The Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide (Volume 1) (UC Press/Monterey Bay Aquarium Series in Marine Conservation)

Like the English Muffin, the Monterey Shoreline is filled with nooks and crannies. (And, at the height of the season, they can be jammed. Heh, Heh). This book is especially helpful in guiding you to some of the least accessible but most worthwhile stretches. It's not inaccessible in the sense that you need a four-wheel drive vehicle to plow your way to the site; rather, some of these beaches are so tucked away that you could miss them, or spy them but not be able to figure out how to get to them. (Eolian Dunes Preserve may be partially visible from Route 1, but it is accessible on a path under Route 1 that you reach from a parking area on the warehouse access road behind Orchard Supply in Seaside. This book tells you to go there, corner of Playa and Metz.) This book helps you choose your spots, and then get to them.While I like the trail descriptions and access guidance, I also appreciate the fact that this book is loaded with bits of historical info, and tips on what evidence of human activity to look for. Not to mention loads of info on the flora and fauna of the area.The book is also very helpful as a sampler. there are good sections on Elkhorn Slough and the opening up of Ford Ord. You can find lots more info on these sites on the internet,but this book will be the one to get you interested in those areas initially.So, a great companion and a wonderful insider introduction to the area. And great for an armchair explorer getting ready to visit the Bay. A very nice find.

Only having less than a week to visit this beautiful, stunning area of CA, I found this book to be indispensable. It made a short trip a quality trip by the descriptions of everything in and around Monterey. I loved the photography as well! Although my trip was nearly 2 years ago, I still flip thru this book on occasion to dream about my next trip, and YES I'm going back! There is so much I that I missed due to my short stay, but thanks to this book I got to see my preffered highlights and I wouldn't change a thing.Monterey is a very visually stunning area, my absolute favorite having visited in the US so far, and this book is a great way to ensure you see what you want to see.

An excellent guide to a beautiful part of our country, with plenty of information for those wishing to explore the region.

It may be that I did not read the description carefully enough, but I expected more of a field guide than a tour guide.

I was looking for more information on things to do in the Monterey Area and this was more of an informational guide on animals and areas to find them. Well done, but not really a "travel guide" and not set up like one.

I thought I knew the Monterey region fairly well until I was given this book as a present! It is packed with great "bites" of information: natural history, human history, and how to get to all the beaches and parks. The writing is easy to understand, friendly in a way, and even fun. The maps are very helpful, and the book even has resource sections with phone numbers, website urls, and directions. AND, the photographs are stunning. A great gift for visitors, home libraries, or the glove compartment of your car.

I received this book as a gift and was immediately taken by the depth and breadth of this book. If you are traveling from Ano Nuevo to Monterey get this book! The author and photograper bring this spectacular shoreline alive with great descriptive copy and super photos(you've got to see page 136). Hidden beaches and other great spots that I would never have known existed. Great information about how to get there, what to do and how it got there. Get the family together, pack a lunch and bring this book. Guaranteed great day!

I was looking for this exact type of guide for our 2022 trip to Monterey and while two decades have passed, this is a very too and complete guide to natural and historic sites from Ano Nuevo to Big Sure which is exactly the scope of our trip. A lot of the text is evergreen as historic light houses and state parks do not move much over time, and the natural and social history that fills the book is still relevant. I feel that I got all the information I needed to create an itinerary.The book reads like a fruit cake. It has a jumble of juicy nuggets that when taken alone are fantastic, but when blended together makes a bit of a lumpy mass to chew through. I frequently followed the narrative of a location only to have to turn back to catch the sidebars that crowd the edges. It is so packed full of these side bars, that I found it to be a bit of a trudge to get through the book. It was a valuable and enjoyable trudge, but a trudge. Sometimes better to wander flippingly to look at all the amazing photos and dabble in the sections that catch your eye.But fruit cake anology aside, this book is so packed full of great content that it still has value deeper into the twenty first century.