Mountains and sea :-)

We headed off on Friday morning to Lake Tahoe with Wesley in the back of the Jeep. Unfortunately, he was car sick about an hour into the trip and we had to stop to clean it up! The scenery on the way was absolutely stunning as we drove through the mountains and pine forests. We arrived in South Lake Tahoe and stopped off at a fabulous little coffee shop for soup, a sandwich and a cake – it was a great find.

Shannen and Paul showed me where they got married at a hotel just outside South Lake Tahoe and then we headed to the lakeside. We went for a short walk near the lake – poor Shannen had badly twisted her ankle last week and was finding it hard to walk very far. The lake itself and the surrounding mountains were beautiful. We headed back home and went out for a dinner at an Indian Restaurant which was really good.

We got up really early on Saturday morning to go to Monterey Bay for the day. The plan was to go to the aquarium in Monterey and spend the day there. We were then going to head to Monterey Airport where I would pick up a hire car and head to my friend Ian’s place in Paolo Alto for the night. I was going diving with Ian and his pal Neil on Sunday and then I would drive back to Sacramento on Monday morning.

However, Shannen’s ankle had swollen up really badly and she was having big problems walking :-( So I arranged to collect a car from Sacramento Airport and I headed off on a road trip on my own to Monterey. It was the first time I had ever driven in the USA so I was quite excited!

I arrived in Monterey and spent about 2 hours in the aquarium. It was pretty good! I had been told by Adrian, the marine biologist at the White Shark Projects, that Monterey Bay Aquarium had a white shark in captivity and it was the only aquarium who had managed to keep one. However, when I asked, I was told that they had had one but not anymore. I headed off to Paolo Alto and arrived in time for dinner with Ian and Neil. Ian is a friend from my dive club at home who happens to be working/studying here for a few months :-)

We headed down to Monterey at about 8.30am on Sunday morning and stopped of at a dive shop to collect cylinders for us all and a 7mm semi-dry suit for me. We then drove south towards Point Lobos State Reserve where we were going to dive. We stopped off in Carmel for a sandwich and a drink. Carmel is a very, very nice town and obviously very affluent!

We arrived at Point Lobos State Reserve and checked in with the ranger there. They limit the number of divers who can dive there and Ian had to buy permits for us about a month ago. We dived a site called Whaler’s Cove and there were quite a few other divers there too. There were giant kelp beds there and we swam in amongst the base of the kelp on the reef. It was really scenic and a lovely dive….but very cold! The water was about 9°C but we managed a 40 minute dive. However, Neil and I were both in semi-dry suits and so cold when we got out that we couldn’t warm ourselves up for a second dive! :-(

I got back to Sacramento this morning (Monday) and I will be packing up my stuff this evening and heading to Florida tomorrow for the last leg of my Big Adventure……