Clare Teal: Driving south for a whale of a time on Cannery Row

I did later learn that the name was entirely fictional and that “Ocean Boulevard” had only borrowed the title to appeal to tourists.None the less, swept up in the whole romance of the Salinas landscape I felt the need to reacquaint myself with Mack and the boys, Doc and Lee Chong. Get this – nowhere on Cannery Row, nay Monterey, can you buy a copy of Cannery Row. You can buy inconceivable numbers of T-shirts with Monterey written on the front or stuffed furry sea otters, or T-shirts emblazoned with “Monterey” depicting frolicking sea otters, but no books.

Our hotel was right by the water’s edge and we spent many hours on the balcony watching the antics of the impossibly cute sea otters and seals. We planned a few days of activities starting with whale watching. As someone with a lifelong fear of water I was surprised to find myself riding 12ft waves in a little boat looking for 50ft grey whales. Not two minutes after I’d taken my sea sickness pill,the guide announced it was going to be a little “choppy out there today”, after 90 minutes of frankly terrifying manoeuvres little progress had been made whale-wise although we had seen three Japanese tourists simultaneously lose their lunches over the side of the boat. And a pod of dolphins, so we weren’t short of things to look at. Suddenly a spurt of water to the right and there they were, slowly migrating south – 15 grey whales.

It was a truly awe-inspiring experience. We finished the perfect day with a perfect meal at a restaurant called The Sardine Factory. I was surprised our bottle of Californian Sauvignon Blanc arrived without an ice bucket and even more surprised to be interrupted mid-starter with an invitation from the waiter to take a “chilled salad fork” from what appeared to be our ice bucket.