A few years ago, my wife and I went on a nice vacation to Monterey, California. We spent a lot of time walking by (but never into) the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We also enjoyed taking in the gorgeous views of the shores of Monterey Bay (which lately served as the backdrop, and basically a character of its own, in HBO’s excellent Big Little Lies—but I digress).
It’s been a minute since we’ve had a vacation like that to ourselves, but you know what? It’s all good, because I can experience some of the same relaxing effects of it back here in the noisy, garbage-filled, chronic traffic jam that is New York City, thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Monterey Bay Cam livestream.
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This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a camera operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium that films out onto the waters of Monterey Bay, 24/7. Take a gander sometime when it’s daylight out in California and you’re likely to see waves lapping gently against the shore, birds flying by, sea lions sunning themselves on the shore, and other extremely chill sights.
I am warning you, though: the camera does suddenly switch angles at seemingly random times, which can be a somewhat violent interruption to your otherwise relaxing streaming experience. Still, if you like this you should know it is one of 9 separate livestreams operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the others are all also chill and animal-focused.
And most importantly of all: the reason those animals are able to be wild and free and not ruined by the machinations of capitalist seafaring enterprise is because Monterey Bay is a US National Marine Sanctuary—one of the largest US marine sanctuaries, actually—which means drilling and prospecting and dumping and most other commercial activities are prohibited. So yeah, whenever you’re feeling too grimy, feel free to kick back and enjoy some largely unspoiled nature.
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