Magnificent Monterey

By Jeffrey Lehman

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL, warm, sunny morning. Sea lions are showing off acrobatic skills by leaping out of mirror-smooth water. Cuddly sea otters are frolicking in kelp beds. Marine life exists in every direction. I sip champagne and eat breakfast—between dips in a hot tub overlooking this scene. A dream? Nope, this is Monterey.

I arrive at Adventures by the Sea, just steps from the Monterey Bay Inn. We’re going kayaking. Within minutes, guide Anne Jones launches an elderly gentleman kayaking for his first time—and me. After just a few paddles, I spot some sea otters. Jones arrives moments later and starts an engaging commentary that runs the whole trip.

I’m checking out a jellyfish next to my vessel. Out of the calm, clear water, two young sea lions rocket into the air—just an arm’s length away from either side of my kayak. It’s an awesome moment—one among many wildlife encounters on a trip that includes sighting a sea otter mother and pup, a harbor seal and a jetty with hundreds of sea lions.

The nature experience has me on Cloud Nine. Hungry, I head to the Trailside Café. I choose an outdoor table at this cozy, come-as-you-are café and order the smoked salmon Benedict. It disappears moments after arrival.

Spa time. The spa at the Monterey Plaza Hotel is on the roof. The intimate hot tub waiting area has a fireplace and spectacular views of Monterey Bay. Kara Manis starts my sports therapy treatment. I fade off, and begin to imagine myself in ancient Crete, in the royal chambers at Knossos . . .

Dinner takes me to nearby Pacific Grove, where Cindy Walter and her husband run the successful Passionfish restaurant. The daughter of a Monterey Bay fisherman, she’s dedicated to serving sustainable seafood. I relax with a glass of Kendall Jackson Estate Reserve Chardonnay and a first course of ahi tuna. My entrée, accompanied by a Moroccan salad, is California sturgeon in a charmoula marinade. This pesto-like sauce is a little spicy, but good with this firm fish.

A UNIQUE MONTEREY ADVENTURE comes at the Land Rover Experience Driving School at Quail Lodge. Lead instructor Travis Martin, with his southern drawl and mannerisms, could have just walked off the set of a Land Rover commercial—or an African safari.

He delivers a rundown on the sophisticated Land Rover LR3 before getting me behind the wheel. This isn’t a fast, Baja 500–type trip. Rather, it’s a technical off-road “expedition.” We’re driving near steep cliffs and through vehicle-swallowing gullies.

The Land Rover gearing is designed to take over on the tough terrain. But taking my foot off the brake is unsettling, and counterintuitive at the top of a dropoff. It doesn’t help that the gears working in this extreme situation sound like large wrenches in a metal toolbox rolling down a steep hill.

In all, it’s quite hair-raising—but exhilarating. I reflect contentedly on the amazing capabilities of the Land Rover over some sweet pumpkin soup and prime rib at the Monterey Bay Inn’s Japanese-themed Edger’s Café.

A visit to Monterey isn’t complete without a trip to the spectacular Monterey Bay Aquarium. Highlights include a giant tuna in the million-gallon Outer Bay Exhibit, the underwater antics of sea otters, a bat ray touch tank, and jellyfish lit up to look like living Tiffany lamps.

Not the flashiest of displays, but maybe the most important, is the one on John Steinbeck and Cannery Row. His 1945 novel immortalized the area’s fishing industry at its peak. The annual catch went from 235,000 tons in 1945 to just 15,000 tons in 1948, causing the collapse of the canneries—and a way of life. Marine conservation over the past half-century has started to revive Monterey’s greatest attraction, its sea life. For many of us, that is a dream come true.

Jeffrey Lehmann is host and producer of the Weekend Explorer TV series, which airs all over the world and on 210 PBS stations in the United States.