The May 18 tour to Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough was a great experience. The original booking was for an afternoon tour on Eco Tour’s 37-ft electric catamaran, but the prospect of windy weather in the afternoon prompted the company to change the booking to a morning tour. We arrived in time for a 9:30 am departure and it turned out to be a spectacular tour.
The tour features Elkhorn’s various populations of sea lions, cormorants, harbor seals, sea otters, egrets, herons, white pelicans and brown pelicans, most of which are more active in the morning, since they sleep later in the day after a long night of activity. The boat is mostly silent since it is powered by electricity and it provides a slow cruise up the slough and back. Kayakers were out in force as well, so it was a busy day in the waterway. Our driver Joe and his assistant and tour leader (who described the wildlife as we were going by and answered our questions) Cindy were competent and friendly and they guided us past the variety of animals and birds. The boat can hold 32 people, but we had 24 people who arrived in 10 cars for the tour.
After the Eco Tour, we headed to the Sea Harvest restaurant on the other side of Elkhorn Slough, where we sat in a reserved area with a great view of the harbor and each person was able to order off the menu.
Following lunch, president Mark led us (now a total of 15 cars, including one member from Diablo Region) on a driving tour of north Monterey County, featuring Echo Valley Road and Elkhorn Road, ending at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (the Elkhorn Slough Reserve, for short). The reserve displays many important features of the slough and has views over the water. Mark led a hike over a graded trail to a point of land away from the buildings where we had another view. Thanks to vice-president Al and president Mark for a fine tour!
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