2008 Year end Video

These are some of our favorite video's put together from this year. The music is from the movie the holiday. We hope everyone has a great 2009. The directors for this video were Cherie, Marnie, Christina, and Eric. The dolphins inthe video are white sided, common, and the large one's jumping are bottle nose dolphin's.

Pictures of 2008

Whale's Tail shot by Cherie

Peliguns blend in with rocks at Santa Cruz Island

Common Dolphins racing our Seadoo's

Sailboat race

Peligun with Anacapa Island in the background

Top shot of Anacapa Island

Family of seals

As 2008 comes to a close we wanted to post our favorite Channel Island Photo's. It was a great year out on the ocean. We also hope to have more people join us in 2009. I have also set up the comment section so everyone can leave us a note on there favorite picture. You don't have to sign up anymore. We hope everyone has a great 2009. The first picture was shot by Cherie as we were out on a whale watching boat with Anacapa Island in the back ground. The 2nd is pelican's at Santa Cruz island. The 3rd is common dolphins with the mainland in the background. The 4th is one of the sailboats in a race with the islands in the background. The 5th is a shot from Santa Cruz with Anacapa in the background. The 6th is a top view of Anacapa looking north from the lighthouse. The 7th is a seal family near the Gina tower 4 miles out.

Back side of Santa Cruz Island

Sea Caves at Santa Cruz Island

Cory and Marnie at Santa Cruz Island

Anacap Island shoot from Santa Cruz Island

Back side of Santa Cruz Island

Today's forecast was for a very smooth ride with clear skies and a swell of 1 foot. It looked like one of those days you just have to get out there. Cory and Marnie joined me today for a trip to Santa Cruz. We headed to the back side of Santa Cruz (about 24 mile from the Harbor. I had never been to the back side before. It was a beautiful ride out there and we ran into some great dolphins on our way(See post for Video's). The trip home was nice the first part as we ran into more pods of dolphins but it continued to get colder and rougher as we went and the last 3 miles we got pretty wet and cold. Overall it was a great day for December and we had a good time. The picture of the pelligun flying has Anacapa Island in the background.

Christmas Dolphins

It was a great day for dolphins today on our way to Santa Cruz. We saw spotted, Spinner, and common dolphins. We had some good races with them and a lot of the time it felt like they were pulling us along. Marnie and I shoot the video's.

Parade of Lights

The penguin before he went swimming

Jackets were needed

This years parade of Lights party was our 3rd annual. We had 22 people join us on a cold and windy night. It was a very windy and cold day and it looked like they might cancel the parade. The wind calmed down at night and they were able to do the parade. A lot of the boats pulled out do to the wind but it was still a beautiful sight and I think everyone had a good time. The only casuality of the night was the penguin (see Picture) that decided to go for a swim on our first trip out. We went out 3 times on the electic boat and had some great food. Thanks to everyone for bringing food and for coming out. Also thanks to Heidi and Cherie for taking the video's and pictures. Also thanks to Aunt Mary for the penguin.

The Weather changes quickly

Coming back into the harbor

After the weather changed

Before the weather changed

Cherie and I headed out on the Seadoo's today. It started out as a very nice day as the sun was mostly out and the water was very flat. It felt like we were at a lake. We cruised around for a while and watched a sailboat race ( see pic's) and decided to go to ventura for lunch. We had a nice lunch atMilano's in the harbor. After lunch we headed out and the ocean had completly changed and it was cloudy and rough. We headed straight back and followed the sailboats from the race back in. We got to talk to some of the people in the race and they let us know it is always a race if they are drinking out of there red cups. Not sure what is in the cups but we could guess. We are looking foward to Parade of Lights Next Saturday.

Prisoners Harbor

Map of Santa Cruz (clink on it to see)

After hanging out with Dolphins (see Post below) Cherie and I headed to Santa Cruz Island. Santa Cruz is the largest of the channel Islands. The water was so calm that we got to go all the way to Prisoners Harbor (61 miles round trip). It is our longest trip so far. It was perfect out there and we had a nice lunch. I went up and checked out the blow holes about a mile north while Cherie talked to some boaters. The pictures and video are of Potato Harbor, Chinese Harbor, and Prisoner's harbor (see Map).

Dolphin Dolphins everywhere

What a day today was. Today we headed out toward Santa Cruz Island (about 20 miles from land) about half way there we ran into a pod of Dolphins and even saw a whale(sorry late with the camera). As we kept going we continued to run into pod after pod of Dolphins it was amazing how many there were. About 20 of them raced with both Cherie and I as we headed to Santa Cruz. They left us as we got about 3 miles from the island and went back to there pod. Lots of Video's to follow. Some of the video's have great shots of the dolphin's underwater.

Kayaking the Channel Island Harbor

It was the perfect day for Kayaking today about 70 and no wind. The water was very calm and a lot of birds and seals were looking for food. It is allways fun to Kayak the loop around our house. Our house is really on a island as there is water all the way around us with 2 bridges going over the waterways. The only bad part was all the litter in the water today (see picture). I picked up as much as I could. In the past we have kayaked to the local restruants for lunch and that is allways a great experience. To see more on the harbor go to http://www.channelislandsharbor.org/

Biking the Golden Gate

This week Cherie and I went to Monterey and Sausalito. It was perfect weather and we had a great trip. We started out in Monterey and went to the aquarium for the first time. It was a great experience and we both really enjoyed it(look at the peguinn video below) We then went to Sausalito for four days and had a great time. The highlight was riding bikes through San Francisco and then over the Golden Gate bridge and back to our hotel in sausalito (about 11 miles). The next day we rode from Sausalito to Tiburon for lunch then took the ferry back to S.F. to complete the loop. We also got to see Tom Perkins 130 million dollar sail boat. Was a perfect trip and we even got to see some of the Phillie's winning the world series.

Eric's dolphin video

This is some video's from Eric and Chris trip to Anacapa Island on saturday put to music. This is Eric's first combining of video's put to music.

Chris and Eric Go to Anacapa Island

My brother Chris and I went to Anacapa today. It was choppy today out on the water but we ran into one of the largest pods of dolphins I have ever seen. We saw spinner and common dolphins. It was a great trip and we both had a great time. The video is shoots from both of our camera's and chris put it together with the music.

Family comes to Channel Islands

Inky and Kellie

The Red Rocket

This weekend we were joined by Eric's parents, Cherie's parents, Eric's brother and wife Cindy, Cherie's brother Phil and Inky and Kelli. We had a great weekend and the weather was perfect. Eric and Chris went out on the Seadoo's saturday (see Video's) and had some great harbor cruises on the electric boat. In the bottom video you can hear the dolphins talking.

We made it to Santa Cruz

Peliguns at Santa Cruz Island

Cherie and I finally made it to Santa Cruz island. It was a perfect day out on the water and we could see the Island the whole way. It is about 21 miles to get there. It was sunny and the water was calm most of the way there and most the way back. We also went out with Richard another seadooer that goes out all the time. He also has a blog with info on his trips out to the islands. He has even taken his seadoo to catalina and the mexican boarder. I have gotten some good information from his site. Santa Cruz is the biggest of all the channel islands. Click on the image to get a good look at them. See information below to get an idea where we went and more about the islands.

Santa Cruz Island Information

Santa Cruz Island is the largest privately owned island off the continental United States. The island, located off the coast of California, is 22 miles (35 km) long and from 2 to 6 miles (3 to 10 km) wide. It is part of the northern group of the Channel Islands of California, and at 61,764.6 acres (249.95 km² or 96.507 sq mi) is the largest of the eight islands in the chain. Santa Cruz Island is located within Santa Barbara County, California. The coastline has steep cliffs, gigantic sea caves, coves, and sandy beaches. Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block 3000, Block Group 3, Census Tract 29.10 of Santa Barbara County, the 2000 census showed an official population of 2 persons. [1] Highest peak is Devils Peak, at 2450+ feet (747+ m).
A central valley splits the island along the Santa Cruz Island Fault, with volcanic rock on the north and older sedimentary rock on the south.
Santa Cruz is the only place where the Island Scrub Jay is found.

Cal Lutheran Alumni Golf

It was a great day for golf today. We had a 100 plus players show up for the annual golf day. I had the honor of playing we 3 of the finest players in Cal Lu's history. Check out the video's all 3 drives went about 260 right down the middle. Ralph, Mike, Jack and I shoot a very impressive 6 under par. We would have won but we missed a few short putts and ran out of mulligans. We also got to play in front of Mike Adams, Blake Mueller, Paul Martin, and Steen Weber (see photo). It worked out perfectly as there was no way they would be able to hit into us. It was a beautiful day and the Malibu golf course was in very good shape. Good time had by all.

DOGS WIN DOGS WIN

Bulldogs Reign Supreme at the Rose Bowl
Fresno State defeated UCLA 36-31 in Pasadena.


Sept. 27, 2008
Box Score Photo Gallery
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Tom Brandstater threw for three touchdowns and Ryan Mathews ran for one score and caught another as No. 25 Fresno State outlasted UCLA 36-31 on Saturday.
In a game marked by rapid shifts in momentum, the Bulldogs (3-1) took final control after the Bruins' Derrick Coleman fumbled at the Fresno State 10 and the Bulldogs' Wilson Ramos recovered with 8:55 remaining.
With Mathews grinding out yards from there, Fresno State ran out the clock with a 17-play drive that ended on the UCLA 4 as time ran out.

We had a great time today at the UCLA Fresno State game. We got to tailgate before the game with the Werley's , Mueller's, Engstrom's and Weber's and also got to play some catch and hang out after the game as we waited out the traffic. You will see on the video and pictures it was a sea of red today as there must of been 25,000 - 30,000 Dog fans there.

Go Dogs

Large Pod of Dolphins

Today Cherie and I were joined by B.J. and Mark. It was a wierd weather day as it started out clear but a little choppy then flattened out and the sky got dark around Anacapa Island. It was there first trip out there so we were glad we made it to the Island. On the way back we ran into a very large pod of Dolphins looking for Lunch (See Video). It was fun riding with them and watching them chase lunch. After we got back we took the electric boat out and went to the new Lookout pub from some lunch. The food is English style and it was pretty good. After lunch we took a cruise into the back harbor. It was a good day had by all. Also you can get a good look at the dog picture by double clicking on the picture.

Cheers

Santa Cruz Island was not meant to be

Heidi and Cory joined us today and the goal was to make it to Santa Cruz Island. The island is about 5 miles farther then Anacapa and is the largest of the 5 channel islands in our area. We have never gone on the Seadoo's(only by boat) so we were all looking foward to making it there. As we headed to Santa Cruz it was a little cloudy and the water would be choppy one minute and smooth the next. We ran into a few pods of dolphins on the way that were crusing along (video has good underwater views of dolphins). On the video cherie mentions that they are bottle nose dolphins after we watched the video they look like common dolphins. The polution in the water is never good to see (our Seadoo's are ultra low emission 4 stroke that do not leave polution). When we got to the north side of Anacapa it was very foggy and we could not see Santa Cruz so we decided to go around the back side of Anacapa(it was the first time we went this way). It was a little cold but we all had a nice trip. We saw dolphins, flying fish and tons of seals on the beach.

Lunch in Ventura

Ventura Pier

Parking our Seadoo's

It was Noon and a nice day so Cherie and I decided to get on the Sea doo's and go to Ventura for lunch. It is about 8 miles to get there. It was a beautiful smooth ride and a little cloudy. Ventura is a nice harbor with a lots of shops and nice places to eat. They also have a great place for us to park that is right in the middle of all the shops. After lunch we then went north to the ventura pier and watched them surf on the north point and then headed for home. We did not see any dolphins but saw a lot of seals and had a nice trip. We are getting ready for a trip to Santa Barbara for lunch it is about 25 miles farther.