Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: California

  • California – Whale Watching Trip (Captain Dave’s Tours)

    I initially thought that whale watching was a good suggestion from Alexis, although I then decided that there was a risk that I’d get seasick…. Fortunately I didn’t, and I got better photos of the whales and dolphins that I had anticipated before the visit. So, Captain Dave’s Whale Watching in Dana Point it was.

    There is no guarantee that whales or dolphins will be seen on any particular trip, although the company do post up on the boards what has been seen recently. The tour is 2.5 to 3 hours long, so there’s plenty of time to see something.

    The boarding ticket. One thing that was reassuring about this company is that they don’t do discounts with Groupon or similar sites. There were some other companies that flog off cheap tickets on Groupon, but to me it’s a huge sign of desperation and so I disregarded all those competitors who did it.

    The staff member suggested buying some Pringles to eat something salty to minimise being seasick. So I did.

    Boarding the boat.

    The mast things.

    I was pleased to discover that I had accidentally selected one of the two seats which let me lie down and recline. I initially thought that this was useful to avoid seasickness, but when I discovered that I didn’t get seasick then I decided that it was just comfortable.

    A view from the back of the boat. There were two crew members on the boat, one was up above looking around for whales and dolphins (and maybe polar bears, although I doubt they see many off California) and the other remained on board with everyone else. He was conversational and engaging, giving us lots of information about the dolphins and whales that we were seeing.

    After around 90 minutes, the crew member suggested that I leave my comfortable lying point to stand at the front of the boat, which I decided was a good idea. This coincided with the others moving back as they thought most of the excitement was over, but it gave me the ideal opportunity to see the dolphins towards the second half of the trip.

    Everything seemed very professional and I noted that the ticket office didn’t sell tickets to a group of three people saying that there were only two spaces left. However, the boat could have taken more, so there was a decision made to ensure that the boat wasn’t too crowded. If it had of been, then the experience wouldn’t have been as positive.

    Overall, this was an excellent experience, the staff were friendly, the boat was comfortable and we got to see a fin whale and hundreds of dolphins. All very lovely.

  • California – Whale Watching Trip (Whale Photos)

    OK, I’m not a wildlife photographer, these aren’t great photos….. These are the whale photos   🙂

  • California – Whale Watching Trip (Dolphin Photos)

    Photos from my whale and dolphin adventure in the Pacific….

    Here are the dolphins….. (quite a lot of photos of these)

  • California – One Way Sign

    An artful One Way sign.

  • Laguna – Evening Photos

    Beautiful and peaceful.

  • California – Pelicans in Flight

    Pelicans in San Juan Capistrano….. Or over it.

  • Megabus (Las Vegas to Los Angeles)

    The bus was ready around thirty minutes before departure time, although we couldn’t board for around another fifteen minutes. The temperature in Las Vegas by this time was hot, so at least there was a canopy to stand under. The process seemed a bit long-winded to board with the driver telling everyone they couldn’t sit in some of the downstairs seats, but nearly everyone was heading upstairs anyway.

    However, on arrival upstairs, a problem emerged. The bus was like a sauna, which was helpfully noted by the driver when she passed through the coach to count everyone. However, despite some complaints, the driver said that the policy was that the coach drivers were banned from idling by the company. I’m not sure why Megabus have come with this solution, but it wasn’t entirely comfortable for the fifteen minutes or so we were waiting.

    Yet again, like my last Megabus trip, there was someone trying to pay on boarding. There was some discussion about this before the passenger gave up and said they’d try and book on the next bus, although that was around seven hours away.

    The inside of the coach. Megabus are very proud that they have their own entertainment system for passengers, they e-mailed me twice about it and it was also on the booking e-mail. However, the wi-fi on the coach didn’t work, which was most inconvenient, which of course meant that the entertainment system also failed. I was less concerned about this than I had no access to e-mails or anything else during the five hour journey.

    I thought that the lack of wi-fi would be solved by the bus’s stop during the journey. This has always been a McDonald’s, which is very convenient as it allows for not just the purchase of food, but also the use of the restaurant’s wi-fi. However, since my last trip on this journey Megabus has moved to Love’s, a petrol station which charges customers for wi-fi. They had food at the Chester’s Chicken which is part of Love’s, but this didn’t have wi-fi no doubt as Love’s policy to charge for everything they can. In irritation I refused to buy anything and was pleased I had snacks and drinks from Walmart….. The state of the toilets in Love’s was also unsatisfactory, so hopefully Megabus will move to somewhere rather more suitable again in the future.

    Oh, and the bus driver counted everyone and realised someone was missing. She ended up running inside to find the passenger and it transpired they’d decided to stay in the petrol station and not continue with the journey. It didn’t occur to them to perhaps tell the driver that, but I have to give credit for the driver noticing, they don’t usually count everyone.

    Photos from the journey, which went through some marvellous scenery. It wasn’t of course quite as impressive as the Grand Canyon scenery from the previous day, but nonetheless, the wide expanses provided excellent views which passed the time given the complete lack of wi-fi.

    The driver was always friendly and the quality of her driving was excellent, the journey was smooth and we also arrived a few minutes early. This normally wouldn’t make much difference, but on this occasion it allowed me to catch the Pacific Surfliner to San Juan Capistrano. Given that my ticket also only cost $1 the value for money was of course excellent.

    And one more comment, just for Dylan, this means that I’m in California!!!!!

  • Amtrak Pacific Surfliner (Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano)

    I’ve taken the route of the Pacific Surfliner before and the section between San Diego and San Juan Capistrano is perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world as the train glides along by the beach. The section between Los Angeles and San Juan Capistrano is still intriguing, although rather less so in the dark….

    I only just caught this train as I was fortunate that the Megabus arrived in just a little early into Los Angeles. The Amtrak ticket desk also fortunately had a short queue and then so with a few minutes to spare I was able to take a seat on board. It’s a double decker (Dylan would like that) and as spacious as the other Amtrak services that I’ve taken. There’s a cafe car and there were no shortage of seats on the journey, although it was still relatively busy.

    I did wonder whether customers are allowed to buy tickets on board, but I decided against risking that. However, I found out the answer as the passenger in front of me hadn’t purchased one, and apparently the answer is that these tickets are twice the usual cash price. The conductor phoned Amtrak customer service to discuss something about the ticket price, although I unfortunately couldn’t hear enough to work out the solution.

    The one downside is that the train’s wi-fi wasn’t functioning, it would connect but not actually let me reach the log-in screen. Fortunately I discovered that there is some public wi-fi in Irvine which I could connect to for a few minutes, but otherwise I was unlucky with the access to the Internet today, given this and the Megabus technical issues.

    The Amtrak train pulled into San Juan Capistrano on time with its horns blaring out as usual as it goes over a crossing which cars and pedestrians use. The town was much busier than I’ve seen it before, it felt like a friendly Prince of Wales Road at night….

  • United States – Los Angeles to Las Vegas – Megabus

    Earlier this week I booked a trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles on Megabus which cost the grand sum of $1 for the journey, which takes just under six hours. It’s a trip I’ve taken a few times, and the photos in this post are from when I did the journey in January 2017.

    The journey starts at the Patsaouras Transit Plaza behind Union Station in Los Angeles and ends at the South Strip Transfer Terminal in Las Vegas. The coaches on this route are clean, modern, have power and are at an appropriate nicely chilled temperature. There is also wi-fi, although this inevitably starts to cut out in the more desert areas.

    Unfortunately the Megabus service in the UK is a distant second best to the service offered by the west coast US Megabus service. The staff operate a system where passengers can get there early and pick up a card with a number on it, which is the boarding order. This is an excellent idea as it means the passengers can go and find somewhere else to sit or get food rather than feeling the need to hover by the bus. There’s also the option on the web-site of buying a premium seat to board early (those passengers get a different card), but I didn’t feel the need to board that early.

    I do much prefer train journeys to bus journeys, but this is a glorious little bus trip, through the scenery of the California and Nevada deserts and mountains. For $1 it is of course exceptional value for money and it’s always a delight to arrive into Las Vegas.