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It was a tale of two islands this weekend. On Saturday, it was sunny with great visibility. Sunday was foggy and overcast all day, sometimes not being able to see more than 100 yards. It's a very quiet time on Anacapa. The gulls are gone along with their raucous squawking. The island is mostly brown with the plants awaiting their winter drink. There are lots of sea lions at both Cathedral Cove and Pinniped Point and if you listen carefully, you can hear their barking and coughing. And the Peregrines were visible both days perched on high points or soaring overhead. I actually saw three soaring at one point.<BR>
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I led two hikes on Saturday and one on Sunday. All were great groups who were attentive and engaged (lots of good questions). It's always a pleasure to share the island with people who really seem to care. I had a 9 year old boy on the trip on Sunday who was born in Russia but has been in the US for most of his life. He was the kind of kid who wanted to hike with me and who asked lots of questions and shared his thoughts. I love it when I get kids who are that interested. His parents brought him to Anacapa because he had a 4th grade report he was doing on the Channel Islands (yeah parents!). So of course I got him working on his Junior Ranger booklet. While people were gathering for the Chumash stop, I got the booklet out of my backpack to give to him and explained what he needed to do. Of course most of the visitors observed this so they knew he was going to work on it. I saw him working hard on it later in the day while eating lunch at the Visitor's Center. He found me on the boat on the way home and we sat up top going over his work (which was perfect by the way). I swore him in, pinned on his badge and shook his hand, then to my surprise (because I wasn't really paying attention to the other passengers) a round of applause erupted. The smile on that kids face was ear-to-ear. I'm sure he's going to get an A on that report. To me, this is what our "jobs" are all about. What a great weekend...<BR>
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Joel...<BR>
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