Day #3 - Whale Watching

When we talked about going to Monterey for our anniversary we wanted to go whale watching. I checked out some companies and did some research and got us tickets on a nice whale watching ship. Right now is the time for blue whales and killer whales so I knew we would have a great time.

We woke up early (as usual), took our time getting ready, walked to a breakfast restaurant we had discovered the day before (that had GREAT hot chocolate, by the way), and split a meal. This ended up being a really good thing because it was a ton of food even split by two people. Then we walked to the Old Fisherman's Wharf to check in for our whale watching expedition.

When we went into the shack to check in they told us that there were high swells. We didn't know what that meant so we asked if that had an indication on whether or not we would see whales. They told us that they can never guarantee that we will see whales or not and that the swell didn't change any part of their non-guarantee to see whales. They offered to re-schedule us for another time or refund our money. We talked about it and decided that we wanted to go on the trip. So we waited around until it was time to get on the ship.

We loaded on and took off. The "naturalist" on board told us about some of the animals we saw as we were pulling out to sea. Then the swells and waves began. It was fun at first because we went up and down and up and down. Then people started throwing up and the fun boat ride turned into 2 1/2 hours of misery! We ended up not seeing anything except a bunch of people at the back of the boat throwing up. And then both of us were pretty queasy. We never threw up but we certainly didn't feel very good. And it was really cold!! We had taken coats, gloves, scarfs and hats, but it was still really cold and miserable out there. (As a side note, I got an email after we got home saying they would let us go on another whale watching adventure for free to make up for the horrible trip, so we didn't imagine how bad it was.)

When we docked, everyone was happy to get off the boat. Bryan and I walked back to the hotel, took LONG naps and decided that we don't need to ever get on a boat again. We didn't even want sea food for dinner! ;) So we ate Italian and then watched a movie in our room at the hotel while trying to recover. The sad part was that we had planned on renting bikes that afternoon, after the boat, but we hadn't felt good enough. We had both really looked forward to the bikes. But we'll do it next time. ;)

Here are a few photos from our boat adventure.