Man diving from rocks to bay, Monterey Bay, CA Copyright © 1997, Don Baccus (donb@rational.com)
All images copyright © 1997, Don Baccus
Monterey Bay lies in California an hour or so south of San Francisco. The
area's famous for the Monterey Bay Aquarium; kelp forests and their associated
wildlife such as sea otter;
the towns of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel; easy-to-photograph shorebirds;
whales and dolphins; and moderate weather.
Historically, the town of Monterey was the earliest port on the Pacific Coast, and the Custom House, built by the Spanish in 1827, has been restored and is open to the public. Earlier this century, the bay's sardine fishery led to the building of canneries along the waterfront, which John Steinback made famous in his novel Cannery Row. The sardine fishery collapsed decades ago, and today tourism is a major industry.
The area is conveniently close to places like Gilroy, the center of garlic
and artichoke production in California; Big Sur, with its famous headlands
and outdoor recreation opportunities; Pebble Beach and 17 Mile Drive; and
the beautiful Asilomar State Beach.
The towns of Monterey and Pacific Grove both have very nice waterfront parks
which provide great opportunities for viewing and photographing wildlife,
along with simply enjoying being near the sea. Though the particular sea
otter on this page was photographed at Point Lobos, they can easily be
seen from the waterfront park in Pacific Grove. The rocky shore is home
to black oystercatcher, surfbirds, double-crested cormorants, and other
shorebirds.
California sea lions are common here, and at high tide
harbor seals haul out on a few of the rocks very close to shore. The woman
in the photo to the right is pointing out a sea lion to her daughter. It
was swimming about fifty feet off the beach bordering a small inlet.
More sea otter photos and the story behind them can be found on my sea otter page.
While walking along the beach in one Pacific Grove park, I came across
a cross, flowers, the American flag, and a drawing of John Denver. I'd
forgotten that he'd died the week before I'd left for California, just
offshore of this point. A memorial service was planned for that afternoon,
and the offerings were destined to be washed away on the next high tide.
I didn't stay, but I did take
photos of this ephemeral memorial.
While the sardine fishery collapsed decades ago,
mackerel and other fish support a more modest local fishery. A small plant
on Monterey's Municipal Wharf transfers fish from boats to trucks, and
the pelican to the left, which appears to be obeying the "no fishing" sign behind
it, in actuality was part of a group of pelicans and gulls trying
to snitch mackerel which occasionally would fall from the conveyer
belt. Even more occasionally, workers would toss a mackerel to the
group, starting a bird riot.
There are a few seafood wholesalers one the wharf, and the carts and baskets they use for transporting fish on the pier make interesting subjects to shoot.
At dusk, the pier is lined with locals out for a little recreational fishing. The
moorage is filled with fishing boats and recreational craft, though
unfortunately the docks aren't open to the public.
Fisherman's Wharf, to the south of the moorage, is almost overwhelmingly touristy. Covered with restaurants, which all seem to serve the same clam chowder in the same bread bowls, this is also where whale watching boats depart from. These are quite reasonable, the one I took was $39 for a six hour trip.
The Custom House, where where goods were declared and duties paid in the days of Spanish rule, is at the foot of the wharf and adds a bit of much-needed character to the area.
The Monterey Aquarium has a world-wide reputation, and as my state's
Oregon Aquarium was built following a similar philosophy I was particularly
interested in comparing the two.
There's no doubt the Monterey Aquarium deserves its reputation. Built in a huge, rambling set of buildings on Cannery Row, it features a series of large tanks. The most popular is a multi-story tank which holds a cross-section of kelp forest life. It's awesome. Equally popular are the tanks holding jellyfish. I personally was drawn to the newish exhibit on the outer bay, which includes a large tank full of open-water fish.
If you plan to photograph here, it's dark inside. The photographs of the jellyfish exhibit and kelp forest exhibit were taken with E100SW pushed a stop to ISO 200, mirror lock-up, at about 1/30th second shutter speed. This would be a good place to try pushing Kodak's new E200 fine-grained, medium-speed slide film.
When I was there, they had a very good exhibit on fisheries management, and the crashing of various fisheries around the world. Without being preachy about it, they presented the factors which have led to decline of many of these fisheries. Monterey, which nearly went broke after the sardine fishery crashed, before reinventing itself as a tourist mecca, is certainly an appropriate place to learn about poor management of fisheries.
One nice thing about the aquarium is that the spacious set of buildings
containing it keeps it from feeling overcrowded.
The museum's not cheap, but well worth it
How does the Oregon Aquarium compare? Ignoring Keiko (owned by a separate organization), it's certainly modest in comparison but has done a good job considering its limited budget.
Across the street from the Monterey Aquarium in October, 1997, a large construction project was underway. The wooden barrier had been converted into a mural by a group of artists apparently funded by local businesses. The one at left intrigued me - a native American struck back at a mural he or she found offensive! "We never looked like this", they painted, followed by a tombstone representing the steady decline in the population of California Native Americans over the years.
Accurate? I have no idea, but here it is.
It's time to talk of my true love - photographing birds. Asilomar State Beach
is where it's at, folks. Here, at high tide, I found plenty of whimbrel,
black-bellied plover, willet, and black oystercatcher to photograph, with
an occasional surfbird thrown in for grins. Not only are there plenty of
birds here, but they're fairly used to people and allow close approach.
This is particularly unusual, in my experience, for whimbrel - in Oregon they usually freak out if they see you hauling a telephoto in their direction a hundred yards away.
Rather than clutter this page with bird photos, I've gathered them into their own page.
Of course, only a handful of the hordes of visitors to this beach ever
look at birds. Most are out for a morning walk, or to climb on rocks,
or to take their exercise in the form of tai chi like the gentleman
to the left. I can't think of a more beautiful place to do so.
Though I can afford such rates, there's something about paying $80 for a room that would go for $25 in winter on the Oregon Coast that grates on my nerves. In other words, that's pricey for tired beds and dirty walls.
So I continued to camp, south in Big Sur.
The cheapest camping opportunities are the walk-in camps at State Parks in Big Sur - $4/night. I didn't particularly care for the idea of carrying 40 lbs of camera gear a half-mile each night after a day of shooting, though, so opted to car camp in a USFS campsite about ten miles inland. This had the side-effect of being almost deserted, and the $10 fee included a camp host which provides some protection from theft.