What's more fun than seeing wild animals in their own habitat? And I'm mainly talking about whale watching. Once we decided on one roadtrip to make in America, this was one of the highlights on my list. Because how crazy is it to see these huge animals swimming by at their leisure?
Are you thinking of following our footsteps and renting a camper(van) with friends, your partner or with your whole family? Then ask free of charge and without obligation submit a quote to Travelhome from ANWB. They have both campervans and full-fledged family campers on offer.
- Large selection, low prices
- Independent or Customized
- Expert advice from specialists
- Full quote with no hidden costs
Plan your vacation to America here
- Camper rental You can book this in combination with a tour Travelhome.
- Tours and Fly & drives compare to TUI, Americaplus, sawadee en Djoser.
- Flight tickets for America you book with TUI, KLM en Skyscanner.
- Rental cars : Sunnycars, Alamo en rental cars.
- Tours and Activities in America you book via GetYourGuide.
- Campsites in National Parks you book on RECREATION.gov.
- Travel insurance for America you will find at Allianz.
- Hotels & Resorts in America you can book with a discount Booking.com.
- SIM cards : USAsim en International sim.
- Parking at the airport you can arrange via Parkos, park care of iParking.
- travel items (suitcases, bags, world plugs, etc. can be ordered at Bol.com.
Old Fisherman's Wharf
At the end of our 4 week roadtrip we arrived at our destination: Monterey, located on the rugged coast of California (location here) you will be amazed by this.
We stayed at the hotel Monterey Tides (look at here) where we had a view of the sea from our hotel room. We left our stuff in the room and drove our rental car towards Old Fisherman's Warf (location here). Far in advance we heard the loud roar of the sea lions relaxing and playing with each other at this harbor. While they didn't do much in San Francisco, they are very active in Monterey!
From the wooden scaffold you have a good view of these noisy animals and there is constant chaos in the water. At least, that's how it seems. While one person is enjoying the sun, others are playing with each other, pushing each other off the rocks and swimming after each other. Suddenly a group came swimming from the sea towards the bay. They had probably been hunting or checking to see if the coast was clear for their home port.
A lot of noise
There are several restaurants here where you can eat or drink something. We choose a table outside on the terrace, where we had a good view of the sea lions. As a tourist it is very entertaining to observe them, but I can imagine that this makes you less happy as an employee. There is constant noise.
After an hour our ears could no longer handle the sound and we left with a big smile. We strolled through this area for a while, where there are many nice shops and then we drove back to our accommodation, located right on the beach. It was nice to be able to relax here for a while and only hear the sound of the waves.
Whale watching
The next morning the alarm went off very early because it was finally time to go out to sea and hopefully spot whales! My enthusiasm was uncontrollable and I couldn't wait to leave. Through our travel organization We booked a Whale Watching tour with Princess Monterey well in advance.
Are you thinking of following our footsteps and renting a camper(van) with friends, your partner or with your whole family? Then ask free of charge and without obligation submit a quote to Travelhome from ANWB. They have both campervans and full-fledged family campers on offer.
- Large selection, low prices
- Independent or Customized
- Expert advice from specialists
- Full quote with no hidden costs
The tour lasts about 2,5 hours and cost us 95 euros per person. You can choose from places on the Lower and Upper Deck. We deliberately chose a spot on the Upper Deck so that we could see everything clearly. We presented our tickets, received a wristband and boarded. The boat left and the coast disappeared more and more into the background.
Our course headed towards the open sea, to the habitat of gray whales, humpback whales, (blue) whales, orcas, dolphins, sea lions, seals and sea otters. During the beginning of the trip a group of sea lions swam with us and it was almost as if they were waving us goodbye. At this point the passengers were very relaxed and we were all looking out for whales. In general you can spot whales all year round, but the best chance is between June and November. So we were in the right place at exactly the right time!
In addition, Monterey Bay is very special. It is the third largest undersea canyon in the world. This ensures that the bay is supplied with cold and nutrient-rich seawater all year round. And this attracts all kinds of marine mammals and sea birds that come to feed here.
It's time!
Suddenly we heard that whales had been spotted further away and we headed straight for them! I had tears in my eyes because I wanted to experience this so badly. I think these animals are so special. It took a while but then we saw them! There was a group of 3 gray whales swimming. They moved so calmly through the water, not caring much about all the boats that gathered around them. Every time they surfaced they shot air through their blowholes. This was an amazing sound.
Then they dived under water again and exactly the same thing happened again. When their tail comes out of the water, they sort of move downwards and swim to deeper water and you won't see them anymore for a while. They can survive for an hour without fresh air!
A lot of distance was kept so that we would not disturb the animals, but we could still admire them. This was one of the things I really liked about this tour. They were constantly trying to make sure they didn't bother the animals.
Meanwhile, an expert biologist provided all kinds of information about this area and the animals that live here. This was very interesting and educational. For example, he said that the rotten egg smell that we smell comes from the whales because of the amount of krill they eat. These are shrimp-like animals that occur in many quantities in the sea. At one point we saw a group of whales lying quietly in the sea and it looked as if they were waving their fins. They also flapped their fins on the water. We were told that so much research has been done on this, but experts still cannot figure out why these animals exhibit this behavior.
A little later more and more whales showed up. There was even a mother and her calf (baby whale) swimming by and we followed them from a distance for a while. Besides whales we also saw several species of dolphins, including a very rare species; the gray dolphin, one of the smaller dolphin species that exist and a sea otter. Wow! I enjoyed this special event so much. What a magical experience.
Also read: Orca & Whale Watching | Telegraph Cove, Vancouver Island
Sustainable tour
Is this also on your bucket list? Be sure to book a tour (offer seen below) and, if possible, choose a seat on the Upper Deck. This really makes your experience complete. Mind you, not all boats kept much distance from these wild animals.
If, like me, you think it is important to book a more sustainable tour where the animals are not disturbed, be sure to ask how this is handled. The organization we booked with was certainly very conscious of this. There was even a biologist who could answer all our questions and immediately checked whether the animals looked healthy. This gave me a very nice feeling.
Are you thinking of following our footsteps and renting a camper(van) with friends, your partner or with your whole family? Then ask free of charge and without obligation submit a quote to Travelhome from ANWB. They have both campervans and full-fledged family campers on offer.
- Large selection, low prices
- Independent or Customized
- Expert advice from specialists
- Full quote with no hidden costs
Plan your vacation to America here
- Camper rental You can book this in combination with a tour Travelhome.
- Tours and Fly & drives compare to TUI, Americaplus, sawadee en Djoser.
- Flight tickets for America you book with TUI, KLM en Skyscanner.
- Rental cars : Sunnycars, Alamo en rental cars.
- Tours and Activities in America you book via GetYourGuide.
- Campsites in National Parks you book on RECREATION.gov.
- Travel insurance for America you will find at Allianz.
- Hotels & Resorts in America you can book with a discount Booking.com.
- SIM cards : USAsim en International sim.
- Parking at the airport you can arrange via Parkos, park care of iParking.
- travel items (suitcases, bags, world plugs, etc. can be ordered at Bol.com.
