58. Getting Deep

Death Valley reopens, Mount Diablo's "gated" community controversy, and all the hidden-gem ways to find some Zen this autumn in beautiful Monterey ... it's glow time! And that includes the brilliant bloody-belly comb jelly at Monterey Bay Aquarium's incredible new exhibit, Into the Deep. Brad and Holly are joined by the Aquarium's Ken Peterson and Allen Protasio, who share an ocean's worth of knowledge and tips on where to go and what to "sea" at the Aquarium, on sustainability initiatives for a better future, and on nearby hiking and biking trails, including a few truly hidden gems for birdwatching and sea otter sightings. Get the scoop on fall's best adventures in Monterey and beyond in the Golden State.

Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Check out Weekend Sherpa's issue: Monterey's Many Hidden Gems

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And welcome to the Weekend Schirp ofpodcast. Take it Outside. I'm brad

(00:22):
Day, I'm holly cool and goodto see you. Holly good to see
you too. We're getting close atthe end of the year. I know,
it's that happened. I don't know, it's been this like we're in
that that time of year where it'sjust one after the next. You go
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, NewYear's and then New Year you know,

(00:44):
I know, but yeah, no, it's it's crazy to think that there's
only a couple months left of thisyear. And uh, you know,
the fall colors in California are reallylike beautiful right now, especially up in
in the Bay Area, and it'sjust uh, you know, not on
wood. We haven't had major likefires wildfires in the state. There were

(01:06):
some early on earlier on in thenorthern part of the state, but like,
you know, I feel like Ihave to knock on wood several times
as I'm saying this, But it'skind of nice to have autumn back.
I know. It's like now,my I'm like this. We used to
be probably my favorite Timmy year.I mean, summer is always great,
but I then with the fires thatstarted to just become you know, stress,

(01:26):
Yeah, just worry and like wondering. I remember our power would get
shut off all the time, andyeah, so the rains have been very
helpful. Yeah. Absolutely, It'sjust a beautiful time to go out on
a hike, go out on abike ride, go down to Monterey.
We actually have a very special episodeof the podcast there. We're going to

(01:47):
be talking with Ken Peterson and AlanPratassio. They are content strategists from the
Monterey Bay Aquarium and they know allthings Monterey Bay and Monterey Bay Aquarium.
So we have a great conversation withthose two that's going to be coming up
in the second half of this podcast. So that was a lot of fun
speaking with them. It's just it'ssuch a great conversation. I am in

(02:13):
awe of that entire team at theMonterey Bay Aquarium. It's so like I
love working with people who just areso truly passionate about what they're doing and
just have there just they have allof this information, it's all so interesting
and it was just so much itwas so fun to talk to them and
fascinating and interesting. And we'll talka little bit about our trip, but

(02:35):
you know, we did do aspecial edition on Monterey entirely, and there's
just some fantastic stories from biking theRecreation Trial, which I think is the
most beautiful. You love that.I think it's like one of the most
beautiful in the country. Yeah,why do you like it so much?
Carfree? I mean you're coastline thewhole way you're going from. You know,
you hit so many major highlights inMonterey, from Fisherman's Wharf to a

(02:59):
fantastic group hub. Come on andyou see the seals, you see all
of this wildlife on route. Wedid a ride where we went up to
the point pens Am I saying thatcurly penwes. No, we need to
edit that pins Cheez. I haven'thad enough. Yeah, I know,

(03:23):
Peina. No, I was winetasting yesterday, not today. I have
not been wine tasting. That lighthousewas spectacular. It's just gorgeous and the
time of year couldn't be better tobe there. I think fall is the
best time. So check out ourissue on Monterey. It's on our website.
You'll find it. Yeah, it'sfantastic. Yeah, all kinds of
great ideas of what you can dodown in Monera. Including like going on

(03:46):
some birding hikes if you're into birding. There's some really fantastic places to go
see pelicans and cormorants, great blueherons, all kinds of hawks. The
Elkhorn Slew Reserve, it's kind ofinland in Monterey Bay. Not that many
people go there that visit Monterey andit's just like it's a it's a nature

(04:09):
bonanza. And that was a tipfrom our from our friends at the Monterey
Bay Aquarium to go check that out. And we have a couple of others
just really fun, interesting different ideason how you can experience uh, Monterey
outside of the aquarium. And ofcourse you know, going to the aquarium
is is never a bad idea.It's it's so much fun. And they

(04:30):
do such a great job with theirexhibits. And they have this new exhibit,
the Into the Deep, where they'rejust like showing these creatures that have
never some of them have never youknow, been able to be shown to
the public before. They're just likefirst from such deep places in our ocean
and just kind of like the intricaciesof being able to display these animals and

(04:55):
like what goes into it, thewater temperature, just like getting all the
science right just to make it perfectso you can like see these creatures is
really incredible. Yeah, I meana trip to the monoe veh crim just
anchors every time you go to Monoran, and then there's so much to do
around there. I loved the pathof history that was such and we again
check out our website, but thatwas so unique. And the food,

(05:16):
like just going around and tasting theyhave so much sustainable food and it's just
we did really unique things. Thiswas a very different take on you know,
what you might expect. Yeah,and that's what I loved about it.
It was just it felt to mevery a lot of it like hidden
Monterey or less traveled, right anyways, and I love stuff like that.

(05:38):
I mean I love the highlights throughthe greatest hits that you can go to,
of course, but yeah, itwas just a really great trip.
Yeah, No, it was reallygreat. And I know, switching gears
a little bit. I know overthe weekend, you know, all this
Halloween stuff has been going on recently. You were taking your your furry friend
out on some on a hike Halloween. Halloween, well at a place that's

(06:01):
spectacular in fall and it's Jack LondonState Historic Park in Sonoma with Glen Allan
specifically, and it's it really isone of my favorite places to go and
fall because it's the colors are aspectacular, it's got a lot of history,
it's got cool things to visit,and it's dog friendly. So this
particular hike is out on our websitenow you can check it out. It's

(06:25):
our recent issue and it's it's dogfriendly for a three mile section that we
write about, and it's all thehistoric parts. So you start at Beauty
Rant and then you go up tothe Pig Palace, which I had never
been to. Do you know muchabout the Pig Palace? Well, I
mean like Jack London was like he'spretty progressive for his time, Yeah,

(06:46):
and that that pig Palace is justkind of a and I mean it kind
of shows how how he thought aboutanimals in a sustainable but also smart way.
Yes, like this was basically thepig I mean, I'm not going
to do it total justice. Youcan learn more about it when you're there,
but it was a way to effectivelyfeed the hogs and there were many
on the property and give them openspace to kind of like get out.

(07:11):
Yeah, and apparently locals at thetime thought this was, you know,
like ridiculous and really funny. Andthen the design of it and concept,
you know, won some awards andit's really cool to visit. And then
the vineyards there just right now thatlike perfect golden. It looked like caramel
and apple, just like was swirlingin that colors of corals and apple and

(07:34):
just all the autumn goodness. Ohyeah. And then going down to the
House of Happy Walls, which isthe museum, which is I think I
must visit there. They revamped thatmuseum and it reopened a few years ago.
It's just amazing. And then walkingdown to the Wolf House Ruins,
which, for people who don't know, is was Jack London's dream home that
he was building for Hee and hiswife Charmian, and it mysteriously burned down,

(07:58):
and so there was all of thismystery surrounding like how did it burn
down? And then it turns outit was probably combustion, right, spontaneous
combustion, I guess from a ragthat was left on. How can they
figure that out? Like how dothey know? It's a lot of research
investigator and it makes sense, likethere's docents there and they'll often talk about
it, so if you find one, and they also have some audio tours

(08:20):
which are great to do. Butyeah, it was fun. I took
I took Gus, and Gus wasa tribute to all the dogs because I
put angel wings on him and hadwe called him Gus on the bus.
So one side of the angel wingshad the words Gus on the bus and
the other side of the angel winghad Hank Forever, who is our beloved

(08:41):
unofficial mascot at Weekend sharpa for awhile, And so it was a tribute
to all the dogs that surely allgo to heaven and are heaven on Earth
when they're with them. Do youthink Gus has picked up the brains as
the unofficial mascot. Well, he'scertainly more a vicious than Hank. I
mean, he hikes at it better. He's kind of leaner and taller,

(09:07):
So I don't know. Maybe doyou think it's still work in progress?
I think he's young, he's gottime. But let's talk about some of
the places you've been, because you'vebeen kind of all over with your it's
been a busy October. Yeah,So starting with the Lost Coast. Yeah,
Yeah, the Lost coast there.I mean, the Lost Coast is
really really cool if you've ever beenup there. It's kind of where Highway

(09:30):
one veers inland. So you havethis stretch of coastline in Humboldt County that's
kind of untouched, you know.There's so there's a great backpacking adventures that
you can have. And I wasup there specifically for a gravel bike grace
And if you don't know what agravel gravel by, because a lot of
people don't, it's it's kind ofthe hotness right now, everybody's doing gravel.

(09:54):
It's basically like a road bike withmountain bike tires on it. Maybe
not quite as big as mounta biketires, but it can. It's a
road bike that can handle beefy ortires. So that just opens up a
whole new kind of like sport,sport really because road biking is is fun,
but you have to, you know, commit to being on pavement.
Mountain biking is fun, but youreally want to be on trails. This

(10:15):
you can do both and do bothof them pretty well. You can't do
like crazy trails on a gravel bike, but if it's a fire road or
dirt road, it's perfectly capable.So there's this really fun adventure series called
the Grasshopper Adventure Series that's all overnorthern California mostly, and the last one
of the year was on the LostCoast, which is really amazing because you're

(10:39):
putting on this event at someplace that'sso remote, and it starts and finishes
at this really far out beach.You'd like take a four whel you should
have a four wheel drive to getto this, to this beach with the
public beach you can's a totally publicbeach. I think it might be actually
a state a state park, butit's called usul us a l And uh
yeah, if you look it upon a map on the Lost Coast,

(11:01):
it's like boom, it's right there, and it's just surrounded by all these
crazy gravel roads and uh, theevent director just scoped out, of course
a few years ago. He's beendoing this for a few years. And
you know, you can you goride your bike and everybody else's you know,
it's a race, and so you'regoing out there for four or five,
six hours whatever it is and racingaround the Lost Coast on these crazy

(11:24):
gravel roads. I mean, it'sall mark, so you know where you're
going, and they have aid stationsthroughout so you can get snacks and water
and it's like a very festive,fun atmosphere. So that was that was
a blast. And you get acamp on the beach. I was just
going to say, so, isthere is there campgrounds or camp are you
camp? Like, it's like,here's the beach, just camp on the
beach. Yeah, it's totally like, here's the beach, go camp.

(11:45):
What about roadways? Well, youwant to camp above the high tideline.
I say this from past experience.Yeah, so yeah, no, but
I mean there were people who weredriving out on the beach who shouldn't have
been, and they're getting stuck,and it's like and they like the four
where drive guys. Yeah, thefour wheel drive guys like to come in
and like flex their muscles and showhow tough they are to be able to

(12:05):
like take these other guys out ofthe sand. It was just it was
a whole that's not legal to dothat. No on this I mean it
didn't say you couldn't drive on thebeach. Oh, they just thought they
were being all cool. Yeah,you know, guys, there's a lot
of like what sprinter vans out there? You know, those are super heavy,
and some of them are they saytheir four wheel drive, but they're

(12:26):
kind of they're kind of like maybeall wheel drive. Anyway, there was
a lot of cars getting stuck inthe sand. I saw a couple.
Yeah, sprinter vans are like shethey don't seem like they belong, like
you know, some of them arevery capable, but some of them aren't
quite as the sprinter you know.I mean, I mean, if someone

(12:50):
gave you, I mean, yeah, I would love to have them,
but they're they're quite expensive. Imean, there's other ways to have your
your car camping experience, but Imean the all inclusiveness of that is is
cool. It doesn't feel like it'snew though, Like we've been RV camping
in this country for decades. Yeah, this is just kind of a different
spin on it. I don't know, I'm not going to go out and

(13:13):
buy one anytime soon. I justlike to make camp when I was out
there. Yeah, exactly. Thoseare cool where you kind of have to
just take a regular fan or truckor something and do your thing. Oh
yeah, I mean, don't getme wrong, if somebody gave me a
Spindervan, I would Oh, they'relovely. I was just thinking it was
interesting that they were coming out onthe sand, like oh yeah, oh

(13:33):
yeah, that's pretty funny. Wellokay, and so you won't say that.
So why will you won? Youwon your you won that race in
your age category? I got Idid, yeah, my age category the
forty to forty nine year old oldstill got it. Yeah, then got

(13:54):
second overall. So it was uh, I was fit, feeling good and
had a great time. Oh that'sawesome, glad for you. Well,
I wanted to ask you speaking ofcycling. You know, there was some
news and you may know a littlebit more about it than I do,
but there's this whole controversy going onin Mount are at Mount Diablo, around
Mount Diablo, and this is abouta road in the Diablo area that cyclists

(14:22):
use to get like up I guessto Mount Diablo. Yeah, and it's
a safer route than one than analternative route that is dicey and dangerous.
And I guess the people within thisenclave, I guess it is like it's
a country club kind of residential areablocked access to that route or I don't

(14:46):
I don't quite know, can youdo you know a little bit more about
it? Yeah, I saw thisstory. Yeah, it's essentially, you
know, for a local community toget up to Mount Diablo to where all
the trails are, to get therefrom their residential neighborhood, you'd go through
this. It's kind of like aneasement really that goes through this particular community.
And I don't think it was everofficially agreed upon that this easement was

(15:07):
official and you could use it.So some nimbi's were getting upset and they
were like, no, you can't. You can't hike in here, you
can't walk in here, and youcan't cycle in here. So they put
up a fence so that all thesecyclists who used to be able to access
the trails safely through this kind ofroad now have to go on a busy
highway to get to the same trailsbecause they put up this fence. Right,

(15:31):
it's like a it's a big fence, like it's an iron fence.
Yeah, you can't go right,big deal. And I think that it
was the Diablo Road in Danville,which is the alternative, which is really
dangerous, narrow and doesn't have anyshoulders, no sidewalks, no it's a
shame, honestly. I think youknow, there's cyclists, don't. I

(15:52):
mean, what are we talking about, Like a cyclist on the road,
Like how much of a nuisance isthat they're going from point A to point
by not hanging out there? They'rekind of just using it as a thoroughfare
to get from one place to another. Like are you really that like disturbed
by cyclists coming through occasionally and you'rein your neighborhood and if you are,
like get a life. It's likethis isn't a party house going on,

(16:15):
No, And it's so strange andit sucks. I mean, I think
you know it's Cycling can be verydangerous, especially on roads, and especially
the size of cars nowadays. Likeif you've seen the size of pickup trucks
nowadays, Like they're enormous, likethe grills on the front of pickup trucks
and like the long haul calves andnow you have these extended side view mirrors,

(16:37):
Like they take up so much spaceon the highway, more than they
did fifteen twenty years ago. Yeah, and bicyclists have stayed the same size,
you know, and so it's they'rebeing kind of squeezed off off of
the roads, and yeah, Ithink a lot of times cycling and being
able to have safe access for cyclistsis like an afterthought when they're when you're

(16:59):
doing these constructions, are you're doingkind of urban planning, and then yeah,
you have to come in after thefact to try to fight to get
you know, safe cycling access,which sucks. I mean, if you
look at some of the places thatpeople love to go to in Europe,
right, they're all like pedestrian friendly, bicycle friendly communities. People love that,
they absolutely love it. We justdon't seem to recognize it in this

(17:22):
country. We're always put in thecar first and parking spots first, and
like making sure that we can driveeverywhere we need to drive to, and
we're not necessarily thinking about the pedestriansand the cyclists, which ultimately leads to
a healthier lifestyle, leads to ahealthier community, and there are just so
many benefits when you make places morepedestrian friendly and cycling friendly, and I

(17:44):
think this is a shame. Ialso saw they interviewed one of the guys
that like has been coaching the localmountain bike team for like the last ten
years in that community and he's like, this is part of you know,
when I was leading practices for mykids, we would yeah, kids,
we would go through this easma,this unofficial easement. And now they put
up this gate, and you know, the locals are like, we don't

(18:04):
want you know, cyclists, yougoing through our neighborhood or whatever, and
it sucks, it's stupid. It'slike, come to an agreement, you
know whatever that is to make itsafe so that people can access this stuff.
Yeah, I think it is alittle bit of a loss of perspective
on that one, for sure.I agree with you. And I noted
that too. About like these youngcyclists who are part of clubs or you

(18:25):
know, just wanting or even ifyou just want to go with your your
family, right, you know,families go up and cycle together. It's
like I think it's just like havesome perspective, like they just don't want
to do a far more dangerous route. And that makes perfect sense. I
wouldn't want you doing that, orif I had a kid, kid doing
that, like I don't know,you know, and it doesn't sound that

(18:45):
complicated to me. It just itkind of sounds like maybe some grumps got
out listening to this podcast. Ididn't see anything any kind of background indicating
here are the problems that are happeningwith cyclists, like they're doing this or
this is what's happening. It justsort of seemed like, yeah, what's
the argument, Yeah, like whywhy don't you want it? Betther than
you're just annoyed that somebody's like inyour neighborhood exactly. They just didn't see

(19:08):
anything, and so it's kind oflike, what am I missaying? And
it's probably not much. I thinkthat it's it's silly and it's unfortunate.
It's unfortunate. Moving on to someother news, there's some more positive news.
Death Valley reopened. I think there'sstill some road construction and going on,
and probably some closures in spots.But it's funny because it's like it's

(19:29):
like now is the perfect time togo because it's not as hot. It's
like this is the ideal time.And they're saying that there's these lakes now.
I don't know how long these lakesare going to be around, Yeah,
but there yeah, bad water basinand Mesquite flat sand dunes apparently has
some like maybe they're puddles now.Yeah, they don't know how long the
last. But bad Water Basin seemsto be the big one. Like they're

(19:52):
temporary lakes. It's not very busyapparently right now. So like FYI because
it was all closed down for quitesome time, so long due to those
mega mega rains that they got.I mean, that's my favorite National park.
But it seems like pretty much manyof the highlights are open again.
Yeah. The one I wondered aboutand I couldn't get information at the time

(20:12):
was Dante's Is it Dante's View?Oh? Yeah, because you get such
a brilliant perspective of bad Water Basinfrom there. Oh, you do.
That's a good point. And soif that if you go and you want
to check that out, I thinkthat would be an amazing perspective. Going
in the morning, or you couldgo at sunset. They opened Zibrisky Point
again, and the sand dunes youcan get to, and the canyons,

(20:33):
Mosaic Canyon, I think some ofthe canyons. Oh cool. So I
think a fair bit has reopened.But it's just so interesting. I mean,
that's the lowest point in North Americathat has a temporary lake, I
know, and it's that's crazy.Well, it's such an interesting place to
visit, like because you have suchextremes that happened there that it's the lowest,
like you said, lowest point inNorth America. And then you can

(20:56):
almost see and maybe you can I'msure if one of our listeners probably knows
this, but you can see orpotentially see Mount Whitney, the tallest point
in the contiguous forty eight not thatfar away from Dead Valley. So you
have the lowest and the highest pointin the contiguous United States, just like
within a couple hundred miles of eachother. I mean, it's nuts.

(21:18):
What is your favorite thing to doin that park? Like, what does
y'all do this every single time?Go to the Probably go to the sand
dudes at sunset I too. Yeah, that's hard to beat it really is.
I mean, just like being ableto climb up on one of those
sand dunes like an hour before sunsetand just hang out and watch the colors
of the sky turn, you know, and then walk back to your car

(21:38):
with a flashlight or if you havea full moon, oh yeah, we
did it on a full moon once, I think, and follow the moonlight
back. Yeah, it's yeah,I would say that's my go to too,
and it's nice because you could youknow, you've had your day.
Yeah, and then what hike inthe park You're probably gonna say the same
thing as what I'm thinking. Whathike in the park would you? Like,

(21:59):
do you to redo? Like nexttime you go, You're like,
this is going to be a numberone priority, number one priority? Yeah,
well god I would I have two? So I really Corkscrew Peak,
No, not not Corkscrew Peak.That was hell. That was couldn't walk
after that down hike that yeah,that's that's an unofficial hike. That was

(22:21):
like we talked to a local andDeath Valley like, Okay, what's a
cool peak that we should go summit. They're like GPS for They're like,
oh, you should go check outCorkscrew Peak. You like, you park
over here and you like follow theIt's like you're following Karen's basically to get
up to Corkscrew Peak. It's notofficially mark trail, hence the need for
Karen's not getting pushed down exactly.And that is just a hell of a

(22:44):
hike. It's very very demanding,but go do it. If you're if
you're into you know, you wantto go do something hardcore, get your
ass kicked. I mean, youknow we're pretty I was pretty fit hiker
too, And I mean it's justI think it's the steepness you don't necessary.
I mean you notice it, Younotice it. The view is amazing
at the top. It fact onewas there, and you're doing it like

(23:07):
kind of by yourself. It reallyfeels like an adventure. But I mean,
you have to have a lot ofwater, You have to be able
to navigate. Yeah, like youyou're really good at navigating. And once
you get once you start ascending,the trails pretty obvious. But I don't
know i'd tell anyone, you know, check with a ranger for you got
to go to the visitors center andask those guys if you want to do
it any the coordinates. But Ithink if I was to choose, I
have two. So I really lovethe Golden Canyon area. Oh yeah,

(23:33):
going Golden Canyon, but then likecontinuing on, so you're almost hiking up
to z a brisky point, yeah, and you're kind of getting way back
in there, and then you comeback on a wash. I forget what
that wash is called. But youcan like make this loop hike out there
that includes the Golden Canyon is likevery popular and a lot of people do
it, but you can continue onpast it, like you're going to Zibrisky
Point, which is also really popular. But then there you can loop around

(23:55):
back on a wash and make anice loophike out of it, and that
is really really spectacular. I'd loveto do that again. It's like it's
like Star Wars in parts we say, I just I always think baby Yoda's
going to pop out from from there. It's just I know, it's beautiful.
I think it's about five miles allin on that. We wrote about
that a few years ago. Yeah, what's another one? Wild Rose Peak?

(24:17):
Oh, okay, you took minewild Roast, Well, we did
that mine. I mean god,that was like, I don't know,
almost fifteen years ago when we didthat, when I was like fifteen,
Okay, I don't want to theage, no, but I agree it's
I think that was eight miles.I would recommend doing it in spring.
You can't do it in winter.I mean it gets snow covered. Yeah,

(24:38):
I think it's over eight thousand feet. Yeah, you got to hit
it on the right time to beable to go up there. But it's
really cool. Well, We triedto do it another year, like a
few years ago, but they hadhad so much snow and there they just
said, well, you don't needsnowshoes, and it just seemed like not
a great idea. Plus, youwant to see the wildflowers there, Yeah,
but again nobody, nobody was reallythere. Nope. That's a big

(24:59):
one for me too. That'd probablybe like my number one. So yeah,
I mean that valley has is agreat place to visit right now,
And as we mentioned earlier, sois is Monterey. What was your I
mean, man, is never nota great place to visit. It's really
fun. What was your favorite thingthat you did when you were there?
That is a very tough question,okay, I mean I loved all of
it. That sounds so cheesy,I know, but I really enjoyed it.

(25:21):
But what stands out just at themoment you asking me, is the
ford Or Dunes State Park sunset.Oh, the beach was spectacular, again,
really quiet, nobody was there offthe beaten path, unexpected. The
sunset was perfect, really beautiful,quiet, beautiful, like you said,

(25:42):
off the beaten path. I justthink that park is not very well known
still and it's not that new,but it's relatively new still. Yeah,
yeah, no, that's that oneis really cool, and there's it's a
popular place for paragliders too, andyou get to see them just kind of
like cruising around in the winds,almost like their hawks. You know,
they're just like just the guy thatwas there when we were there was just

(26:04):
kept on, just like swirling backand forth. Looks like he was having
a blast of the time. Wellhe was, and he kept telling his
wife how much she loves her.His lovely wife was was with their two
kids, and they were really sweet. Yes, every time, I'm like,
boy, does he think he's gonnadie or something? Joyous? Yeah,

(26:29):
that word joyous. But what aboutfor you? What what stands out
from pretty much all of it?Yeah, no, I mean I really
enjoyed that. That sunset I thoughtwas really cool. And yeah, I
think just kind of the aquarium everytime you go back there, and we
were fortunate enough to do it behindthe scenes tour when we were there,

(26:52):
which I highly highly recommend because you'rejust getting a different perspective on the animals,
you're learning, you're learning a lot. I mean, you can wander
around the aquarium and learn a Ton, But it's kind of nice to have
somebody who's like right there with youfor forty five minutes to an hour kind
of telling you all about you know, the history of the aquarium and what's
going on with this exhibit and what'sgoing on with these animals and how they

(27:12):
feed the animals, and also beingable to touch them. I thought that
was really really fun. I agree, it's such a special place because well,
and the Into the Deep exhibit isalso in Spanish. It's bilingual,
which is really cool. And it'sjust a place where you're both entertained,
inspired, you're mesmerized, and you'reeducated, and you know, it doesn't

(27:34):
feel like you're you know, sometimesyou feel like I'm going to learn something.
It's like, oh gosh, it'snot boring at all. It's fascinating
and interesting and it's just like suchan incredible environment to be able to learn
in. Yeah, it's like beingan adult on a school field trip and
you're really into it. Yeah.Agree. So let's talk with Ken and

(27:55):
Alan from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.So we're lucky to be joined here by
Ken Peterson and Alan Pretasio from theMonterey Bay Aquarium. They're part of the
content strategy and communications team, andman, we are really excited to have
both of you on the podcast todaybecause you know so much about not just

(28:18):
the aquarium but Monterey Bay in general. And I think you know, people
don't necessarily know that the Monterey BayNational Marine Sanctuary is the largest protected ocean
area in the continental United States,But like, what does that mean and
why is that? Like tell usa little bit about the significance of the
Monterey Bay. Let me jump inwith that to start, and thanks for

(28:42):
having us. The bay has gotsuch a variety of habitats and creatures because
of the geography and because of theocean currents. So one of the things
that made Monterey Bay Aquarium Monity BayAquarium was the fact that our founders were
all scuba divers marine biologists. Theyknew what was out there. They wanted

(29:06):
people to see the diversity, notjust the big charismatic creatures that you woul
typically see it an aquarium, andall of those things exist in Monterey Bay.
So you have everything from sand duneswith creatures that are unique to those
dunes, through the sandy seafloor offshore, through kelp forests, through shale and
granite reefs offshore as well, andthen you keep going down into this mile

(29:32):
deep submarine canyon. So that's botha habitat but also a corridor that brings
a lot of whales and other animalsinto the bay and gives them a great
place to feed. And so that'slike that canyon that you mentioned the Monterey
Bay. It goes down you saida mile So it's like it's like the
Grand Canyon, like underwater kind of. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's

(29:59):
about twice a side eyes of theGrand Canyon if you really look at it
from you know, the top downall the way to the bottom. Wow.
And it's amazing to just even thinkof that. For anyone that's visited
the Grand Canyon. It's huge,right, you see it, and it's
hard to even fathom that something isthat large and that exists underneath the surface

(30:22):
of the water. And what's reallyamazing about that is it's right in our
own backyard and it's easily accessible.And so our partners over at the Mono
Bay Aquarium Research Institute, they justhave to travel a mile off shore and
they're already at the mouth of thatsubmarine canyon, and so they can do
research in a day that folks inother parts of the ocean have to travel

(30:45):
weeks out to get to have tospend weeks at ocean or at sea in
order to do that research and thentravel back and our researchers, our partners
can do it in a day orwithin you know, a couple of days.
Incredible, it's amazing. We arereally truly blessed to be here Monterey
Bay. And again, the aquariumis really an amazing place to just kind

(31:08):
of showcase that. Yeah, itreally is an amazing place. And I
mean the aquarium of course is anamazing place to visit as well. And
talking about how deep that Monterey Bayis, you know, twice the size
of the Grand Canyon. You know, you get down really deep, right,
Like when you get down really reallydeep, you get some just incredible,

(31:32):
crazy looking animals down there. Andyou have a new exhibit called Into
the Deep at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is the largest collection of deep
sea animals in North America. Thatso you can like bring to life to
people these animals that never literally seethe light of day. And now we're
able to kind of to see theseguys. It's tell us a little bit
about that that exhibit. Well,it's fun because we always want to tell

(31:56):
as much of the story of MontereyBay and the life as we can.
So when the founders said, wedon't want to just have you know,
whales and sea lions and the thingsthat you typically see in aquarium, and
we don't want to have a postagestamp collection of creatures from all over the
world. There is so much diversityin every one of the habitats, from
the Kelp forest and the reefs andthe sandy seafloors into the deep and having

(32:20):
that access with our partners, havingthis incredible animal care team that's learning how
to raise some of these exotic deepsea species through their life cycle so they
can present them for the first time. And you walk in there and these
there's a whole group of animals calledcomb jellies, which are not the temacal
type of jellies that people are familiarwith that have the stinging cells trailing their

(32:44):
bodies. They have little rainbow lightpatterns on their bodies, these tiny little
hair like structures they use to propelthemselves to the water. And so we're
raising comb jellies, including these darkred incredible things called bloody belly combed allies
that scientists are coming from around theworld to see in our exhibit because they've

(33:07):
only seen pictures or video of thembefore, and they've been studying these animals
of their lives. So it's reallygratifying that the scientific community embraces it.
But for the average person who justis thinking what cool sea creatures are there
going to be, it's like everytime you turn a corner, there's something
remarkable. I was going to askyou both if you could. It's probably

(33:27):
you're gonna want to name more thanone, but you can name a few
of the most captivating. I knowyou mentioned the blood belly comb jelly,
which I saw. It's just it'san incredible exhibit, and it's it's in
Spanish as well, which is great. But what are some of your other
what are some of the captive captivatingcreatures you both are very intrigued by in
the exhibit. Yeah, I couldjump in. We don't have it on

(33:50):
exhibit currently because they're they're playing around. What I have to start off with
is what's really amazing about this exhibitis that again you're going to see stuff
that you've never seen before. Noone's ever seen before. And what I
love, especially about the bloody bellycomb jelly is when you're looking at it
and just taking in its beauty.Right at the exhibit, you're among the
only people on earth that are lookingat that animal at that time. And

(34:15):
it's it's being able to bring thatexperience to the surface to people, to
the public, is what's really amazingabout this exhibit. So that being said,
it's it's being able to bring againthese animals that people are just have
no sense of, like what isthat? So like people don't know what
a sciphonof is and it's this hugecolony of animals and that's just doesn't make

(34:38):
sense in our normal lives, right, And what's really amazing is that we've
had it on exhibit. We've actuallybeen able to really work with them and
have them thrive and actually are onthe way of culturing these animals. And
again, these are first that arehappening right here and really nowhere else,
and it's it's pretty amazing. Justgot to say. One of my favorites,

(35:02):
as you're asking, is is somethingcalled the basket star. So people
are familiar with sea stars starfish whenthey go to the you know, the
beach with the seamo on a pier, But basket stars have that same central
core body with five arms, butthe five arms in their pace look like
silly string. It just they keepgoing and going and going, and when

(35:23):
they're feeding, they stretch out andthey're all these tendrils that are like intertwined
threads and strings, and they're usingthose to snag floating particles of food drifting
by in the water. And they'rebeautiful. They're they're kind of a I
don't know, element you say,like cinnamon colored or pumpkin latte colored with

(35:44):
white, kind of like a likea caramel swirl ice cream color of that
white and a little bit caramel brown. And then you have these long,
whitish tentacles that are just interlaced.It's just you can't even believe that there's
this creature is on the same planetas us, and everywhere you turn there's
something else like that. Yeah,it's funny that you're talking about that,

(36:05):
because I feel like outer space isgetting all the pr right now. You
know. It's just like we haveall this incredible biodiversity, like right here
on this planet. You just gotto look a look underneath the ocean to
go find it, and you cango see it at the aquarium. But
I imagine it's not as simple aswe see it. Just as you know,
somebody visiting the aquarium, you gointo this exhibit and you're looking at

(36:27):
these amazing animals and you're like,wow, that's really cool. You're not
just grabbing these animals out of theocean and plunking them into a tank.
There's got to be a lot ofscience and chemistry behind how you keep these
animals thriving and alive and breeding inthis captivity Like how like, I mean,
how do you do that when youcapture one of these things that they

(36:49):
are so rare, to keep ithealthy and keep it going. Yeah,
a lot of this, I mean, this exhibit is years and years and
years in the making, and alot of it is dependent on a lot
of collaborations. We wouldn't be ableto do this without our sister institution,
the Mario Bay Aquarium Research Institute,because again, they have that access,
they have the equipment, they havethe scientists, they have the engineers to

(37:14):
be able to go out into thebay to send an ROV a remotely operated
vehicle that they're controlling with little likeremotes and joysticks from the boat and send
that down thousands of feet beneath thesurface and then be able to collect really
fragile jellies. Yeah, it's it'struly again, it's amazing, so that

(37:36):
collaboration that we've had with them,but also just scientists across the world and
being able to better understand these animalsand how to take care of them.
You know, again, was talkingabout the comb jellies, that's something that's
been years in the making, andbefore we had them even in into the
deep, it was something that wouldnever really been heard of before in the

(38:00):
aquarium world of having comb jellies andhaving them on exhibits, and so it's
it really is more than just ohhey, let's let's make a deep sea
exhibit. It's bringing in all ofthis knowledge that's just cumulated over years and
years and years. We're also fortunateto have this really remarkable water science team.

(38:22):
So when you walk through the aquarium, if you go to the Kelp
forest, which is just a magicalplace with the swaying fronds and the fish
moving back and forth, you know, that's water that's coming straight in from
moder A Bay. It's One ofthe things that we're so fortunate to be
able to do is take water straightfrom the bay, put it right into
our exhibits, and it's so cleanand so you know, rich and good

(38:45):
quality that those exhibits are healthy thereand it's right at the same temperature.
Because we're exhibiting local marine life.Sometimes you know, we might have to
warm it a little bit or chillit a little bit for some of the
animals, but for the deep seaexhibit, you've got animals that are living
in the forty degree temperature consistently,where the water chemistry is so different than
it is at the surface. Itmight be much lower in oxygen, it

(39:07):
might be slightly less or slightly moreacidic. There might be other changes.
So we've got a team that ismonitoring and adjusting and fine tuning the water
chemistry for each individual exhibit. Thecomb jellies might need something different than the
giant Japanese spider crabs, than thebasket stars, than the pomp pominemities or
the hagfish, and they're as devotedto their work and then making sure that

(39:30):
everything succeeds as the animal care peopleare and raising the comb jellies or the
sciphonophores or something else you're trying tobring and it's that that teamwork and collaboration,
it just just gives it. It'sa great feeling every day. Yeah,
and you can just like step outonto the back deck of the aquarium
if you want and just get thatjust beautiful view of Monterey Bay and if

(39:53):
you're lucky, maybe even seeing adistant gray whale or you guys also get
killer whales that come through there prettyconsistently, right, Yeah, we'll get
some orcas that come in, andyou know, like a lot of the
animals that are coming into the bay, they're they're looking for food. So
we'll get them in April's about atime that we'll get them because grey whales

(40:15):
are on their migration. The calvesare coming back and forth, and that's
that's good food. And so yeah, it again it you know, talking
about the back deck. That's that'sone of those areas that I love about
the aquarium because it's it's that directconnection. Right, what you're looking at
out in the bay is what wehave right inside our doors again, just

(40:37):
beneath the surface. And so ifyou take that moment to really look around
and peek around. It's it's likeyou're a diver. You're getting that chance
to really peek beneath the surface withoutyou having to get really cold and wet.
As you know, it's fifty fivedegrees typically in the waters of Honoite
Bays. And not only that,thanks for sharing that. I love going

(41:00):
on the deck every time I visitthe aquarium. It's just like some zen
time and I'm always excited about whatI might see. And I also did
the behind the scenes tour talking aboutfood where which was just remarkable, where
I got to like touch a jellyso I was told, no, don't
worry, you're not gonna get done. You'll just get slimed. So I
got slimed by a jelly. Itwas a real thrill. I loved it.

(41:22):
It was such a great experience.But that tour is fantastic. You
learn, you know, so manycool things about what the animals eat.
I thought it was cool, likethe enrichment toyss for octopus, which you
know, was really interesting. Andalso just the discussions around sustainability and the
sea so important, and Manrie issuch a leader and innovator with that.

(41:42):
I really appreciate that. Well,you know, it's yeah, you know,
it's it's more than being just anaquarium, right, It's it's really
being that that connection to the oceanand realizing that we are all connected to
the ocean, regardless of where weare located in the world, right and
knowing that we're responsible for protecting itand ensuring that it's still there and is

(42:08):
maintained and so that future generations canenjoy it and take advantage of all that
it has to offer. And so, yeah, we're really big and sustainability
plastics is a huge, huge areathat we're really focused in as well,
because again, you know, asresearch is coming out, you'll find microplastics

(42:30):
are literally everywhere from the depths ofthe ocean all the way up to the
tops of the mountains. It's like, it's really incredible. And I think
something important that you do too,and it's on your site, is you
talk about how sometimes we can feelso overwhelmed that you think that you're not
going to make a difference. Andyou guys have such great tools on your
website about well, here's some informationon sustainable eating or plastic pollution, and

(42:52):
that you can do things, youknow, and even if it's small things,
it still really adds up. AndI just think you guys are such
an a resource for that. Andagain, I really appreciate it because it
can feel like, oh, it'sjust so overwhelming and I one person,
but you're you know, like,if one person does that and the next
person does that, you can eliminate, you know, a lot of the

(43:13):
pollution. And I like your cafeteriatoo. I like the idea of food,
you know, like the idea ofsustainable food. It's great food,
by the way, and the kindof the philosophy of you know, food
with the future, which ties intoexactly what you were talking about. We
we're deeply committed to that. We'refortunate, I mean, anyone in California

(43:34):
can get food, amazing food withina pretty short trip from wherever they live.
And that's what the philosophy is behindthe food we're serving in our cafe,
and it's not traveling more than ninetymiles or so. And our culinary
team, as you say, makessome pretty amazing things. We've eliminated all
single ease plastic in the cafe.We're moving toward doing that in our store

(44:00):
as well. Kind of a funthing coming out for like a take the
aquarium home with you. We're goingto be releasing in the fall a monopoly
game, a custom money aquarium Monopolygame. It has zero plastic in it
whatsoever. And it's not community chestand chance. It's you know, ocean
action and you know conservation cards thatyou'll pull out there. But it's really

(44:23):
gorgeous. But it's sending a signalthat you can do these things and modeling
a way to do things that areplastic free, and I think that empowers
people they see, oh, thisis possible. Same thing with our seafood
program. It started out as anexhibit we opened twenty five years ago and
people just say, well, tellme what I should do, and we

(44:45):
wound up producing pocket guides that wouldsay eat this, not that, give
this one a little bit of apause. But it became something that had
an impact far beyond the individual doingsomething that was affecting Businesses would then go
to their suppliers that would then goout there and it's changing supply chains around
the world. So your voice,your action does make a difference. Yeah,

(45:08):
that's incredible. And it's also justkind of like going back to the
kind of the diversity of and howimportant Monterey Bay is you know, a
lot of people might not know thatthe cute fuzzy sea otter was at one
point almost extinct in California, right, I mean, these they they there

(45:31):
was just so many of them atone point. Then we hunted them almost
to extinction. And of course youcan see the cute fuzzy sea otter at
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Buttell us a little bit about kind of
the importance that that cute creature playsin being kind of biologically and ecologically healthy

(45:52):
for the Monterey Bay Querium and allof the West coast. Yeah, what
we've kind of realized is that aswe've grown as an aquarium, we've realized
that we've been really tied to seaotters because the otters have been really tied
to Monterey Bay. And as yousaid, yeah, they were hunted to
near extinction. They actually thought southernsea otters, the ones that are found

(46:14):
here in California, were gone,they were extinct, And it wasn't until
the kind of early nineteen hundred isthat there was a very small raft or
group of sea otters found off ofthe you know, very rugged shores of
a big sur and honestly from thatgroup. The three thousand or so that

(46:35):
we have today in the California watersare all from that very small group,
and so that kind of recovery fromthe near extinction is due to a lot
of again collaboration, a lot ofeffort put into realizing that these animals are
important, and their presence here inMonterey Bay has really shown that they are

(46:58):
important to the ecosystems. They arekeystone predators and have that really huge effect
on the health of the calf forestand not only that, but the other
ecosystems that they've been a part of. You know, we've been huge in
having our surrogacy program in taking insick and injured seatters and their pups and

(47:22):
rehabilitating them and releasing them again,all in an effort to recover this really
important population. And what we foundwas that when we were releasing them in
Elkhorn Slough, which is a wetlandarea just north of us here in Monterey
Bay, we found that they didreally well because there's a lot of food.

(47:43):
But what happened was that this reallyamazing effect is that they showed what
they mean to the environment and whathappens that the eel grass community within Elkorn
Slough rebounded and it's this really beautiful, diverse area now that has really grown
because of the presence of sea otters. And so we're realizing that if we

(48:07):
continue to do this work in recoveringtheir population, hopefully expanding the population to
those native areas, what effects canthey have in other areas of California and
potentially beyond. So it's it's oneof those things that you know, we're
really proud of the work that we'vedone, but we realize there's still a

(48:29):
lot, quite a lot to doto really make that big effect. It's
fun too, because the when peoplecome to the aquarium and see the odds
on exhibit, those odds are workingmoms. They're they're female, they're all
females, and all of them willbe behind the scenes sometimes caring for pups

(48:52):
that have are going to go backto the wild, and so they're they're
really dual duty. They're inspiring,they're entertaining, they're just joyful to be
around, but they're also doing importantwork that's helping with the recovery of California.
See otters along, you know throughouttheir range, is it their biological
offspring or are they like, isit the surrogate program? Yeah, yeah,

(49:15):
yeah, very much. Not biological, Yeah yeah, it's it's really
amazing because it's it's not something thatyou would expect to happen right in the
wild. It's it's a huge investment, especially for sea otters. They're taking
care of those pups for six tonine months sometimes, and so you don't
expect for non biological to want totake on that type of interaction or type

(49:37):
of relationships. But what we've foundis that the exhibit orders that we have
that were deemed non releasable, we'reshowing some of those maternal types of instincts
to some of the other odds,and it eventually evolved into this surrogacy program.
And what better teacher for sea otterthan another sea ord So it's really

(50:01):
incredible. And you know, wealways talk about Rosa is a very famous
sea otter that we have here onexhibit. She just had her twenty fourth
birthday, which is amazing because that'sthe oldest Southern seatter around. But during
her time she's retired now, butduring her time she helped raise fifteen seaotter
puffs that wows back out to thewild and so, like I said,

(50:25):
we're having that direct impact on therecovery of this population. So they're not
just here to have cute seatters onexhibit. They're really to share the story
and the importance of these wild animalsvisiting the aquarium. You're learning that story.
You're supporting the work, the workwith seotta recovery, You're supporting the

(50:47):
work addressing global plastic pollution. You'resupporting the work that's transforming seafood production in
ways that lead to healthy fishing communitiesand healthy populations of wildlife. So it's
a really it's a really neat thing. You're you're you're having a ball,
You're coming with your friends, you'recoming with your family. You're seeing these
unbelievable creatures you might not see anywhereelse. Maybe it's wetting your appetite to

(51:13):
go out and go kayaking or goon a whale watching trip, or go
up for a trip into Elkhorn Sloughand to collect with them in the wild.
But in addition to all of that, you're really helping make the ocean
a healthier place by by supporting thework we're doing that goes far beyond our
walls. It does Yeah, wevisited Elkhorn Slough. It was quite a

(51:35):
special place. I wonder if youguys could talk about it a little bit.
I'm sure you'll have much more interestingthings to say. I mean,
we saw and I saw an otter. It was durable, and then a
lot of pelicans as a lot ofbird life out there. Yeah, it
seems like there's a lot of birdspecies. It was beautiful and very just
like tranquil and lovely to visit itwith quiet. We went over to Hummingbird
Island. Do you guys go thereoften? It's a it's a it's a

(52:00):
hidden gem I like to think ofhere in Monterey Bay because you know,
it's it's to get especially to likethe nature center that they have on the
preserve, you kind of have togo and land a little bit, and
you know it's not right there onthe coast, but it's again it's it's
one of those amazing places that reallysolidifies that connection between land and water right

(52:22):
and and wetlands are really that reallyimportant ecosystem as well, and so it's
it's an amazing place. Again youget to get to chance to see otters,
you know, pretty pretty close.I mean you still have to keep
your distance. But it's amazing againjust being here in Monterey Bay and you

(52:44):
know the birds that you mentioned.It's what I love about Monterey Bay.
I think of it always as thisarrest up for all these different animals that
are traveling on all their different migrations. Right. So you think about the
whales that are traveling up and downthe coasts going from their mating grounds down
to their feeding grounds. But thinkabout all the birds that are just traveling

(53:06):
well across the world and they arestopping right here Monterey Bay because we have
a bounty of food and it's agreat place to stop and rest, rest
your wings a little bit. Maybeyou're you might meet some other birds out
there, but it's just an amazingplace. And Alcornsley was definitely one of
those places A hit in gym.If you get a chance, if you're

(53:27):
visiting, carve some time out halfa day at least and go visit,
get on a kayak or go ona hike at the preserve because it's it's
a really beautiful place. Yeah.Yeah, Ali is talking about eating and
resting and meeting for the wildlife,but I think it's true for the people
who come here too. It's reallyit's kind of a respite. It's always

(53:49):
Moner Bay and many pence have alwaysbeen a little bit off the beaten track.
You know, it's not right ona major highway. You have to
be intentional about getting here. AndI think part of what makes the experience
it so special is that when youcome here you can just kind of exhale
and relax. You have so manyopportunities to go for a bike ride or
a morning run or a walk alongthe shoreline and get all those just random

(54:14):
encounters with wildlife. You know,the gull that's sitting on a rock squawking
away, or a flock of pelicanscoming by, or a whale spout or
a raft of otters. I mean, the kind of thing that does recharge
you. And I think that's whatwe're celebrating and encouraging people to do when
they come to visit is really justslow down, spend some time, take

(54:37):
a deep breath, relax and enjoyit and you'll be glad you did.
Yeah. Well, I know that. You know the location of the aquarium
is right on that prime multi usepath, that Monterey Bay Recreation Trail,
which is I mean we ride aboutit and we can surve it has to

(54:59):
be one of the the best coastalbike rides in the United States. It's
it's incredible. It's an old railroadline. I'm going to say in the
world. You can't speak for Europe. I'm sure they got good coastal rides
in your I heard Denmark does itpretty well. But no, I mean,
it's it's really incredible. You goright through Cannery Road, the Fisherman's
Wharf of course, right by theMonterey Bay Aquarium. Then you have that

(55:21):
whole Pacific Grove area, and thenwe recommended kind of veering off a little
bit and going to the Point PinosLighthouse, which was which is really cool.
But uh, I mean, you'rejust you're so fortunate to have that
kind of a trail to talk about, you know, Ken you said,
just kind of slow down and takeit all in that just even if you

(55:42):
don't bike ride it, if youjust wog it, you know, just
for fifteen minutes. And there's anaudio tour that you can do. Actually,
I think it's like a QR codekind of based audio tour where you
bring your cell phone and you canlisten to some of the historical significance of
Monterey and that that particular bike pathand what that railroad line was about.
Just so much history there, andobviously all the good work that you all

(56:06):
are doing at the Aquarium is reallyincredible. But yeah, no, it's
I mean, we loved it.We were there a couple of weeks ago
and it got to see into thedeep, got to see all these other
exhibits, got to experience Elkhorn Sloughand the recreation path. I mean,
it's it's it's an incredible place.It's an incredible place. You're really really

(56:27):
fortunate to work for such a greatcompany, great organization and doing all the
good work that you do. AndI've been fortunate to be able to work
with you guys. It's been reallygreat. I find it very enriching,
truly, Like it's so wonderful tobe able to work with people who just
like are so passionate about what they'redoing, so knowledgeable, and I learned
from you all all the time.It's just it's a great experience. So
what a pleasure to have you both. Thank you so much. Having Undown's