The Area, Moss Landing

Unless you take notice of the towering smoke stacks of its power plant while driving along Highway 1, you might miss Moss Landing, a quaint fishing town between Monterey and Santa Cruz. Despite the few antique shops and art galleries, boating and fishing prevail. Restaurants like Phil’s Fish Market offer the bay’s freshest catches on ice. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve offers kayak tours through the salt marshes and tidal flats with incomparable bird and wildlife viewing. David Packard’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has a facility here, with big, expensive toys for probing the depths of the bay and gathering specimens for the aquarium. For surfers in the know, Moss Landing boasts one of California’s best beachbreaks. At night, landlubbers kick up their heels at Moss Landing Inn, where the music is loud and the cocktails are delicious.

GUESTLIFE DON'T MISS

Finned Migration

Moss Landing was one of the first West Coast whaling stations. According to records, the age-old cry of “Thar she blows!” echoed over Monterey Bay in the 1850s. Today, the great “leviathans of the deep,” as early writers described them, pass our shores in the thousands from December through March heading to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Whale-watching cruises show off humpback, blue, gray, orcas, minke, and killer whales, as well as dolphins, sea lions, and sea otters. Sanctuary Cruises leads eco excursions on catamarans and on bio-diesel boats.

Information: Sanctuary Cruises, (831) 643-0128