[CINC] IPCO July 19 A Definite Adventure

[Pam Yerger]

We left Ventura on the Islander at 9 AM with about 100 passengers on board.  We had folks from the Bay area, Arizona, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and Switzerland. The trip to Scorpion to drop off about 50 hikers and campers was very rough and a couple of whale watchers decided to become hikers rather than boaters for the day!  We also left CINCers Tera and Lola (sorry, didn't get last names) at Scorpion.  Captain Alex decided to take us south and around Santa Cruz hoping for some calmer seas...worked for awhile but eventually we ended up with over 30 knots of wind and good size seas.  A few more folks decided they wished they had stayed on the island by this time, but we made a beeline to the gap between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa in hopes of getting into whale territory and hopefully calmer seas.  About half way through the gap we suddenly stopped and took a quick head count as someone noticed that one of the stern gates was open.  While we were stopped to make sure we hadn't lost anyone overboard, the boat bobbed and listed, rolled and bobbed some more...a few more people were wishing they were on the island!!  Once we determined that every passenger was present and accounted for we ventured further and eventually found whales but not calmer seas!!
The count for the day was 600 common dolphins and 3 calves, 4 humpbacks with flukes, tail lobs and several breaches and 7 blues with at least 1 calf.  We could see many more blows in the distance, all around the boat.  Still rockin and rollin, more passengers joined the "we wish we had decided to hike today" group before we made a much quieter trip into painted cave and then what probably seemed like a very long"will we EVER get back to land" trip home.  Back to the dock about 5:20 PM.
Captain Alex and crew Dani and Jackson took great care of the numerous sick ones while Tom Flor and I helped the others to enjoy the trip.  Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the roller coaster-like moments of weightlessness which brought many others to their knees!  Definitely a yee ha day but a well earned show in the end!!
Thanks to Tom Flor for his patience when I asked him questions with answers still unknown to a 2011 CINC graduate.
Pam Yerger



 		 	   		  
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