Between San Francisco Bay and the Santa Barbara Channel lies a stretch of coast that cruisers tend to pass through quickly on the way to somewhere else. That is a mistake. Monterey Bay — the largest bay on the US West Coast south of Puget Sound — is a working sailing and wildlife destination on its own terms: cold, dramatic, demanding, and richly rewarding.
The bay is anchored at its south end by the Monterey Peninsula, one of California’s more dramatically beautiful landforms, and at its north end by the cliffs and redwood mountains of the Santa Cruz coast. Between them stretches 25 miles of open water above the Monterey Submarine Canyon — a 10,000-foot trench that runs through the bay’s centre and brings cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface. The canyon is the working physical fact of the bay: it produces the upwelling that supports one of the highest densities of marine mammals anywhere on Earth.
Monterey Harbor
Monterey Municipal Marina is the bay’s primary cruising hub — a well-protected facility inside the Monterey breakwater, steps from Fisherman’s Wharf and a half-mile from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Transient berths are available by reservation; call the harbormaster on VHF 16 or by phone. The approach is straightforward in all but strong NW conditions, when swells wrap around the breakwater and make entry uncomfortable.
The harbour is the literal gateway to the National Marine Sanctuary. Sea otters wrap themselves in kelp off the breakwater and drift past the fuel dock; harbor seals haul out on the guest docks with total disregard for the marina’s sign about not feeding them; brown pelicans roost on every available piling. The Aquarium, ten minutes’ walk along the waterfront, is the working half-day stop in Monterey — among the best aquariums in the country.
Cannery Row — Steinbeck’s sardine-canning district, now galleries and restaurants — borders the harbour’s northern edge. The original Hovden Cannery, the last to close in 1973, is the building that houses the Aquarium. The walking tour covers about a mile of the original waterfront.
Conditions at Monterey
Wind in Monterey Bay follows the standard California coastal pattern: light NW in the morning, building to 15–25 knots by early afternoon, dying at sunset. In July and August the afternoon sea breeze is reliable enough to schedule a race series around. Outside the bay, Point Pinos at the peninsula’s tip creates a wind acceleration zone; boats rounding the point from the south should expect the breeze to abruptly double.
Fog is Monterey’s signature. June and July are often fogged in until late morning; August and September clear more reliably. The fog bank sits offshore and rolls in with the afternoon sea breeze — radar and a fog horn are required equipment. The bay also carries significant commercial shipping moving between San Francisco Bay and the Los Angeles/Long Beach complex; the lanes cross the open bay.
Santa Cruz Harbor
At the bay’s north end, Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor is a California State Parks facility tucked behind a breakwater at the foot of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The harbour is less polished than Monterey but more local in character — working fishing boats, a lively marine district, and the Boardwalk’s Giant Dipper roller coaster (1924, National Historic Landmark) visible from the slips. The approach channel is dredged and well-marked; call ahead for transient availability.
Santa Cruz is the better departure point for sailors arriving from San Francisco Bay (60 nm south of the Gate) and the closer option for cruisers heading south who want to stage before crossing the open bay to Monterey.
Crossing the bay
The 25-nm crossing from Santa Cruz to Monterey is a genuine offshore passage. The bay is exposed to NW swells that have travelled 1,000 miles from the Aleutians; a 15-knot NW breeze in the bay translates to a 6–8 ft beam swell in the middle. In settled summer conditions the crossing is a comfortable 4–6 hour sail. In winter, the bay can build to 12-ft seas in strong NW storms — wait for a real weather window.
A morning crossing during summer often passes through feeding aggregations: humpback whales lunge-feeding on anchovies, flocks of sooty shearwaters numbering in the thousands, pods of Risso’s dolphins working the canyon edge. Blue whales — the largest animal ever to have lived — are regularly sighted in the bay July through October feeding on krill above the canyon. The standard cruising experience here is to throttle back to idle and watch a 100-ft animal surface 50 yards from the bow, which has the same effect on every crew the first time.
Elkhorn Slough
Nine miles north of Monterey, Elkhorn Slough opens at the town of Moss Landing — a tidal estuary and National Estuarine Research Reserve accessible by small boat or kayak. The slough supports the highest density of sea otters outside Monterey Bay proper, plus brown pelicans, great blue herons, snowy egrets, and wintering shorebirds and waterfowl. Moss Landing Harbor at the slough mouth offers a small marina and the Whole Enchilada restaurant on the waterfront.
Entrance to the slough requires careful attention to bar conditions and tidal timing; minimum 5 ft of tide for boats drawing more than 4 ft.
The central coast passage
Monterey is the last sheltered harbour before Point Conception, 90 nm to the south — a section of coast with no harbour of refuge except Morro Bay (60 nm). This makes the Monterey-to-Santa-Barbara passage a committed 100-nm offshore run requiring a settled two-day weather window. Point Conception, the windiest point on the California coast, marks the boundary between the two California sailing climates: the cold central coast with reliable NW winds and summer fog north of it, the Mediterranean Santa Barbara Channel and Southern California south of it.
Cruisers going south from San Francisco should plan on 2–3 days in Monterey waiting for a Conception window. The working pattern is to clear Conception when the wind is at its lightest — typically the small hours of the morning, though some boats prefer the dawn round on a settled forecast and others time it for the late-evening lull. The common thread is light wind at the cape, not a specific hour. The standard southbound run from Monterey is on the order of 24–36 hours to Santa Barbara depending on weather and how much sail the boat is carrying through the central coast.
Cruisers going north should plan to arrive at Monterey before the afternoon wind builds and then wait for a light-wind morning to continue. The Monterey-to-Santa-Cruz leg into a building afternoon NW is among the more uncomfortable upwind passages on the West Coast in any boat under 40 ft.
Wildlife calendar
- Gray whales — December–March, southbound migration close inshore on the way to the Baja calving lagoons; March–May, the northbound return with calves
- Blue whales — July–October, feeding on krill in the bay above the canyon
- Humpback whales — April–November, feeding on anchovies and krill, breaching regularly
- Orca — year-round, hunting sea lions near Año Nuevo Island and the canyon shelf
- Sea otters — year-round, most concentrated around Monterey Harbor and Elkhorn Slough
- Elephant seals — year-round at Año Nuevo State Park, 20 nm north of Santa Cruz
- Sooty shearwaters — June–October, transequatorial migration from New Zealand; flocks of 100,000+ feed in the bay
Practical notes
Charts. NOAA 18685 (Monterey Bay) is essential. NOAA 18680 (San Pedro Channel to Point Sur) covers the larger context for boats coming from the south.
Tides. Mixed semi-diurnal, range about 4–5 ft. Tidal current in the open bay is minimal; harbour approaches have stronger entrance currents.
Depths. The open bay is deep (100+ ft) across most of the crossing. Shoaling occurs near Point Pinos and off Del Monte Beach on the bay’s east side.
Weather. NOAA buoy 46042 (Monterey) for current conditions; 46012 and 46013 for broader context. NWS forecast zone PZZ535 (Monterey Bay). See Reading Marine Weather for the working framework.
Communications. VHF 16 monitored by USCG Sector San Francisco. Cell coverage is good within a few miles of harbour; the open bay crossing is marginal.
Closing notes
Monterey Bay is one of the bypassed cruising grounds on the Pacific Coast — most boats anchor for a night, fuel up, and continue. The boats that stay for a week and work the bay end up with whale photographs, kelp-forest dives, the seven-mile coast walk through Pacific Grove and Point Pinos at sunset, and the otter at the fuel dock that has decided the boat’s stern light makes a good back rest.
The boat that has crossed the bay in fog, watched a blue whale surface from the canyon edge, and tucked behind the Monterey breakwater for dinner has earned the next leg around Conception.
Related: San Francisco Bay Cruising Guide · Santa Barbara Sailing & Cruising Guide · Channel Islands Cruising Guide · Reading Marine Weather · Marine Safety Equipment