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/