Monday at Channel Island

We went down to the breakfast area when it opened at 6:30 am.  It wasn't very crowded.  They also weren't actually ready to be opened, so we had to wait for some foods to be brought out.  We headed out around 7 am to get to the Ventura Harbor to get the boat for our Channel Island Tour.  We were supposed to be there by 8:15 am to check in.  Traffic was not too bad the direction we were going.  It was a very foggy morning and they were predicting rain.  

 

We boarded the Island Packer and left on time.  

The birds on the rocks were like gangs.  Each section of break water rocks had a different type of bird.

Seagulls

Pelicans

Cormorants 

It was a nice boat.  Jeanne, it was like our Apostle Island tour boat.

Wow!! Dolphins galore.  Apparently they love to swim along side of boats.  It was amazing.  They would even swim under the boat and then leap up beside the boat.  I think I took a thousand pictures.  Most of them I will have to delete because my reaction time was too slow between seeing and clicking.  But it sure was fun.  

The first stop on the Santa Cruz Island was Scorpion Bay where we left off a few people and then we went on to Prisoners' Harbor where they let us off.  By that time it was raining.  We stood around awhile in a small shed with others from the boat.  We had our lunch.  

Welcome crew

By then the rain stopped and we went for a walk.  It was mostly a road and not a trail, but it was uphill and it was muddy.

Muddy!!!

Spanish Moss

Some great views

Bush or Silver Lupins

We returned to the beach to wait for boarding time.

A lot of Eucalyptus trees

Barnacles on the dock poles

Our boat was waiting for us but we could not get on until the right time.

Waiting for the time to board.

We headed back to Scorpion Bay

We picked up the people waiting there.

We were a little late heading back because they had to wait for a few people to show up.

Oil Rig

This time we saw a few humpback whales (the captain said that we saw 7).  There is one in this picture.  I did not think that they were as much fun or impressive as the dolphins. 

As you can see, the dolphins are right beside the boat.

We also went through a ultra mega pod of dolphins.  It was the largest pod that they have seen in a while.  I took many more photos.  Because of the whales we had to go extra slow, but because we were going so slowly the dolphins were not as interested in us. 

It was very windy and chilly.  

The sun was setting as we were heading into port. That was fun

This picture was taken out the back window of the car as we were driving home. The black specks were dirty window spots.

I enjoyed the nice full moon during our 1 & 1/2 hour drive to Sharon and Michael's. Apparently last night was a total eclipse of the full moon and we missed it.  Not only was it at 2 am but our hotel windows face the courtyard so we could not have seen it without going outside somewhere.

We got to Sharon & Michael's an hour later than we had planned.  The kids were through with dinner and were taking baths.  We had our dinner.  Nathan and George had pizza and I had a chicken sandwich.  Pam had ordered take-out from Star Cafe.  We have enough leftovers for our flight home tomorrow.

Ella, Nicole and Jamie.  Jamie had to leave to go home to pack.  He was flying to DC in the early morning for a work thing.  Pam, Sharon, George, Nathan, and I played a game of 10, 9, 8 after the kids had gone to bed.  Then we headed back to the hotel.  We won't see them in the morning.

Sunday, park, hike and ice cream

My little coffee station has worked well.  I had to go buy espresso blend of coffee grounds to go with my aeropress coffee maker.

 

Koi pond in the lobby

We went straight to Sharon & Michael's in time to walk to Toasted for the morning coffee run.

Nathan, Ella, and Jamie

Then we went to the Two Strikes playground.

Nathan

Jamie and me

Nathan & Jamie on the climbing structure and Pam & Nicole on the slide

Nicole on the swing

Jamie, Ella & Nathan

It was a very nice playground.  Then home for lunch.  We mostly ate left-overs.

Nicole and George

When Ella and Nicole started nap time, George, Nathan and I decided to go on a nature walk. The 1/2 mile walk to Millard Falls is where Jamie took Sharon and Linda when they were kids.

The hike up the creek bed was fun.  There was a little water coming through so I was not expecting a major waterfall.

"Nice" waterfall, if you don't compare it to Multnomah Falls.  ;-)

We found a cave but who know what it was made for.  It didn't go anywhere.

Lodge in the woods

We got back to Sharon & Michael's just in time to go for ice cream with Sharon and Ella.

Nearly a full moon

We managed to fit in a game.  We had to take a break to make a food order.  We went with Thai food tonight.  It was another delicious meal with enough for left-overs.

Bath time, bedtime and more games.