Monterey Bay, Sea Otters, and… Rob Lowe?

Who would you rather see while kayaking - a movie star or a cuddly marine mammal? I had the opportunity to do both just a short drive from San Francisco in August of 2010.

Monterey, California is in some ways a model for how wildlife-based tourism can revive a community and benefit both people and endangered animals. In the early 1900’s, the town was a hub for the fishing industry and was home to many canneries based on the abundant catches coming in from fishermen. Fish stocks crashed in the 1950’s from overfishing, decimating the community.

In the late 1970’s, a group of marine biologists suggested building an aquarium, including a couple of members of the Packard family (as in Hewlett Packard) who provided the funding to make it happen. Right from the start, the idea was to showcase the incredibly diverse ocean habitat in Monterey Bay.

Now, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the most popular in the world and a leader in ocean conservation efforts. The Monterey Bay National Marine Reserve protects ocean wildlife including sea otters, leatherback sea turtles migrating from Indonesia, and several species of whales including gray whales, humpbacks, orcas, and blue whales, the world’s largest animal.

Now due to the work of hundreds of visionaries, instead of taking from the ocean, Monterey’s economy is based on conserving, learning about, and experiencing the ocean. I came here to participate in the Blue Ocean Film Festival, a celebration of marine moviemaking that happens every two years (next one is in August, you should go!).

After watching a number of great films, I had to get out on the water. I grabbed my friend Jen and we went to rent kayaks to get out among a bunch of otters floating around the kelp forest alongside the aquarium. As we were getting outfitted with our kayaks, the cashier leaned over the counter and said, “Keep an eye out for Rob Lowe.”

“Really?” Jen and I looked at each other in surprise. “Yeah, he’s out there on a paddle board”, the guy replied.

So Jen and I hit the water and pushed our way through the thick kelp and headed toward the lumps in the water that looked like they could be otters. When we found a group swimming around, we parked our kayaks in the kelp at a respectable distance and watched as they played. A short distance away, an otter pup, tied up by mom in the kelp, watched jealously as the others looked for food. This bay is one of the best places in the world to see these threatened otters; you can even see them from land alongside the aquarium.

Then we saw a very tanned guy inching along on a paddleboard. From our distance, it certainly looked like he could be a movie star but we didn’t leave the otters to get within papparazi distance. This photo here is our best evidence.

I remain a bit skeptical that it was Mr. Lowe (though Jen swears with her life it was him). I do know that those lumps in the foreground are sea otters, the real movie stars of Monterey Bay.