We caught a ride with our dock neighbor Scott to Monterey and boarded the Derek M Baylis with about 15 other passengers. It's a great platform with a large transom/cockpit area as well as a comfy down-below area that is suitable for the overnight trips required of the aquarium's great white shark tagging program out at the Farallones. The staff led interesting activities such as dragging a plankton net to capture the brown/purple soup and dropping a baited crab net at the beginning of the trip. There's a microscope projected on a screen in the main salon to see microorganisms such as algae and copepods.

Photo courtesy of Sealife Conservation