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.

Jumping Dolphins

It was a great day out by the channel islands today. Lots of dolphins to be seen. Cory and Marnie joined me. Cherie was out of town painting so she really missed out on this great day. The most exciting was the ones jumping on this video.

Cruising with the dolphins

One more video from the day. We went along with them for about 2 miles. We would have stayed with them but they were going the wrong way. We saw the jumping dolphins about 10 minutes later.

Around Anacpa Island

Cherie and I took our first trip all the way around Anacapa today. It was a beautiful day, smooth water, and we got to see a lot of dolphins and flying fish. This was also the first time we have seen flying fish. Our goal is to get a video of one to post. The picture is of Cherie going along the back side of Anacapa. We went about 39 miles today and only used a 1/4 of a tank.

Got skunked

Mike Hanson and Sue went out with Cherie and I today. It was a rough trip but we made it to Anacapa. It was the first trip to the islands we did not see any dolphins but we still had a great time and it was a beautiful day.

The Engstrom's Visit

Mike, Laurel, Karl and Lars came out for a visit. It is allways good to see them. We went for an electric boat ride then it was time to hit the Seadoo's. It was a beautiful day so we got to race around. I must be getting old and slow because Karl kept wanting me to go faster. We got to see the tall ships and have a great ride in the ocean. Next time the Islands.