Monterey Bay is a yawning curve cut away from the Pacific coast of California between San Francisco and the coastal slopes known as Big Sur. On its southern shore, the Spanish mission town of Monterey sprawls across a pine-shaded peninsula. Its waterfront Cannery ow once processed the bounty of oil-rich sardines from the bay. Today they are mostly converted into luxury hotels, restaurants, galleries and other tourist businesses. He town is still a working fishing port, and Fisherman’s Wharf is a place to catch a glimpse of the trade that made the town rich. At the Row’s other end, the spectacular Monterey Bay Aquarium offers visitors innumerable insights into the workings and denizens of the world’s seas, including a huge sea tank showing the rich ecosystem of the Bay’s kelp forests. Outside, a plaza allows visitors t watch endearing sea otters as they feed on molluscs, play and rest atop the floating mats of kelp. Further south, the charming artists’ colony of Carmel and the world-renowned seaside golf courses of Pebble Beach Resort are accessible from the spectacular 17-Mile Drive.
