Maggi had discovered Monterey Aquarium feeding begins at 10:15 so we needed to start off early in order to walk the 3 ½ miles from our cabin.
We followed our usual walking route to Monterey via the lake and onto Del Monte Avenue. On the way there are many large cedars and eucalyptus trees. In one of the side roads I saw these 3 trees which looked more impressive live than they do in the photo below.
We arrived at the end of Cannery Row in time for the 10:30 Otter feeding session. We stood in front of the glass panel and waited. The oldest Sea Otter in the aquarium Heidi aged 15 was particularly noticeable because of her colouring.
From then we wandered around the aquarium visiting the different tanks full of fish, sea birds, crustaceans and sea vegetation.
We visited a large tank at the open sea feeding time. Many others joined us in the viewing area, behind us and on all sides as well as above.
We spent about 2 hours in the aquarium wandering around the building, a conversion of two cannery factories. Many children, from schools and with their parents seemed to enjoy the experience.
Most of the volunteers at the aquarium made me feel quite young, I would have put them in their late 70’s. This guy looked after a tank with this guitar fish and chatted to the people as they came past. There were many other examples of other volunteers helping out.
We walked back from the aquarium and buy the time we returned to our hut we both slumped down on our beds to take a well deserved rest.
Stoke Adobe
In the evening we drove downtown for an evening meal at the ridiculously early time of 4:30 pm. The restaurant, Stoke Adobe had a happy hour between 4:30 and 5:30. Maggi had a cocktail and a glass of wine, but because I drove I stuck to one martini.
We sat outside in the garden for the cocktails and then decided to stay there for our meal. We shared a plate of tomato salad and some focaccia. Both tasted very good. For my main course I chose the crisp black cod. The well cooked fish with the crispy skin had two sauces on the plate both of which lacked flavour and I asked for salt to see if I could enhance the taste. It made a little difference. Maggi seemed slightly happier with her choice of chicken milanese.
A quick trip to Wholefoods for breakfast bread and then back for our last night at the Hilby Street cabin.