On our furthest trip north towing Howie, our third stop was the KOA campground in Watsonville. It’s 28mi north of Monterey, midway between Monterey & Santa Cruz. Carol was lucky enough to get us tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium the first Saturday they opened to non-members. We love Monterey Bay Aquarium & have missed visiting so we scheduled this entire trip around these tickets. Entries were by reservation and we had tickets for 3:30pm Sat May 15th, the last group of the day since it closes at 5pm.
The Monterey/Santa Cruz KOA is only our 2nd KOA but this one was definitely a tier above Ventura Ranch KOA. The campground was well laid out and included a tent-camping area, RV sites, and cabins. The RV sites were full hookup, fairly spacious, and level gravel pads with picnic table & fire ring. Pine trees surrounded the site but did not overhang our trailer or solar panel. The KOA is very family oriented and there were kids on bikes everywhere. They have scheduled activities and many play areas, closed at the Ventura KOA due to Covid, were open. Our grandkids would enjoy this campground so we will have to return when they are a bit older & able to travel this far from home.
The Friday-Saturday we were there happened to have a special rate – stay Friday at the regular rate & get Sat for $20. Needless to say we were happy for the price break BUT every RV site, tent, & cabin in the campground was occupied.
Our reservation listed driving directions that were different than Google Maps or Apple Maps. Be sure to follow the driving directions the KOA provides in their reservation confirmation or web site (reprinted bottom of this page), not Google or Apple Maps. On a day-trip back to the campground, we drove our truck (without trailer) on the route suggested by Google Maps, using Buena Vista Dr. It’s a very narrow winding road so even though it may be shorter, I would not have liked navigating it with our small trailer.
Since we arrived Thursday & our aquarium tickets were for Saturday, we had Friday open. We enjoy hiking in the Redwoods in Humboldt County so we looked for a place nearby. Unfortunately, nearby Big Basin and Henry Cowell Redwood State Parks were closed due to wildfires. They are scheduled to reopen the end of May but not while we are here. Fortunately, only 30mins away in Aptos, the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park was opened. There are some old growth redwoods so that was where we spent Friday. We were given a paper map by the park ranger but had trouble with judging direction & scale. Trail markers are few and far between and there is little to no cell service. We did an extra mile or two before getting back on the right trail. So be aware if it’s an unfamiliar park to not assume you can navigate using your cell phone. Pay particular attention to any trail marker because there are plenty of forks on the trail but not all are marked. Since we had an extra long hike, we rewarded ourselves with burgers and beer at Burger Aptos.
Saturday we drove to Monterey early and had lunch before our entry time into the aquarium. Cannery Row restaurants were packed with tourists and had long lines so we opted for Hula’s Island Grill on Lighthouse Ave, a few blocks away.
At 3pm, we headed to the aquarium and got into the socially-distanced queue. They let us in a few minutes early and it was even better than I remember. Although the 3:30 group of a few hundred entered the aquarium, people dispersed pretty quickly. There were people near popular tanks like the octopus (see photo) who was very active while we were there. Monterey Bay Aquarium is my favorite and I think they have the best presentations of aquatic life & educational material of any aquarium I’ve visited. Well worth the drive, the wait, and although we saw everything we wanted. It would have been even better if we had an extra hour.
Tomorrow we pack up and head to Flying Flags in Buellton, CA, about 212mi south. It will be the first time we’ve fueled the truck while towing. I’ve mapped out a few rv-friendly gas stations along our route. But Paso Robles has a truck stop with Cat Scale so that’s where we’ll stop.
