[CINC] IPCO/Scorpion Hike-3/27

[paul jr petrich]

Ocean and Island People,
 Rode on both IPCO Cats today, one going out to Scorpion, and the other coming back. Sorry, I forgot which one was coming or going!  Anyway, Captain Lee skippered a full boat out to Scorpion Anchorage, and crew-members Paul. Dani, and Joel catered to their needs. We sighted two pods of feeding Common Dolphin ( 500 and 1,000+ ), the last pod being a mega-pod within the Sanctuary boundaries. Captain Lee also spotted a lone Minke Whale close to the same location. 
 Everyone got off at Scorpion, Including a lot of campers and kayakers. A few of the younger ones took me up on the Junior Ranger challenge. Amongst the day-trippers, were 35 college students from all over the nation belonging to the non-profit Student Conservation Association. They gave up their Spring Break fun time to volunteer at pulling weeds and planting native plants at sites along the Malibu coast in State Park lands. They are camping at Sycamore Canyon State Beach but got their day-off treat  today with the trip to our CINP. My hike to Cavern Point had 21 very inquisitive troopers from all over our country. We saw fox right at the beginning of our hike, which lead to a necessary change in my script sequence! This group was especially good at locating chert along the trail after leaving the diatomaceous earth outcropping ( of course they cooperated by throwing it back on the trail after passing on the chert for viewing ). 
 Captain Anthony skippered the whale watch boat that fetched the last of us to stay on the island for the day. I'm sure you will get their report about what seamed to be a very successful day for whales and seabirds for them. The seas were calm going and coming from the island, and it was pleasant shirt sleeve weather during the hikes. Everything is still green, but starting to brown already. Visibility  was not quite channel width quality.  Paul Petrich
 
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