From Jelly Fish to Sea Lions and Scenery: The Monterey Bay Aquarium and 17 Mile Drive… The Pacific Coast Series 2

/ Curt Mekemson
Jellyfish: The best aquariums have to have them and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best in the world. A whole room is devoted to their ethereal beauty…
We, along with umpteen thousand other people, patiently made our way through the five person deep crowds gathering in front of each display case and dutifully took photos with our cell phones. The jelly fish came in a multitude of shapes, sizes and colors.

It was a rainy and cold last week when we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium with high hopes that a combination of visiting mid-week during nasty weather might tamp down the crowds. Label that wishful thinking. The weather meant that people would be looking for an inside location. Duh. And, with the Big Sur highway washed out, there were a lot more people in town than usual. We joined a long line that snaked its way up the hill and around the side of the building before winding through a crowd control maze and back down the hill. Thankfully, the weather gods put the rain on hold for the 30 minutes it took to reach the entrance.

What had to be tamped down was my normal claustrophobia brought about by large crowds wanting to see the same thing I did. Fortunately, the jellyfish, sea otters, sharks and countless other forms of sea life were guaranteed to put a smile on my face and cure my grumpiness.

This smiling fellow with a barely hidden toothy grin is a moray eel. As friendly as it looks, you wouldn’t want to pet it. Morays have an extra set of jaws in their throats. When they bite into a tasty morsel with their front jaws, the back jaws spring forward and drag the meal down their throat.
These snake like critters can grow up to five feet in length. Peggy was scuba diving in Corona Bay, Palawan in the Philippine Islands once exploring a sunken ship and peeked in a port hole. A giant moray took offense and shoved its head out of the port hole. Fast. But not nearly as fast as Peggy retreated.
Colorful fish swim unharmed among predatory sea anemones. Apparently some fish develop a mucous coating that makes them impervious to the anemones’ stinging tentacles.
A sea anemone, front and center, waves its tentacles in hopes of attracting its next meal.
One of the top attractions at the Aquarium is a huge tank which supports a kelp forest and a wide variety of fish including this shark. Our cell phone didn’t take the best photo here, but you get the idea.
Ocean View Blvd. starts just outside of the Aquarium and leads into Pacific Grove and around the Monterey Peninsula. It’s where Peggy found the seal balanced on a rock that we featured earlier.
A seagull was hanging out at the same pullout, hoping for a handout.
It had knobby knees.
There were lots of flowers along the drive. In fact Pacific Grove, Monterey and Carmel are all filled with flowers. The large yellow flower belongs to an ice plant. The purple flowers are hairy dew flowers according to our flower ID app.
Ocean carved boulders made their way down to Monterey Bay.
Where the ocean continued its multi-million year task of creating new boulders.
Ocean View Blvd. morphs into Sunset Drive, but we were a little early to take advantage of the evening show. Sunset Drive, however provides an entrance to the 17 Mile Drive which connects Pacific Grove with Carmel. The 17 mile Drive is equally famous for its views and golf courses. For a mere $47,000 you can buy a membership at Pebble Beach. There is also lots of wildlife along the way. This is Bird Rock. All the little black dots you see are birds, mainly cormorants plus a few brown pelicans.
Closer view of the cormorants and one seagull. We have lots of fun photos of cormorants in our next post (soon) about Point Lobos State Park.
What caught our attention more that Bird Island was a raft of sea lions, which was something that Peggy and I had never seen before.
What we learned was that the sea lions come together to rest instead of climbing up on a rock or the shore. It’s thought that raising their flippers in the air is a way to control their body temperatures. The raft also provides some protection against predators such as orcas.
The sea lions were also snoozing on a rock that was next to Bird Rock.
I find it fascinating how they drape themselves over the rocks.
Mmmm, a nice comfy pillow…
Any drive down the 17 Mile Drive has to include the iconic Lone Cypress.
I’ll finish up today rendering it in black and white simply to note that people have been taking photos of the Lone Cypress as long as they have had cameras to do so. I first saw it in the 70s when I used to drive my VW camper down to the area and park for free along the ocean south of Carmel. I was almost a hippie…
Our next post will feature the beautiful Point Lobos State Reserve just south of Carmel. Mother seals and babies were just one of many sights Peggy and I enjoyed.

27 thoughts on “From Jelly Fish to Sea Lions and Scenery: The Monterey Bay Aquarium and 17 Mile Drive… The Pacific Coast Series 2”

  2. How fabulous! You have a picture of the lone knobby knee gull. What a treasure! The eel is just scary. See you along the way!

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  6. Great photos, Curt! A lovely day at the aquarium, which reminds me of Toronto’s Ripley Aquarium that we visited last fall once again. Jelly fish room is definitely one of a kind🙂

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  9. The most fascinating tidbit here was your mention of the two sets of eel teeth. I had no idea. I’ve never seen one in the wild, but that’s just fine by me. Jellies, on the other hand, often float by while I’m working. Cabbageheads and moon jellies are the most common, although other species can appear from time to time, depending on tides and temperature.

    Just a note: jellies aren’t fish, and ‘jellyfish’ is akin to ‘Canadian goose’ or ‘seagull.’ Those common names are everywhere, but it’s worth noting that the correct terms are ‘jellies,’ ‘Canada goose,’ and ‘gull’ (with terms like ‘ring-billed’ or ‘laughing’ attached). I got lectured so severely and publicly on my use of Canadian goose some months back that I’ll never forget the experience. I like knowing what’s correct, but I’m sure not going to be the taxonomic police!

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    • Laughing about the lectures, Linda. Although it may not have been funny to you. I like being correct but not to the point that I want to be lectured if I am not. I’d worry more about misspellings and grammatical errors. I do my share of those. I’d say a sea horse is quite a ways from being a horse, as well. Grin. I suspect you find the scientific names a bit frustrating since they keep moving flowers around between families.
      I’ll be featuring Velella in my next post. They had been washed ashore in the thousands at Point Lobos.
      As for jaws, I learned about it for the first time as I did my research.

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  10. As always, your photos are much better than mine! We were at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2006. Did you see the penguins? One thing I do remember about the aquarium was that it wasn’t very busy – maybe because it was late October. On the whole, though, it just seems like everywhere is so much more crowded.

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    • Well, you feature some very good photos…
      Not only did we see the African penguins at the aquarium, we saw them in the wild on our African safari trip last November!
      I think this was my fourth trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the most crowded. 🙂

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  11. The Monterey Bay aquarium’s a good one, although I have only dim memories. The Steinhart in San Francisco is good too, if you’re heading that way. Too bad Big Sur is washed out – I hadn’t heard. Really the whole coast from there north is pretty nice…

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    • My memories of the Steinhart may be even dimmer, Dave. Maybe the 70s? As for washouts along the Big Sur Highway, I’ve had three experiences with it happening. One time, Peggy and I had to be escorted through an area where big rocks kept rolling down!

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    • I always make sure to check out the jellyfish exhibit if an aquarium has one, Alison. I can’t resist the colors and shapes.
      Peggy never forgot her encounter with the eel. As for a raft of sea lions, it was our first experience with one as well. Thanks. –Curt

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  13. We have a funny story of our son trying to buy a jelly fish for our home aquarium. Probably not the best idea (especially because we had a fresh water tank). They are beautiful though. The whole Monterey Bay Aquarium looks beautiful. We might have to plan a trip down there this summer.

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