Sea-Lion Lounge at San Carlos Beach

🎣 10:00 Fisherman’s Wharf → Old Fisherman’s Wharf Grab a sour-dough bowl to-go 🍲, join the bike-ped promenade that hugs the railings. 1.5 mi of rollers, surfers, and Instagram dogs later you hit the breakwater—welcome to San Carlos Beach. 🚴‍♂️📸 👃 First contact: the smell. It’s a combo of low-tide kelp + fish-market dumpster + wet dog that’s been marinating in seawater. Instantly teleports me back to childhood seaweed snacks—yes, “the taste of the sea I know” commercial jingle starts looping in my brain 🎶🌊. Weirdly addictive? 🔊 Second contact: the soundtrack. Baritone barks, alto snorts, soprano squeaks—imagine a free-jazz brass section warming up inside a gym sock. 🎺🧦 Yet somehow 10/10 would replay. 🦭 The stars of the show Today’s head-count is only “medium” per local news, but we’re still talking ~150 blubbery sausages draped across every flat surface. They’ve colonized: Floating docks 🛠️ The lower landing steps 🪜 One unlucky kayak that is now a royal throne 🛶👑 P15 moment: a shiny dome pops up mid-paddle—hello, periscope puppy! 🐶🌊 It executes a 20-silent-stroke freestyle, whiskers dripping like tiny faucets, then vanishes. Camera roll = 0 % captured, heart = 100 % stolen. 📸 Photo hacks 200 mm zoom or you’ll just document brown blurry croissants. 📷 Back-light after 14:00 = halo around every whisker ✨ Keep shutter ≥ 1/1000 to freeze water droplets 💧 Selfie stick users: angle down or you’ll document your own nostrils 👃 🧭 Viewing etiquette (a.k.a. how not to become a viral jerk) ✅ Stay 50 ft / 15 m back—tape on pier marks the line. ✅ Use inside voice; they’re napping off last night’s squid buffet. 🤫 ✅ Leash dogs; a barking retriever equals sea-lion stampede. 🐕‍🦺 ❌ No selfies while crouched beside them—one flop and 600 lbs of mammal turns you into a meme. 🚫 🧺 Picnic & facilities Zero public restrooms on the breakwater—go before you leave Wharf. 🚽 Benches = first-come; bring a jacket because Monterey fog doesn’t care about your SPF. 🌫️ Food = pack in/pack out; a Cheeto is still marine trash if the wind steals it. 🌬️♻️ 🌅 Bonus hour: sunset splash Stick around until 18:30 and you’ll see the whole crew wake up from their 18-hour nap. Stretch, yawn, belly-flop symphony 🎼—golden hour turns every whisker into a fiber-optic cable. Nature’s free show, no ticket, no Wi-Fi needed. 🚗 Getting out Retrace the path or hop on the coastal trail toward Lovers Point for more otter cameos. Parking at Wharf garage is validated with any restaurant receipt ≥ $20—flash it on exit for 2 free hrs. 🅿️🧾 Exit perfume: eau de kelp now embedded in hoodie fibers. I’ll wash it tomorrow; tonight I’m sniffing nostalgia—and plotting the next visit. 🦭💙 #US #CA #Monterey