Pt. Lobos and Monterey Bay Program

Pt. Lobos and Monterey Bay

The Pacific Ocean comes alive for students at this FIELDGUIDES coastal program. Stunning views, crashing surf, rich kelp beds, and marine mammals abound as we tour Pt. Lobos State Reserve on the first day. It is a truly spectacular place to begin studying ocean ecology. A visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium on the next day takes the students under the water's surface to witness the myriad life forms of the bay's tremendously diverse habitats.

The Youth Group camping area at Toro Park overlooks the Salinas Valley and is private and serene. The camp's lake and white oak-chaparral woodlands are home to birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, even tarantulas! We often see quail, wild turkeys, and deer come to drink at the waters edge.

For this program we camp at Toro County Park near Monterey. The park's location allows easy access to and from both Pt Lobos State Reserve and the Monterey Bay Aquarium by car in only about 30 minutes. The Park itself rests on an ancient sandstone seabed and provides many miles of open hills and canyons to explore on an educational day hike in small groups with the instructors.

Toro Park's oak-chaparral woodlands.

Along with Pt Lobos and the Aquarium, a Monterey Bay FIELDGUIDES program offers one of the best places for year round whale watching. The Monterey Canyon, rich in exotic marine life, also plays host to humpbacks, grays, orcas, minkes, and even blue whales, the largest animals to ever live on earth. The walk along scenic Point Pinos offers several spots to stop and look for these underwater giants, as well as providing top notch tide pools in the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Park. A trip along the coastline can end at the Point Pinos Lighthouse, the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast.

Fluke offshore from Point Pinos.

Tide pools at Pacific Grove Marine Gardens.

Point Pinos Lighthouse.

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