[CINC] Truth Aquatics: 9/13-9/15

[paul jr petrich]

Ocean and Island People,
 Tara brown and myself had the good fortune to volunteer as CINC representatives aboard Truth Aquatic's two vessels that took 8th grade students from Saints Simon & Jude School out of Phoenix to the CINP and CINMS this last weekend. Tara was aboard the Vission, with 36 girls + 4 chaperones, and I was aboard the Conception with 33 boys plus 4 chaperons. We left Santa Barbara Harbor at 4 a.m. Thursday morning, and arrived back at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. SS. Simon and Jude do an outing like this annually for every 8th grade senior class in their school. It was an absolutely wonderful experience for all aboard both boats!

 Our primary responsibility as CINC representing the CINP and CINMS was to lead hikes each island chosen for the morning hikes. San Miguel was scratched by the skippers as our first landing, due to rough seas, so we zodiac-ed ashore  at Southeast Anchorage on Santa Rosa and hiked the Torrey Pines Trail, and then to the pier via Water Canyon and the Ranch ( two separate groups by surmised physical ability ). Friday morning we were zodiac-ed to the pier at Prisoner's Harbor, on Santa Cruz, and hiked toward Campo del Norte via the Old Navy Road. The weather for both hikes was fantastic, and from high on the Old Navy Road the view of the entire Chumash domain of old was observed due to 50 mile visibility! We saw SCI Scrub Jays aplenty, as well as a Peregrine Falcon on SCI, along with our usual Ravins, Brown Pelicans, Western Gulls, and Cormorants on both.  We saw lots of CI Fox scat, but no fox sighting at all, to the dismay of all the kids. Nor, did we see any Bald Eagles. However, both Tara and I gave both of the latter species' restoration stories prime coverage in our evening DVD and question-answer presentations.
  
  Maureen Hill, the science teacher coordinator of the annual outing for the school, had the afternoon programs divided into kayaking, snorkeling, and lab-journalling sessions on each boat, which rotated every hour. Tara and I both stayed with the lab-journalling sessions. There we covered map work which recreated our boat journey and the hikes, plus marine mammal and sea life sightings,  and a review of our night time videos about the respective missions of our CINP and CINMS ( "Beneath the Rainbow Bridge", "Treasure in the Sea", and "Return Flight")..These sessions also included microscopic looks at plankton and question and answer sessions with us about every thing encountered, including creatures gathered for the research holding tank ( never from the MPAs  though! ).  The kids were great. The crews ( 4+ skipper on each boat) had a great report with the kids, and we , too, had time to snorkel and kayak!  We had snorkeling and kayaking stops at Albert's Anchorage on the south shore of SCI  as well as in the Marine Gardens shoreline just west of Prisoners Harbor. We peaked into the PainterCave, too. 
 "I Sari Wa"   Paul Petrich
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