Monterey Memories

Favorite Vacation Moment

Monterey Bay, CA

by tcteddy69 May 11, 2008

Whale of a time

My son, Trystan is 11, and has known his whales since the age of 3-4 yrs old. When he was little he would correct people when they said whale and would tell them â¬Sthat is the species it is a humpback, orca, gray, beluga, narwhaleâ¬ý, or whatever it was as he knew most all them. He dreams of being a marine biologist. He wants to study the habits and breeding of the blue whale and swimming with orcas & dolphins. The first time I took him to see his first orca was at Sea World San Diego we saw 7 Shamu shows in 2 days I could not get him away from the whales and dolphins. I got him a backstage tour where he could feed and touch a dolphin which his face lit up bigger then Christmas. So the next vacation I surprised him with a trip to Monterey. We of course did the aquarium and spent as much time by the ocean as possible but the big thrill was the whale watching boat. He saw wild dolphins playing with our boat with babies which just brought tears to our eyes. We have been on 6 trips now and he has seen humpbacks, grays, jellies, seals, and dolphins. Although he has not seen his orcas yet he is just amazed every time we go. Trystan has severe ADHD and is on very high medication to control his impulse and control issues. However every time he is by the ocean it is like an instant relaxant to him. He can sit on a rock look out and watch the water for hours. For a boy who has a hard time sitting still for more then 15 min to see him do this is amazing. His face lights up just watching our pictures from our trips. I have always loved photography so take hundreds of pictures everywhere we go. When he is having some hard times he can look at my ocean pictures or the whale pictures and instant try to put himself there. Monterey is fairly close to us, 4 hours away. We love to go and just enjoy the water. If we are really stressed out I try to get us down there just to relax. My son makes fun of me as I keep telling him he has to be a really good or famous marine biologist because he needs to buy one of the houses right there along the coast. Last time we were there they where building new houses and we just kept imagining what it would be like to wake up, look out the window, and see the beautiful blue waves coming at us. I just hope everyone can find something in their life that brings them that much comfort and piece as the ocean does for us, especially my son.