Best We Went Whale Hunting

Thursday, another bright and early morning.

Trying to find thirteen seats in two cars.

We drove out to Ventura because we were going on a Whale Watching/Island Exploring Adventure!

Which started with being early and looking at the ocean and waiting for our boat.

But before too long we were about our ship and bounding across the ocean, leaping over waves, howling at the wind and the seagulls!

Past oil platforms

And running into whales left and right.  Really we saw so many whales we probably should have paid more for our trip.  You kind of go on these whale-watching adventures worrying that you might not see any whales but then you see so many whales!  Whales to the left, whales to the right, always a spectacular sight (and moreso to me this year because this year I read Moby Dick)

And then to our destination, Santa Cruz Island.  I thought we were just going there to eat our sandwiches and come right back home.  Imagine my surprise that morning when I heard we were going to be on the island for five hours!

They dropped us off at Scorpion Ranch.

There are ravens all over Santa Cruz, ravenous ravens that just want to steal your lunch from you.

Only one thing to do when you're on an island four times the size of Manhattan for five hours: Hike.  Explore.  Repeat.  First hike, the Cavern Point Loop Trail:

Prickly looking vegetation.

Ten minutes into the trek we had already met with some dissent.

Thanks for ruining the shot, outhouse.

This plane, a cargo plane we all called a bomber, it flew low and noisy

Rousing all our curiosity like a whale of the air

We arrived at our cove view

Look, there's me.

We beat the crowd, the crowd missed seeing the three whales we saw.  Another three whales!  So many whales.

And here we go, heading back to Scorpion Ranch.

Waiting for mom and Ellie to catch up with me.

Oh good, they caught up with me.

Back at the ranch, time for lunch.  Sandwiches that the ravens didn't get.

A model of the island.

And with another couple hours to go before our boat leaves, we begin a second hike.  This time to the Potato Harbor overlook.

We believed this said "Keep Goin"

Keep goin', other family, that's not Potato Harbor you're overlooking.

This, with the ravens, is.

Cuz the sign tells me so

And then we realized we kind of needed to hustle and get back to the boat.

But my hustle came to a dead stop when I saw foxes in the field ahead.  Little guys, not bigger than our old cat.

This is a house that someone lives in.  Maybe the Park Ranger or something?

The boarding line was already in full effect.

Time to leave.  Time to see even more whales.

My jacket's hood is very slimming.

Everyone in hoods!

Everyone in hoods or hats!

Strong Pacific sunset in full effect.

Civilization!  Venturian civilizations again at last!

And then we were harbored once more.

Spent a minute looking at that sunset a bit more, then went and had Tommy burgers.