Enrique Aguirre, a San Francisco freelancer, makes it to the Monterey Bay every few weeks to photograph our unique wildlife. Imagine the twist when Enrique and a group of photo enthusiasts saw this little guy looking like he was getting a shot at THEM.
Enrique was the only one to get a good shot of the otter.
The otter then mysteriously disappeared into the depths of the bay…one of those moments.

Related PostsMonterey Aquarium Otter Plays PianoMeet Dua, an Asian fresh water otter at the Monterey Aquarium.. Yeah, Dua is …

With expenses rising and some paychecks disappearing. Monterey Bay businesses and customers alike have thought of lots of ways to still offer, and find, things to do around Monterey. We are listing some great deals around Monterey here:

Monterey Bay Aquarium has free admission the 20th of each month for Monterey County residents. You need proof of residency and adults, don’t bring more than 3 kids. They tend to scatter.
Cannery Row has deals that change all the time and it is worth it to stroll the main street.

Image via …

We do love Monterey; photos by Dr. Darryl Burns of Monterey CA.

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Being a resident of the Monterey area, and always looking for things to do (plus finding interesting news for our readers here), we want to share with you some of the best publications locally. In the spirit of adventure only free publications will be reviewed.  So, in no particular order, off we go!
The Carmel Pine Cone
This is a weekly paper with less than 20,000 printed weekly but there is a strong online subscription membership, plus the papers are healthily circulated.  Regular columns include Food and Wine, Petit Paws, and …

“Carmel the Movie” brings into play Carmel’s long-standing history as an artists’ colony, jazzed up with a tale of international art forgery.
Filming has already begun at Carmel Mission; the story is about a talented teen artist who is abandoned by his mother and gets involved with forged art. Image via Wikipedia.
Next shoot was at Carmel Beach; then downtown Carmel for the weekend, near Richard McDonald’s gallery. It will not be a problem traffic-wise until the AT&T February 9-15. Plus there is Valentine’s Day on a Saturday. Gonna get …

Another amazing Monterey Bay woman is writer and artist Darryle Pollack, owner of website Click for Clutter.
This is a great idea: Ms. Pollack has too much ’stuff’ and has started a blog to give away one item per post. Her stuff is cool; each comes with a story on the blog of how she came to own said item. She has lived in Carmel for 14 years.
People log in and try to persuade her to give it to them, donate it, or tell her to keep it …

Naanva Catering and Tea in Monterey was started as a weekend catering endeavor by Monterey local Dayra Pilram. Dayra is half Italian and half Persian; tea has been a way of life for her, and her background working with the United Nations led to a stint in Mongolia, where she witnessed political exchanges taking place while sharing a pot of tea.

Image by RP Leslie via Flickr

Naanva means ‘breadmaker’ and was Dayra’s grandfather’s last name. When he emigrated he changed it to Pilram, which means ‘tamer of the mighty …

Last night I saw Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, Gran Torino. It was much, much better than I expected; a clever twist of classic Clint with his venomous “Go ahead. Make my day.” face, with an insightful turn revealing an older man’s self-regrets in life, and his chance for redemption.
His character, Walt Kowalski, is a Korean War Vet and former Ford Motors worker who finds himself recently widowed and pushing away any gestures from his grown sons and their families; he is disgusted by their selfishness. Walt is a curmudgeon …