Thursday 29th September

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So today was the beginning of our journey down Highway 1 or the Pacific Coastal Highway. We couldn't leave the campsite until after 9am when the office opened, as we needed to return our key for the showers etc. to get our $5 deposit back. The roads out of San Francisco were not as busy as those in and we soon found ourselves linking across onto the famous CA-1 at Half Moon Bay. The weather was quite cool and cloudy and as we followed the contours of the coast, instead of beautiful bays of white sand and azure blue sea under a brilliant blue sky,it looked like the east coast on a cold day!! We stopped at Pescardo state beach to look at the wildlife and have a coffee,then it was on to Santa Cruz where we found a much needed Safeway's. Just before Moss Landing near Elkhorn Slough we stopped at an area with marshes and lagoons and spotted many seals sun-bathing out of the water. There were many different seabirds to be seen, but our best spot was a couple of sea otters playing together. We were able to get very close to them; they were very cute.

After lunch we continued to Monterey where there was lots of parking for RV's. We had a lovely walk along the sea front, spotting many seals and pelicans and even another sea otter. The sun was now shinning, but it was still trouser and light top weather. Cannery Row, immortalised by John Steinbeck, was once the sardine capital of the world, but it is now just a tourist attraction. The very famous Aquarium is just nearby, but unfortunately we did not have time to visit it. Some of our fellow travellers went whale watching and were able to see 4 humpback whales, but it was a bit rough!!

We then headed out of Monterey to our stop for the night up a long and winding road to the Saddle Mountain Ranch. This is a scenic campsite with very good views all around. Today we drove 120 miles, tomorrow it is 144 to Pismo beach.

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