We got back from our Monterey trip yesterday afternoon, and I'm still in a quasi-zombie-esque state. We had a lot of rain, one glorious afternoon of sunshine, rough seas (but no hurling, thanks to the glories of Dramamine), good food, an endless supply of Star Wars conversation, Steinbeck, and:

HUNDREDS! LITERALLY HUNDREDS! of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins: racing the boat, synchronizedly swimming/leaping, backflipping, teasing whales... it was friggin' amazing. Apparently there were also a couple of porpoises, but I missed them while I was checking out the massively barnacled side of a grey whale or five. We saw several grey whales, close enough to actually make out body parts (although on a grey day, they're mostly big grey lumps in the ocean). We also saw a couple of humpbacks, who were coming in early for feeding. We didn't see any breaching, but we caught a couple of rolls (including a nice tail fluke or two).

We learned several facts from the on-board naturalist, including that there is a canyon (the name of which I can't remember) that comes in pretty close to Monterey Bay, and at the Bay end it's about 2,000 or 3,000 feet deep (don't fall off the boat there!). That's why the whales come in so close, because there's a this passage of really deep water. And the dolphins are there because everywhere else it's not so deep. 20 miles out to sea, that same canyon is 12,000 miles deep. Holy sea cow, Batman! If you're ever in Monterey, and want to go whale watching, I highly recommend Monterey Bay Whale Watch. I've gone out with them twice now, and both times they were great. They have a naturalist on board every trip, and they were super flexible and easy-going about us needing to change dates and times of our reserved trip. They also gave us a nice student discount.

Despite the rough and rocky seas, and the sometimes squally weather, it was a very successful adventure. Okay, one of my students got completely messed up on Dramamine and had to be sent home to sleep it off. But at least she didn't get seasick! And she got to see some whales and dolphins before she fell asleep in the cabin of the boat. HUNDREDS of dolphins!

And of course, my students (the ones who were left) thought the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas was boring, and I thought it was cool. But that's the way it goes. And two of my students had never tried an artichoke before. Californians! Who'd never tried an artichoke! Well, one of them has an excuse: he's really Canadian. But still. He's been here long enough. So I ended up (poor me) having to bring home the fire-roasted artichokes I bought for them to try at Phil's Fish House in Moss Landing, 'cause none of them wanted to eat any of it. As I said, poor me. So sad, to have to share those poor, neglected 'chokes with my sister and Stewart because no one else wanted them. But, it was my duty, and I'm all about duty, as you know.

We did also spend a few hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is always incredible. I could stand in front of the jelly exhibits forever. Ohmigod, and in the "Outer Bay" exhibit, which has a million-gallon tank with a couple of sharks, and a fairly significant tuna population, and a sea turtle or two, there is an Ocean Sunfish, or mola mola, which is one of the strangest and most improbable fishes I've seen. It looks kind of like half a torpedo. It looks completely un-fluid-dynamic. And yet, it's fairly graceful in the water, not super fast (at least not that I saw), but not awkward. That was pretty cool.