A birder can see most of Elkhorn Slough from land-based locales, including Moss Landing Wildlife Area, Moonglow Dairy, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Kirby Park, and Hudson Landing. However, a guided boat tour focused on birds and nature while riding on Elkhorn Slough is a new and interesting perspective, as are kayaking or even paddle-boarding visits. Your get closer to many birders, as well as sea otters and harbor seals.

eBirding a boat trip survey: the most important thing to understand is the Hotspot for the "boat survey' is only that portion of Elkhorn Slough that is east of the Highway 1 bridge over the Slough. Both the Safari boat and the kayaks may start from the south marina, or launch from north Moss Landing harbor, but please do not include birds in Moss Landing harbor, or the channel between the jetties, on your Elkhorn Slough boat survey. Use one of the two Moss Landing harbor Hotspots for those areas.

Most waterbirds on Elkhorn Slough are seasonal, so check the bar graphs for this Hotspot. In general, you'll be looking for pelicans, cormorants, egrets and herons, some ducks, gulls, terns, loons, grebes, and sometimes a few alcids (Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot in season). A boat trip is one of the best ways to increase your changes of seeing Least Tern and Black Skimmer between mid-April and mid-September.

The question as to "entrance fee" is revised here to mean that there is a fee to join an Elkhorn Slough Safari boat trip, or to rent a kayak and paddle yourself. The tides are tricky on Elkhorn Slough so you will need to know how to avoid becoming stranded in the shallows as the tide subsides.