Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve

Seven miles of tidal waterway wind inland from Monterey Bay, and what they hold is the second-largest salt marsh in California — everything north of it dwarfed only by San Francisco Bay. Designated in 1979, the reserve protects 1,739 acres and provides habitat for more than 550 species of invertebrates, 100 species of fish, and 135 species of birds, including six listed as threatened or endangered. The Ramsar Convention recognized it as a wetland of international importance. Come for the birding. Stay because the leopard sharks are right there in the shallows.