I have been en vacanza with my wife since last Sunday and, as I customarily do with coastal vacations, I enjoy sharing photographs.  So, without further ado, a few more (again, click on each one to embiggen appropriately) photographs for your consideration:

Spotted harbor seal pondering the true Meaning of Life in Pacific Grove.

Navy training aircraft cruising over the Bay of Monterey.

Originally I could have said I had no egrets about this trip but, now, that would not be the case.  Light-footed little kelp-walkers, those.

A baby pelagic cormorant in its nest.  This nest was just a few feet down and away from our hotel room.  Babies have white whiskers and blue in their bills.  One morning we noticed the bird was gone; we feared the lad had fallen overboard during the night.  We were pleased to see he had taken brief leave because he had learned to fly.

The closest to walking on water any earthly mammal will get.  It was always an  amazing sight to behold.

Pacific Grove, one of the most beautiful little coastal towns I know.

Above, you can see the relationships between Monterey, Pacific Grove, Highway 1 and the rest of the Monterey Peninsula.

Northern fur seal, snoozing above the waterline in Pacific Grove.

NOAA boat out of Monterey.  It represents, as you can see, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.  This is the first time in seven visits that I have ever seen this boat in action; it is normally moored adjacent the muni pier next to the USCG boats.

The NOAA vessel is the last one at the far right, above.

One of our otter friends enjoys cracking open a new case of Shellfish Lunch.

And then, overnight, the Celebrity Century anchored in Monterey Bay adjacent Old Fisherman’s Wharf.  At 814 feet long and weighing in at 72,000 tons, it had stopped to shuttle passengers to and from the wharf, all day.

Little orange-and-white boats shuttled about for hours.

The Celebrity Century arrived on an absolutely gorgeous day, amidst various rain showers.  The clouds cleared, miraculously, for my shots of the ship.

Here, the Century hauls fantail out of the bay.  It is registered out of Malta.

The Celebrity Century disappears around the peninsula, another in a series of massive diesel-electric cruise liners built by Fincantieri of Italy.

The Tierra Lynn tacks amidst glorious colours.

The Reelization comes in after having reeled in.  A great name for a boat.

Monterey can be a very dangerous place for SCUBA divers, or any diver for that matter.  The California coast is cold, dangerous, uninviting, and challenging.  However, the San Carlos Beach Park is a major attraction for those who wish to acquire their certification because of its relative ease of entry for novices.  Still and all, the kelp and their beds are huge and difficult provocational tests for divers.

San Carlos State Beach.

The Windrose, tacking.

Because I am in many ways a cheap bastard, these photographs were not taken with a standard DSLR camera but, instead, a much, much less expensive Nikon Coolpix P510 camera with a 42X zoom.  I do, however, enjoy the red variant that I purchased as illustrated.  It is a deceptively small camera.  But I have always said: the eye exists with the finger, and not the chassis.

With only one more day left to visit as I write this, I find myself challenged to come up with a Flip UltraHD video of the area.  Will I be able to do it and then upload it to YouTube so that I may post it here in time?

And finally: a question for those electronics & video wizards who may chance by this blog:

Some day, because it is no longer produced or supported by Cisco Systems, my Flip UltraHD camera will tank; that is a given.

Can anyone recommend a good quality HD cam to replace the Flip?  It doesn’t have to be as small or as cheap, but it should contain an average amount of features and maintain good HD resolution and quality.  My budgetary range is up to $1,000 before I get into a bit of the Prosumer category.  Any suggestions for me?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, and thanks for sticking by ol’ Zep.

BZ