Despite the reputation Monastery Beach has for being dumpy we had no trouble with the launch. Joe says that perhaps he is just lucky but this is how this beach has been for him every time he has launched or landed here. We paddled along the coastline and past Whalers cove but did not go inside there. We paddled past a few smaller, rougher ,coves like Blue Fin Cove and went into a few of these. There were a few rocks that we didn't go behind because they were covered with birds. When we came around the outer Pinnacle Point of the park the water was very choppy. I assumed that the point was focusing a lot of wave energy onto itself. There was a group of rocks here close to shore and another group offshore with a bunch of barking sea lions on it. We considered going inside of the closest rock but held back because we knew there was a group of rocks called Bird Island around here somewhere. This is Point Lobos State Reserve and there were lots of people walking on the trails on the point. If we spooked a huge flock of nesting birds here then someone would complain about those dang kayakers again. We considered going on the outside of the largest rock, but that got us closer to the colony of barking sea lions. So we turned far out to sea and went around all the rocks. We should have brought a good map of the park because it turns out the area we avoided is far from Bird Rock and is called Devils Cauldron. We could have gone through the middle of the Cauldron and had bragging rights afterwards!
Once we were far from shore we continued at that distance until we passed the real Bird Island. Just past this island the park ends and we felt safe getting close to shore again without fearing official attention. Here we found what we saw on the other side of Point Lobos on my last trip in this area: Super mansions of the super rich. Many of these houses are very attractive and are built out of local stone or materials that look like stone or sand. Sand castles by the sea.
We paddled around Yankee Point and into the south facing cove below it. Here we came in for a landing and sat on the beach to eat our lunch. After eating we paddled a more direct route back from point to point and made it back to Monastery Beach in less time than the trip out. Now I have paddled ALL of California from the Oregon border down to Santa Barbara. When I launch from Santa Barbara this fall it will be with a clean conscience when I say I am about to complete The Quest to Paddle All of the California Coasline.