Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
Cove Review
Point Lobos allows for reservations at Whaler’s Cove for kayaking and scuba diving. Cassie, Kyle, and I took our girls out on our three kayaks.
The water swells were large, but flat, leading to Kaylee, Cassie, and I getting seasick after a certain point.
The kelp forests were alive and well, which meant difficult paddling due to the kelp getting stuck on our oars.
We didn’t spot as many animals as we did before. Kyle and his girls saw a seal, but for us, the largest animal we saw was a heron.
There were no other kayakers, meaning we had the whole cove to ourselves.
It was a bit windy and it picked up as the day went by.
There is a bathroom in the small parking lot.
What I Learned
The previous two times I had been at Whaler’s Cove, it was calm and the conditions were almost perfect. Because of that, I didn’t think about how bad the sea swells could be. I should have given Kaylee and Cassie some Dramamine.
There was only a tiny parking spot open when I got to the parking lot that we barely squeezed into. Just a few minutes later, when Kyle arrived, there were two huge spots in the parking lot.
It was my first time using my 1 person kayak in a while and there were lots of dried grass that was stuck to the removable keel area. I had to use my car keys to get all the grass out before the keel would sit correctly. I had lent this kayak to Steve last and me thinks he dragged the kayak through some grass without putting on the keel.
Kyle’s girls sat in his open-top kayak, Cassie and Kaylee went in the two-person inflatable kayak, and Anna rode with me on my 1 person. Anna sat behind me as she didn’t really fit in front of the kayak anymore.
Anna really wanted to walk on the beaches in the cove that hikers couldn’t get to from above, but Kyle let us know that we weren’t allowed to do that. This is too bad as there were some interesting-looking rock formations in the cove!
Friends
Kyle and his girls joined us for a day of kayaking and playing at the beach (after). Hanging out with them is a blast as all the girls get along great and so do the adults. :)
What Happened?
~1 miles, 2 hrs, 5-10 mph N (wind)
With Kaylee having such a fun time kayaking the time before, we decided to go kayaking at Whaler’s Cove at Point Lobos as I knew it to be a calm cove that the girls might enjoy seeing. We made reservations online ($12 per kayak) about a week before and I felt lucky that the reservations were available for a Saturday.
We arrived around 9:30 AM and confidently drove through the exit (the entrance was closed as the park was deemed “full”) to check in at the entrance booth. When I gave my name, they checked me in, asked for the color of the kayaks, and asked that we check out when we left the park. With that, we drove to the Whaler’s Cove parking lot and started inflating our boats.
The ramp was a concrete boat ramp that was slippery near the water, so we were careful as we slipped our boats into the water. Kyle and his girls departed first; then Cassie and Kaylee; with Anna and me taking the longest due to the keel issue.
The water was so clean and we could see at least 10 ft into the water. We all shot off in different directions to get a feel for our boats and to explore this little cove. Unfortunately, Cassie and Kaylee got seasick within the first 20 minutes, so they headed back to the car.
For Anna and I, the most interesting thing that we saw was a waterlogged tree trunk that was bobbing up and down in the water vertically. At first, from 50 yards away, we were wondering if we were seeing a seal or some other animal. At 30 yards away, we were wondering if maybe it was a diver bobbing up and down. We edged closer and were dumbfounded at how a tree trunk could be bobbing up and down vertically.
After a while though, I started to feel not so well, so we headed back to the car. We disembarked carefully (to avoid slipping on the slippery ramp) and carried our kayaks near our car, where we deflated them and put them away. Afterward, we took a super short and quick hike to the little hill above the parking lot to get a nice view of the cove. After that, we were off to Carmel for a yummy lunch!
