but Point Lobos State Reserve was just a few miles around so we headed there paid our $10 and had an awesome time. It is only a small reserve but it had a lot of animals there. On the first trail we saw Deer, then we saw Cormorants not very exciting but you tend to spot a lot of them when you’re looking for Sea Otters. After many many Cormorants Lewis spotted what could have been a sea otter but it was a very long way off and even with my big lens it was hard to tell what it was exactly. We also saw the stick piles produced by the stick rat. It was really the pretty scenery that was the highlight on the first walk. The scenery on the second walk was not as nice but there was an absolute bonanza with animals. We saw SEA OTTERS, cutest things ever. We saw Harbour seals, Sea Lions, couple of cool birds including maybe a canary.
At 5 we decided to leave the reserve and check into the hotel.
The hotel was cute but what we really needed was dinner. We had planned to get some fish and chips and go down to the beach and eat. Lewis though was feeling tired and just wanted to eat and get back to the hotel to rest. Changing the plans all the time doesn’t sit well with me so Lewis had to pick the restaurant. We ended up eating at a very nice Italian place. Meals were lovely as was the Napa Valley Cab Sav that we had with dinner.
Soooo Mannnnny Sea Otter photos to sort through.
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