On Their Turf

Happiness is marking one more thing off the "Bucket List"

Brandi, my daughter surprised me with a whale-watching cruise. I've always wanted to experience it and so it was.

Santa Barbara is a beautiful place and that Saturday was gorgeous. Los Angeles spent the last several weeks in June gloom, every morning you wake to heavy overcast and gray skies. And, for the most part it usually stays around prior to sunset. But, even with the gloom, I didn't care; I was excited about the whole experience.

I dropped Brandi off in Ojai for a yoga workshop and drove an additional hour to Santa Barbara harbor. From LA to Ojai, the weather was gloomy but as I approached Santa Barbara it was a different world. On the 101 N freeway you come around this proverbial corner and in your face is the vast Pacific Ocean. It's a beautiful drive - more so in a convertible, top down, hair blowing in the wind - oh well, next trip. Any hoot, the clouds parted like the Red Sea in the Ten Commandments - low and behold, sun, blue skies, perfect ocean breeze.

Back on track, I arrive at the marina, a few hours before my cruise, I soak up my time, sitting in the sun, people watching, photographing the area and preparing my camera for the wonderful ocean life I will see. Finally, ticket in hand, people have gathered for entry onto the boat; very nice boat indeed. It's important to get the right seat (just kidding), but I decided I wanted to have the best view, so I chose to sit on the upper deck. My imagination is running overtime, trying to imagine seeing whales and schools of dolphins in their habitat.

The Condor Cruises and the Condor Express is the premier whale watching and party/dinner cruise venue in California; located in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. Their crew members are friendly, well-trained and experienced naturalists. The Santa Barbara Channel is home to over 30 different species of whales, dolphins, and seals and sealions. For more information about Condor click on the link For more info!

After, a brief introduction by the naturalist he stated that we would be seeing the blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions. We pulled from the dock and off we went; like a Gilligan's Island moment except we all packed lite. We would be traveling about 20+ miles from the Santa Barbara coast to the Santa Cruz Island which is part of the Channel Islands and encompasses five remarkable islands (Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara). For more information click the link For more info!

We start our 4-hour journey, cutting through the water, the breeze is overwhelming but the experience is unmeasurable. Within an hour of leaving dock, the captain states that we are approaching a school of dolphins. There were so many dolphins, absolutely beautiful; as far as I could see, moving so fast it was daunting trying to get a great photographic shot. It was estimated that we saw at least 2500+ dolphins in their playful behavior. After about 20 minutes we moved on to whale territory.

The anticipation of seeing a mammal larger than the boat we were on, mystified me. The captain announced that we were about to see out first whale of the day; the blue whale a mother and baby. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth. Blue whales once attained lengths up to 120 feet and have weighed up to 160 tons.



These whales are found throughout the worlds oceans. For more information click the link For more info!

Then we begin to see the humpback whales; they are mammals belonging to the baleen whale suborder and can be found in oceans and seas around the world. They are well known for breaching and their complex songs. The name humpback whale describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparing for a dive. For more info!

The whales were either single or in pairs; we saw approximately 20+ whales today. We were a fortunate group to be seeing a large siting today. The whales were migrating to Costa Rica from Alaska. Blue whales diet consists mainly of krill, a tiny shrimp that lives in tremendously large schools in almost every ocean of the world. A blue whale can eat over a thousand krill at one time swallowing them with a tongue that weighs as much as an elephant! Blue whales eat the krill using a special type of filter on their mouths called a baleen. By gulping enormous amounts of sea water containing the live krill the blue whalecloses its mouth and flushes the sea water back out through the filter leaving the krill behind for it to swallow. Small fish and plankton are also favorite food items of the whale. It takes about 8,000 pounds of fresh seafood a day to keep the blue whale well fed.

Leaving the whales we headed to Santa Cruz Islandwhich is the largest of the eight Channel Islands. The island is located off the coast of California, is 22 miles long and from up to 6 miles wide. Santa Cruz Island is located within Santa Barbara County, California. The coastline has steep cliffs, gigantic sea caves, coves, and sandy beaches. For more info!
It was time to head in, what a fantastic experience; one I will remember forever. I've always marveled at the ocean, all its underwater secrets and miracles; beaches are my favorite place in the world. For me, the beach, the ocean is my church - the place I feel most connected because there isn't a more perfect example of the majestic and of being present. I spent the day on their turf and will be ever grateful.

I posted this blog on frustration central because, in our day to day journey we are bombarded by factors that frustrate us; but all you need to do is to know that there is so much more to the world we live to be joyous about. If we can learn anything from the mammals of the ocean - it would be to let go and just BE.