(Bartscher) writes:

Does anyone have recommendations of places to rent an aircraft near Monterey,
CA for a sightseeing flight & some dual? I found one FBO at the Monterey
airport with some 172SPs, but that was about it. Any advice on recommended
FBOs, or places with something more exotic than a 172, would be appreciated.

There isn't much. Besides the one FBO at MRY, there are two at SNS,
Air Trails and Ocean Air. Both have the usual assortment of Cessnas.

There may be some outfit at nearby Marina (OAR), but I'm not very
familiar with that field.

When are you coming to this area? If it's any time from early May
until fall, expect the marine layer to roll in in the late afternoon
or early evening, until mid morning the following day. It can be very
frustratin or very rewarding, depending on your instrument rating
status.

Other than that, there's some nice scenery to appreciate from the
air around here. Very majestic coastline from MRY south towards
BSR, and completely devoid of emergency landing sites. Towards the
north, it's pretty all the way up to about Canada (and probably
farther, but I haven't been that far, yet).

Try out the relatively new restaurant at SNS, it's pretty good.

-jav