If you love to eat tons of seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, but start feeling the tightness of your pants/skirts right after, this is the route you can’t miss.
After eating at Old Fisherman’s Grotto, I started feeling guilty for eating too much…
I walked out of the wharf, saw a bunch of hot, muscular guys in tight shirts and shorts running down the path on the right side exiting the wharf. With my curious nature and urge to satisfy my eyes, I followed behind. That was how I found Fisherman’s Shoreline Park trail: the most convenient place to exercise, to take photos, and to spy on sea lions closely.
Fisherman’s Shoreline Park trail is about 5 acres in total. The park trail includes access to the the beach near the wharf, couple benches along the trail, and if you can walk/run far, just following the path and sidewalk will take you to Cannery Row eventually. Surf fishing is allowed (with CA limits), but apparently fishing is not that great here anyway.
Not far from the beginning of the trail I was already in awe by another view of the wharf. The beach area on the right side of the photo is where you can get close to the sea lions too without barriers!
I went down the stairs leading to the beach area. I looked around and found a lot of “lumps” & rock-like figures on the rocks at first. Puzzled, I walked closer, realizing they are my beloved sea lions taking a nap under the lazy sunshine.
Since the tide was low, I did climb on couple rocks to take more photos. Be careful though, always keep a safe distance away from the sea lions unless you want to be slapped by an angry one…
On the way to Cannery Row, I saw many people walking with dogs. This one in the photo was really big, and probably due to heat, she was walking extremely slow….I guess having too much fur is not good for warmer weather.
I also over heard an interesting conversation between two military guys who were taking a break from their exercise.
“So how you feel after this week? ” said hot guy #1
Lowers his head hot guy #2 “Ugghh, I feel like a grandpa……I never felt like this before, everything hurts. I just do not want to do anything. How about you?”
“Dude, I feel awesome man….never felt so alive before” hot guy #1
(I giggled on the side when I heard the guys…..hehe. Thank you guys for your service^^)
After 1.1 miles / 20minutes filled with hot guys, sea lions, ocean views, and fresh air, I arrived at Cannery Row, and ready for some more action!
I would suggest the following day trip route:
1. Go to Fisherman’s Wharf in the morning for whale watching.
2. Eat lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf (many restaurants offer coupons for free appetizers!)
3. Shop and walk around the wharf.
4. Take the Fisherman Shoreline Park Coastal Trail for an afternoon exercise/photography session.
5.Arrive at Cannery Row for some Monterey Bay Aquarium, plus dinner and night activities!
FootTracker 
Beautiful, especially the exchange btw the hot guys.
There are lots of hot guys in Monterey…..I think its because there are like army base and Naval postgraduate school here XD
I love how that dog posed so nice for you! And your seals picture turned out GREAT! This looks like the kind of place where my husband would enjoy doing his morning run. Noting it in case we finally ever get to Monterey!
^^ Oh, you have to come to Monterey sometime. During summer Monterey has a lot of events going on. I think the Monterey Aquarium is going to have a cooking event coming up, and Ferrari car show is in May too!
Beautiful! And still howling at the story lead …”I walked out of the wharf, saw a bunch of hot, muscular guys in tight shirts and shorts running down the path on the right side exiting the wharf. With my curious nature and urge to satisfy my eyes, I followed behind.”
Too funny!
XDD what can I say, I naturally look for hot guys…..
Good tips for a visit to Monterey. Such a fun and beautiful place. I haven’t taken the trail yet — next time. The sea lions are always fun to watch.
This trail is very convenient to go to, and gives you another view of the wharf. During May and summer there are more animals around there, I remember 2 years ago during May when I was there, we saw layers and layers of sea lions just lying around.
I went to Monterey on 9/8-10 in 2001. My flight was scheduled to leave San Francisco at 10:00 a.m. on 9/11. Of course, we all know what happened on 9/11. Since I had finished early, I caught the last flight out of San Jose at 11:30 p.m. on 9/10. If I had waited, I would have been driving home to San Diego since by 10:00 a.m. on 9/11, all flights had been grounded.
😦 sorry to hear your experience. I was in high school that day, and only remembered we cant even call home so our parents could pick us up because all the phone lines were congested.
Monterey is a very pretty place, hopefully you get to return there again ^^