Zabels At Sea

July 19, 2011

Monterey

Well, we are finding more things to do while waiting for a good weather window.  Yesterday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We spent all day there looking at and learning all about the marine life in the Monterey bay.  They still have a great jellyfish exhibit with jellies as small as a pin to ones as large as 16” in diameter and 20’ long.

This is a picture of an electrical jelly.  I can’t remember the exact name. 

The following picture is of several lions mane jellies.

We also got a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium.  We learned how they feed and take care of all the different sea creatures.  One interesting thing we learned about the octopus was they are the smartest of the invertebrates.  They can learn a complex problem by just watching another animal solve it and then solve it in seconds the first time through.  They found that in the octopus tank they had to line it with AstroTurf to keep him in. 

We didn’t get a picture of the octopus but this is a picture of the shark from the top of the tank where the public isn’t normally allowed.

If someone reading this blog is or knows a marine biologist please let me know what this fish is called.  Joel or I didn’t catch what it’s name.  It is an unusually ugly fish.

Today we went to town to find a UPS store.  Joel has to send his flir in for repair.  By the way, for those who are not up on the latest boating electronics, a flir is a night vision camera.  The repair facility is in Santa Barbara and hopefully we will be there next week to pick it up. 

Later today we are going to the farmers market that’s held every Tuesday downtown.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The farmers market was 4 blocks downtown.  Lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as arts and crafts of all kinds.  Several food booths were there as well.  What amazed joel and me both was the van parked in a stall.  It was an oven truck full of rotisserie chickens and fried potatoes.  This is a picture of the oven part of the van.

While walking the market Joel spotted a Supper Cuts that was open so he decided to get a haircut.  He was actually over due and the stylist agreed. 

After walking a good part of the afternoon, we came back to the boat and I made dinner, and we crashed.

Today, I don’t know what got into us but we decided to rent bikes for the afternoon.  We rode past the Aquarium along the Ocean View to Pacific Grove Lighthouse, around Asilomar to Point Joe, then to bird rock, Up Spyglass Hill to Stevenson.  Then we proceeded to get lost and wound up back at HWY 68 and over to Lighthouse rd. and back to Fisherman’s Wharf.  I think that was about 25 miles.  It took us 3 hours.  Spyglass Hill was very steep.  At several places Joel and I had to get of the bikes and walk them up the hill.  It was a gorgeous ride.

This is a picture of 2 bucks just lounging on the golf course.

We are still planning to leave here on Saturday and arrive in Ventura on Monday.

See you in Ventura.

Larry Zabel

Co-skipper

Entre Nous