Pigeon Point

Although we set off over half an hour late, our driver, Kenneth, said that he doesn't mind setting off a little late on this tour, because it gives the fog a chance to recede a little as we go down the coast.  The coach was quite full, and unfortunately, I sat on the wrong side for all the best views of the sea.

It took quite a while to get out of San Francisco, due to the rush hour traffic even at 9.30am, but soon we were racing down to our first stop, the lighthouse at Pigeon Point.

As you can see, the fog had lifted by the time we reached this point, although as we were leaving the lighthouse disappeared under a blanket of thick fog.

Although there were some very narrow beaches, the main landscape features here were the rocks.

There were lots of impressive rock formations here., with a surprising variety of flowers growing in the crevices and even on the exposed parts of the rocks.

One of the other passengers took my photo here, and I reciprocated.  As you can see, the fog was starting to roll back in even as this photograph was take, not 10 minutes later than the first one.

In the small inlets, the waves were crashing in, even though it was mostly calm out in the ocean itself.

It was a warm day, so the nice breeze up on the exposed high ground was welcome.

After leaving Pigeon Point, we headed on to Monterey.  At one point, we saw the whales in the far distance in the ocean, but quite hard to see apart from the plumes of spray.
 We stopped at a small cafe for elevenses and bathroom breaks for those that required them, before heading on again into Monterey.