- Stroll along the beautiful beach at Carmel-by-the-Sea
- Surfers watch by the rocks of Pacific Grove
- Continue towards San Francisco via Santa Cruz
- Walk to Natural Bridges State Beach
We sleep a little longer in the motel than the days before. Then we drive a short distance back to bustling Carmel-by-the-Sea. According to the travel guide, the place is considered the most beautiful and exclusive on the entire west coast. We march along the picturesque sandy beach, which is dangerous because of the strong surf, and after this walk we treat ourselves to a coffee.
Then we drive back to Monterey to Pacific Grove. Here we can watch surfers and brown pelicans surfing from a short distance. The undertaking so close to the rocks is not without its dangers, but exciting to watch.
Then we continue north along the now freeway-like Highway No. 1 to the surfer Mecca Santa Cruz. Where we make another stop at Natural Bridges State Beach. In the meantime, only one of the rock arches stands in a wonderful location. Sea birds such as brown pelicans, cormorants and seagulls cavort on it. Here, too, surfers can be seen everywhere in the surf. The whole scenery is really like a picture book, everything is bathed in yellow-orange tones.
So we watch the sunset and then drive on. At Año Nuevo State Park, it is already too dark to visit the elephant seal colony there. So we keep driving towards San Francisco.
In Half Moon Bay we dine at a Thai restaurant and then look for a motel. Finally we find what we are looking for a little further north in Montara.
