Around The World In 80 Waves

Thankfully the engine management light goes out as the engine and/or the day warm up and the car is running well so I drive on, passing the Laguna Seca racetrack where I decide it is probably not the best opportunity to see what the Little Green Surf Machine is capable of.

I stop at Monterey which used to be the state capital and is the location of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row for all you literary types. However I am more interested in the aquarium there, where I couldn’t agree more with Jacques-Yves.

I get up close to a load more sharks like the Hammerhead you see above and can sit and watch the jellyfish moving about in their tank for ages, which is like a huge living lava lamp. I chat with some of the experts and am delighted to hear that there are roughly 250 adult Great Whites Sharks in the triangle between Baja, Seattle and Hawaii. I would have expected a huge amount more than that, but they are actually an endangered species and it is a shame they have been depleted so but it makes me feel a little bit more comfortable getting into their environment knowing how few of them there might be knocking about. It only takes one getting angry though…

I drive onwards past the Pebble Beach golf course which the guy at the tourist information centre described as the World’s Capital of Golf. He is obviously unaware of Augusta, St Andrew’s, Gleneagles, etc.

The next stop is Carmel-by-the-Sea where I check out the local break, but the sea is flat. The town is home to Clint Eastward and he was even it’s mayor at one point. In an effort to bump into the big man himself, I call in on the bar he owns called the Hog’s Breath only to find it is closed for two days. I am more than a bit disappointed not to have been able to enjoy a Dirty Harry burger there before moving on again.

 However the real star around here is the road and the scenery. There is a 90 mile stretch of road which is simply stunning. 

The car is running well despite the warning light coming back on periodically, and I am having loads of fun chucking it around the corners. 

The area is known as Big Sur and it is staggeringly pretty.

There is barely another soul about and the waves breaking at the bottom of the cliffs to my right are too messy for me to chance going out around here on my own. I push on until its gets dark and then crash out for the night.