25 Aug - We now had a couple of days to enjoy Monterey as the weather was flat calm until after midweek.  Having chatted with Amelia she had advised us that the Aquarium was worth the visit and she had given us two free guest passes as well.  After a late start, we caught the tourist trolleybus along Cannery row (made famous by John Steinbeck) which dropped us off outside the Aquarium.  As we entered we realised that this was quite the place and we soon learnt that this aquarium is one of the best in the world!  We spent a fantastic few hours looking at all the exhibits - they had everything from inshore coastal tanks to deep ocean fish - quite the most amazing display.  After lunch we sauntered back through Cannery row which is now a very touristy area with some very nice hotels on it.  We dropped into one for a rest; having been in good hotels now we were both very at home sitting down in the lobby and helping ourselves to the free water and fruit, as well as their Wifi!.

Nice views from the hotel 

Once we had 'recovered' in these somewhat exclusive surroundings we headed out and carried on towards the harbour.  On the way in we had heard quite a cacophony and as we got closer to the harbour, we found a massive sea lion colony with all the boys in full macho mode honking and body slamming each other. 

The rowdy Locals

Apparently the colony of several hundred seal lions had only just showed up and the authorities had had to close all the beaches.  For the rest of our stay we were serenaded by their loud barks and tried our best to stay upwind of them too! After returning to the boat we had a siesta then went back into town to see the historic buildings, the city hall and visit te library to catch up on all things internet! We got back to the boat around 18:00 and had wonderful evening weather for sundowners and cheese and buscuits in the cockpit.

26 Aug - Today Amelia had volunteered to run us around and so we arranged to meet her at the Costco at around 12:30.  The day was a properly sunny California day and to get to the Costco, the easiest route was a 45 minute walk along a wonderful sandy beach - not the worst way to get to Costco I have undertaken!  Once the shopping was done we met up with Amelia, piled everything in her car (including a new TV - our old one broke, and the new windlass motor which had been delivered to Amelia) and then Amelia proposed to take us on a scenic drive around the neighbourhood.  We of course had no idea about the locale and so were very happy wiht the guided tour.  Amelia drove us 'over the hill' and down into Carmel-by-the-sea.  As we went she gave us lots of information about the town and the famous people who lived there - Clint Eastwood was the Mayor of Carmel in the 80's and Mat Damon and many other stars have hourses here. once thorugh the town Amelia took us for a short walk on Carmel Beach - an amazing patch of sand with wonderful crashing waves.  She then took us along what is apparently California's most scenic coast road ended up at Bixby Bridge - a stunning piece of architecture from the 30's. 

Enjoying the views at Bixby Bridge

Amelia then had to head back for her kids and so, after dropping us off we loaded up the Dinghy and took everything back to the boat.  Again, with glorious weather, we had some great sundowners and then headed to our aft cabin for our first movie night in a while with our new TV - Austin Powers!!