Point Reyes is the Place to Visit for Winter Wildlife Viewing

An easy drive from the San Francisco Bay Area and other northern California destinations, Point Reyes is an ideal choice to escape the wintertime blues for a weekday getaway.  The decision to visit Point Reyes is made even easier with Point Reyes Lodging’s Whales and Wildlife promotion.  From Sunday, November 15, 2009 through Wednesday, March 31, 2010, guests can stay two nights midweek (Sunday through Thursday) and get the third night free at Point Reyes Lodging bed and breakfast inns. 



To make a Whales & Wildlife reservation, visit www.ptreyes.com and contact the inn or cottage of your choice.  Mention Whales & Wildlife when you make your reservation.  Holiday periods are excluded and advance reservations are required.



Winter is the optimum time to view wildlife at Point Reyes. Winter wildlife viewing is heralded by the annual migration of gray whales along the coast.  The Point Reyes Lighthouse and Chimney Rock offer some of the best vantage points to view the whales from land.  Winter also marks the arrival of elephant seals, which are best viewed from the Elephant Seal Overlook near Chimney Rock, migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, plus spawning Coho salmon and steelhead trout up coastal streams.  Year round residents include black-tailed deer, more than 400 tule elk, found mostly roaming within the Tule Elk Preserve at Tomales Point, and non-native fallow deer and axis deer.



On the Point Reyes Peninsula, the world’s your oyster, too.  The waters surrounding the Point Reyes peninsula are home to some of the most productive oyster growing locations in the country.  Oysters are farmed in Tomales Bay and Drakes Bay by three commercial operations that are open to the public:

• Drakes Bay Family Farms Oysters (www.drakesbayfamilyfarms.com)
• Hog Island Oyster Company (www.hogislandoysters.com)
• Tomales Bay Oyster Company (www.tomalesbayoyster.com)
  
  
  
  
  In addition to wildlife viewing, the Point Reyes National Seashore is an ideal hiking destination, offering a vast network of trails to choose from, year-round accessibility, beautiful scenery, incredible vistas, and yes, fresh air.  
  
  
  
  
  While on the Point Reyes Peninsula, check out the West Coast’s newest wetlands – the Giacomini Wetlands.  The restoration project is reclaiming 560 acres of land at the head of Tomales Bay and will eventually restore about 12 percent of the coastal wetlands in California
  .  The wetlands is already creating habitat for shorebirds, ducks, egrets, herons and pelicans.
  
  
  
  Point Reyes Lodging innkeepers serve as resident wildlife and nature experts and can offer insider tips to enhance a visitor’s experience at Point Reyes.
  
  
  
  The Point Reyes Lodging Association is a collection of 16 unique bed and breakfast inns and cottages near Point Reyes National Seashore.  To plan your Point Reyes getaway and make a Whales & Wildlife reservation, visit www.ptreyes.com.