Third time lucky!!

This morning was exactly as one imagines the Californian Riviera ought to be and we were soon into downtown Monterey.

We headed straight for Cannery Row, where the refurbished fish canning buildings (now classy tourist hotels) still stand. The canning industry here went from boom to bust in a mere sixty years, but now the area is a tourist magnet for many reasons, not least because it was home and plot provider to John Steinbeck who to me, was a masterly writer.

It was also the location for Ed Rickett's ('the Doc') marine laboratory, he being a close friend of Steinbeck and a central character in some of his classic novels. The lab and its back yard facing onto the bay are now preserved as a site of historical importance. Monterey Bay itself is idyllic on a day like today and its crystal-clear waters throw off a 'blue-turquoise'. We walked down to Fisherman's Wharf, stopping several times to take-in the view, and once there we seized another (final) opportunity to seek out a whale sighting.

We took a four-hour trip on the "Princess", a medium-size boat which pitched and rolled in the ocean swell.....but not only did we see dolphins, but there they blew!....three humpback whales...Success!!

Later, I heard the following being played and thought "yeah, that's California music"!