La Jolla Surprise

A sunny day in December prodded us toward the water. The breeze from across the gentle surf beckoned to us and we did not fight back. We walked through the doors of La Jolla Kayak and met an enthusiastic 25 year-old Bri who was to be our kayak guide for a couple of hours. The goal of the tour was to explore the 7 caves of La Jolla Bay as well as the fish and plants discovered along the way. For Huffygirl and me, it was a chance to get on the water which we try to do any chance we get. Bri chatted pleasantly as we paddled through the rolling waves of the bay, sharing tidbits about the surrounding houses dangling at the edge of the world and the exposed fault line. We learned about the guy with the cliff-side house who felt it took too long to get to the water so he dug a tunnel down to one of the sea caves. We learned to spot the orange flashes of the Gerabaldi fish as they swam blow us and we met a couple of sea lions sunning on rocks. While we were cruising along at one point, a playful sea lion surprised is with a visit. He just kinda popped up and looked us over, then after getting the proper amount of attention, he was gone. What a fun little adventure!

Because we were here in La Jolla on a weekday in December, we were the only paddlers

Bri took this shot of Huffygirl and me. Cool.

on the tour. Huffygirl wondered if the rest of the world knew something we didn’t. I asked her when I had ever steered her wrong and after droning on with various questionable paths I had convinced her to take with me, I started crying and asked if she would please just trust me and like she always did before, she said okay and I wiped my face and on we went. We were in a tandem kayak and Huffygirl told me I could be the navigator. It was odd that no matter how hard I tried to steer, we always ended up going where Huffygirl wanted to go. Bri checked and said there was nothing wrong with the kayak so we all agreed (‘All’ being Huffygirl and Bri) it was due to my inept paddling and we just kept moving on. I was just happy to be floating over the gentle waves as we looked for kelp beds which Bri told us were one of the signs of a healthy ecosystem in the bay. After a very relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable journey around the caves, the sea lions and kelp beds, we were beginning to head back toward shore when…

CRASH!! It sounded like a deep explosion and then a very heavy splash. All 3 of us looked to see a 50 foot splash zone, water still coming down from high in the air. We hadn’t seen it, but Bri exclaimed, “Whale breach!!” The splash was a couple of hundred yards away. I felt my heart rate increase as it sunk in that a whale and just jumped into the air. 20 minutes later, a kayaker who had been fishing outside the bay told us the whale had been at least 20 feet out of the water! And like reading something on the Internet, if a fisherman tells you he saw something, you know it’s true!

My thought was that I didn’t see it. I just saw the splash. I want to see the whale! Bri reacted to the splash by turning her kayak toward the whale and paddling like a girl on a mission. I asked, “Are we going to the whale?” She responded, “We’re going to the whale!” There was giggling from our kayak and Huffygirl said it was cute that I was so excited. As we paddled, keeping our eyes on anything that looked in any way whale-like, Bri explained some things about keeping a respectful distance from sea life so we paddled slightly behind her so we wouldn’t break any rules. Visions of my incident with sea turtles and the turtle police in Hawaii flashed through my mind.

About a hundred and fifty yards in front of us, the whale surfaced with a graceful arch of its back. “It’s a Humpback!”, Bri cried out. It was beautiful and dark and amazing. I was amazed we were seeing this all from the vantage point of a kayak. Then I thought about the size of the whale and the size of us on a kayak. Huffygirl said she would protect us. Luckily I have enough confidence in who and what I am to tell her thanks so very much. We paddled slower and kept watching as we neared to buoys that marked the outer reaches of the La Jolla preserve.

“There!!” came from Bri. We looked and saw the whale’s majestic tail in the air. Seemed to be waving a graceful greeting and then it slipped into the water and was gone. That was the last we saw of the whale that entered and left our lives for the space of 15 minutes but left an indelible mark on our memories. The splash like nothing I’d ever seen… The graceful rounded back breaking the water’s surface… and finally the split tail as the final sign of the whale’s entrance into and departure from this day’s journey. We started the day with a plan to explore a warm spot on the edge of North America and ended up having an experience of a lifetime. I hope our whale friend feels the same way. 

We were too excited to have our camera ready, but this is pretty much what we saw...

Bad Boy in Paradise

The lady was pointing her phone down toward the water just a little off the shore. We were near a rocky outcrop on Waikaloa Beach on the Big Island in Hawaii. The breeze was active and excited and I couldn’t hear what the lady with the camera was trying to tell me. I edged a little closer.

“See turtles?” she shouted.

“No, I haven’t” I shouted back. “But I’ll let you know if I do!” I offered through the wind.

Huffygirl suddenly sidled up beside me and excitedly pointed at the water. “See turtle!!”

I tried to tell her she can’t make me see a turtle but she put both hands on my head and pointed my face at an oblong shadow with flippers and a neck and head just under the water’s surface and then I realized how wrong I'd been – Huffygirl really could make me see a turtle… 

A real sea turtle! I was going to tell the lady with the camera but Huffygirl held me back and pointed out that the lady’s camera was pointing right at it. I wonder why the lady had asked me in the first place when she’d already seen it?! Huffygirl and I alternated between watching from the sand of the beach and the rocky outcropping and were fascinated by the big turtle’s movements. It was about 2 feet wide and a more than that in length and was gently rocking with the waves. Every once in a while he brought his head above water and looked around to see if he was getting appropriate attention. He was.

The turtle’s movements seemed to be dictated by the waves as he bobbed and floated with the water’s motions but then he would effortlessly swim/fly 5 or 10 feet away in a few seconds. The more we watched, the more we saw gracefulness in its movements and beauty in its motion. I quietly mentioned to Huffygirl that this was how I felt when I was on the dance floor and she got an odd look on her face that at first seemed like disbelief but she said was a look of total agreement when I questioned her later. Total agreement she said, over and over. Even threw in some laughs of agreement as well.

I remembered we had our underwater camera with us so I grabbed it and waded into the water about 10 feet from the shore. Huffygirl asked if I wanted my bathing cap which I’d forgotten in my haste and I told her I wore no such thing! I think the folks watching believed me on account of my bad boy swagger. The sea turtle had taken a little break so I just stood in the water looking around for a bit while Huffygirl and the lady with the phone did the same. After a few minutes, he appeared again, about 10 feet from me and I stuck the camera under water. He did a series of underwater ballet tricks that were amazing and I knew this video would be a YouTube sensation! When I pulled the camera up I found the video had not been turned on. Arrrg!

I finally got the video going and tried to keep it pointing toward the sea turtle. He started swimming toward me and then toward the lady with the phone who let out a squeal as she took a step back. This seemed to get the attention of the local authorities. The turtle was only a foot away from the camera and I was amazed to be this close to a real sea turtle when a booming voice said, “20 feet from the turtles!” I looked up and 2 men in powder blue t-shirts that said Waikaloa Beach Club were standing on the shore looking very stern and one of them repeated, “You need to stay 20 feet from the sea turtles!” I stared them both down as I moved slowly away from the lumbering turtle. My staring worked and the men in powder blue turned and went on their way. It was a close call but it was clear the ‘Man’ knew they were in over their heads and decided it best to say their piece and move on rather than risk a confrontation with a sea turtle viewing bad boy.

I asked Huffygirl if she had seen the whole thing and she said yes she had and that she was very proud of me for standing up to the waiters from the beach club by moving away from the turtle the way I did. Once we were back at our lounge chairs she told me she loved being married to a bad boy and asked if I wanted to go back and play in the water. I said yes and she handed me my bathing cap. It was a wonderful day!

Blown Away in a Laser II

9/6/2015 --

Fred, a guy I met on the dock 15 minutes before, pushed the bow away from the dock and told me I’d be just fine if I keep pointed the right direction and keep my speed down. I was leaving the boat launching dock at Bear Lake in Norther Utah and the wind was strong and the harbor had a lot of boats in it. I was afraid this was going to turn into a pinball game. Turns out it was easier than I thought and the only concern as I headed toward open water was that I would not run into the pontoon boat that was poking along in front of me!

 

It was a little breezy...

I was on my first solo sailing adventure with my little Laser 2 sailboat. I’d had the boat, named “Denali” for a few years, but Huffygirl and I had never sailed it until the month before when we took it with us on a camping trip on the opposite side of Bear Lake. There had been light winds and beautiful weather and it was peaceful and fun learning to sail our Denali. This day was different. I had taken the day off work to spend the day sailing and my friend Mike was going to join me around lunchtime. Instead of pleasant and peaceful breezes, I was told by the first 2 sailors I met at the harbor that the winds were currently 15 knots and expected to increase throughout the afternoon to 25, with gusts to 40 knots. Luckily for me, I had no idea of what that would mean to little Denali.

As my little sailboat exited the safe confines of the Bear Lake Harbor, the 15 knot wind hit the sails and it was like I hit the gas pedal. Hard. I was going perpendicular to the wind and immediately heeled over so I could sit on the windward side and lean out, just like I’d seen in pictures throughout my life. The boat shot forward and was gurgling as the self bailer sucked air and a rooster tail formed behind me. So exhilarating! I couldn’t stop smiling even while the wind tried to pull the mainsheet (the rope that controlled the sail) from my hands. I held on tight and did my best in the strong winds to keep some semblance of control as I sped toward the far shore. I had no destination and my only goal was to be able to return safely at the end of the day. So I sailed. And I tried to stay upwind of the harbor so I had to tack back forth. In the strong wind and with my sailboat’s light weight (about 170 lbs), I found that to be a difficult task, but certainly a fun one!

I sailed and I tacked and I smiled and I laughed. The waves were getting bigger and the water would spray across my bow, soaking me, and I would laugh more! As I was tacking at some point, the wind stalled my little boat and then kicked hard unexpectedly, sending the mast sideways toward the water. I was on the wrong side to be able to get my weight to the up side of the cockpit so the sail and I entered the water at about the same time. I quickly swam under the boat to get to the daggerboard but found that the mast sunk down quickly and I was now holding onto the bottom of my boat in the mi

Not me, but how I felt!

ddle of Bear Lake. Turtled! I watch my little collapsible paddle and my favorite hat riding the waves a few feet away but was not willing to let go of the boat to retrieve them. I’ll admit that I looked around on this very windy day, looking for someone to help me, but there was no one in sight. Smart boaters were waiting out the wind and the others were completely out of sight. Then I remembered that I had watched a video on how to right a sailboat, so I went into action. I climbed on top of my turtled boat and grabbed the daggerboard and leaned to the side as far as I could. Very slowly at first, I felt the boat moving. Gradually, the mast and sail popped to the surface. As that happened, I climbed on the daggerboard and my weight quickly righted the boat! I climbed back in and collected my thoughts (which included feeling sadness at the loss of my favorite hat) and found Denali was ready to get back to sailing! In another minute I was laughing again, now fully confident that I could handle anything!

When I needed to head back to the harbor to pick up Mike, I found myself downwind of the marina. Try as I might, I could not get her any closer so finally I just headed to shore and got out and pulled her about a ¼ mile to the beach where I found Mike. He was a little nervous because of the wind, which had grown stronger, but trusted me when I told him we could handle it. Silly Mike.

The little boat sailed better with the 2 of us in the boat so even though the winds increased, the extra stability helped us fly across the water laughing and whooping and hollering. The waves got bigger as well and as we flew over 3 ft. waves we sometimes dove into waves that would crash onto the bow and onto us. One time, we got caught in a bad spot and the boat started to go over. Mike was on the low side and chose the sacrifice of letting himself fall into the water, which caused the boat to get right again. I helped him get back in as we both laughed. There’s nothing like getting kicked off your trusty steed in the middle of a big blustery lake.

We finally decided to head back to the harbor in late afternoon. The wind was strong, the waves were big and we were tired. We had worked our way upwind of the harbor so were able to easily sail right in. We were looking good! We proudly glided in among the other boats parked in their slips and headed for the empty dock. All we had to do was tie up to the dock.

I steered us so we would end up at the end of one of the docks, into the wind and ready to tie up. Only the boat stopped too soon. The wind pushed us backwards and we had no control. After floundering a bit, we caught the wind again and took a second try at it. This time we were going to get it right! I steered us to the same spot and I waited to make the turn… but we were still stopped short and found ourselves pushed backwards by the wind and bumbling around trying to get control. We then drifted 80 feet to the other dock, but were never able to get close enough to tie up due to swirling winds. After about 5 minutes of looking awkward and confused (both of which we were), we drifted close enough to the ramp for me to finally jump out and walk us back to the first dock. We were really glad that there was no one to watch us fumble our way around the docks. Then we heard the laughing…

What a day! We were cold and sore and tired and just plain worn out. We had battled a wind that common sense tried to tell us to leave alone and we lived to sail another day. Both Mike and I agreed that if we wanted to sail in the future and found out the wind was going to be this strong…….. we would drop everything to be there!!!

Seeing Red

I have seen the enemy… and it was red. And not nearly as bad as I expected!

The occasion was a college tour with my son of the University of Utah. The home of the Utes!! Arch enemy of the BYU Cougars. The only thing I really knew about them is that their black and red football uniforms scared me a little bit when they were on the football field. But I put on my big boy pants and drove my son into the mouth of the beast for a two hour tour of the university. As a side note, the enemy validates parking for visitors. That was cool!

Jeffrey and I were able to see lots of buildings with names and gathering areas with names and trees with names! Yes, with the U of U being a designated State arboretum, every tree was labeled, making it easy for students to find their way around and conversations like this very typical…

 “You’re looking for the Life Sciences building? Easy! Take a left at Aesculus Glabra and it’s about 125 pinecones past the Sequoiadendron giganteum”

“Thanks, Dude, you’re a lifesaver!”

Our group was walking by the police dept. and our tour guide was explaining how safe it was on campus when 2 explosions rocked the chilly air around us. We all ducked and looked around to see who the target was. I don’t know why everyone looked at me but my first thought was that I set off some BYU Cougar detection artillery. There was confusion in our tour guides faces until one of them said it was probably just part of the Veteran’s Day activities. Ahhh, that was a good cover story. I didn’t buy it but it seemed to appease most in our group. A little while later in the building that houses Kingsbury Hall, our guide was trying to explain something to us when a series of 21 cannon shots exploded into the gray sky. The explosions were separated by about 5 seconds each and it was really fun to hear our guide trying to talk as fast as he could between blasts. Though they told us the artillery cannons were shooting blanks, I couldn’t help but notice that they were pointed in the exact direction of a rival university to the south.

The library was to coolest building on campus. One of the guides, a sophomore, said he didn’t know much about the building because he didn’t like reading (this appeared to give several prospective students some hope) so handed the tour to the freshman guide who made it clear that she loved this place. The library housed not only the library of books one would expect, but so many study areas, public and private, that my mind was boggled! “Dad!! Time to move on!”, my son pulled me out of the study area boggle and we then saw the computer lab area. It was huge! The sophomore non-reading tour guide told us that students could write on the glass walls of the public and private computer lab study areas with dry-erase markers. We didn’t actually see anyone doing that, but the non-reading tour guide assured us that if we did it, we almost assuredly would not get caught.

After we saw all there was to see, the students were all given a U of U pen to fill out a survey card. The pen looked really cool so I tried to pretend I needed one too and I almost got one but when I reached for it, my jacket parted enough to show the BYU shirt I was wearing. They asked my son to come alone next time.

Before completely leaving, we decided to get lunch at a little basement joint just off campus called The Pie. It sounded great and I was excited… I looked at the menu and it seemed all they had was pizza. I asked if they had Pecan, or pumpkin, or even strawberry-rhubarb but they just sneered and asked my son what HE wanted. Very poor customer service, if you ask me. Why didn’t they call the place something more meaningful, like The Pizza Basement?!