Patty

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I spent a couple of hours this morning at Moss Landing State Beach located along Hwy 1 half way between Santa Cruz and Monterey. This is the most reliable spot for fairly close viewing of otters at the mouth of Elkhorn Slough. Toward the end of Jetty Rd is a small parking area on the left with a sign with information about the otters. Below the roped off parking area is where you'll usually find rafts of otters in the slough as well as some otters resting on the sand if the tide isn't too high. At high tide there's little to no sand for the otters to haul out on but no matter the timing, there are always otters present in the water. Today there were about two dozen of them easily visible. I also like timing my visits when the tide is a little lower to watch the shorebirds feed. Terns have arrived and will be in the area until about the middle of October. Right now there are elegant terns in the thousands and I saw a few caspian terns. There's new signage and more roped off this year to prevent people from walking along the sand over to the otter haul out area which is a good as I've seen people try to walk right up to them.

You can see harbor seals here as well. They like to hang out near the sand bar by the boats and kayak launching areas. Kayak Connection and Monterey Bay Kayaks offer tours and rentals and the Elkhorn Slough Safari boat brings their guests here but if you don't have enough time for any of these activities, you can always make a quick stop to see the wildlife.

After you're done on the slough side, you can walk over to the ocean side to look for whales. I didn't see any from shore today but have in the past usually at quite a distance so binoculars are helpful. Sanctuary, Blue Ocean, Sea Goddess and Fast Raft operate whale watch tours from Moss Landing Harbor. There have been a few dozen humpbacks feeding offshore of Moss Landing recently. There have also been about a dozen humpbacks in Carmel Bay visible from shore from Point Lobos, Carmel River State Beach and Carmel Point in the past few days.

janisj

What a fabulous day! That must be the area my Dad used to take us when we were kids because I remember seeing otters on the beach somewhere about 'mid-bay'.

We usually spent 2 weeks every summer in Seacliff Beach/Aptos.

AustinTraveler

Very nice, thanks for sharing!

Nikki

Very nice! Somehow I have overlooked this area on my visits although I have hit many other spots nearby. Are the otters there all year or are certain seasons better for viewing them?

Patty

Thanks, janisj and AustinTraveler!

That's the only place where I've seen otters haul out on the sand like that in such close proximity to people. I've seen them on rocks at Point Lobos but never that close to shore.

Patty

Hi Nikki! I've never not seen otters there regardless of the time of year or tidal conditions. It's the most consistent place I know of to easily see otters in good numbers. I've also seen otters in the upper part of the slough when hiking the trails inside Elkhorn Slough Reserve but usually from a farther distance.

There was a Monterey County Weekly article last year about the otters that inhabit the slough http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/...42b380dd0.html

Nikki

Thanks for the link.

StantonHyde

This is our favorite place for kayaking--ok, so we've only been twice but loved it both times!!! First time was in the fall, saw a couple of otters. This time was spring 2017--LOTS of otters and moms with pups. The Slough is such a great place to kayak. Highly recommend it!!!

livetoroam

My daughter and I kayaked there last March and saw the otters and seals in large numbers. So amazing. We used monterey Bay kayaks and would recommend them as well.