Santa Cruz Island with Renee & Randi

Our niece, Renee and her friend, Randi came from North Carolina for a visit. Renee hadn't been out to the islands since she was 10 so we had to do an island trip! We left the dock around 6 am and had dolphins escorting us out the harbor entrance! I was amazed the girls got up so early... but not for long. This is Renee...

Randi is out here researching landslides while working on her masters, so we headed to Prisoners to show her a few island landslides. For once we anchored in front of our spot... but Island Packers still found us!








And Captain Jason gave us ice cream sandwiches! Jim had to "hold" mine so I could take a picture...

Thanks Jason!








Took the dinghy to the pier and did the traditional hike to the "guard shack".




The brush and bushes look a lot better now that the pigs are all gone.










The girls were getting good at the "trespassing" thing after a few days of their landslide research... they couldn't resist another "no trespassing" sign!
Back to the boat so Renee could read and Randi could take a nap.
Jim & I went fishing.
Caught this squishy thing. He also caught a barracuda, but we let him go. No halibut today...










Then for a dinghy ride up to Pelican Bay. Said hi to some friends who were anchored, then hauled the dinghy up the rock beach East of Pelican - yikes. Good thing we have dinghy wheels. Also rescued another dinghy that was about to float away. Walked through this small cave (are we trespassing again?).




Renee under the rock.










Jim noticed some rocks that just didn't look right, so moved some and there was a geocache! We had just been explaining "geocaching" to Renee and Randi too! NO, that's not Renee's beer or Randi's wine (even though they are old enough). They just had to hold them for us, so Jim could play with the yoyo and I could take the picture!

We walked up the streambed to the spring. Randi hiked up a little ways and I brushed my leg against stinging nettle. Ouch. Then my leg started getting small blisters, so Renee took wet tobacco and put it on the blisters (took one of Jim's cigarettes and some of my wine...) IT WORKED! It took the stinging away, but we didn't get all the blisters, so I did feel some of them until about 10 pm that night.

We hiked around on the point by Pelican.









Renee and Heather

Past the flowering point Reminds me of San Miguel Island!

Back to the boat for turkey burgers, corn and baked beans. An early night for all!

Sunday was calm but on the gray side. Jim went fishing and lost a good sized halibut...

Then headed home. Saw a few dolphins but not much else. Renee and I sat on the bow and talked for a couple of hours. It was great to catch up with her!







Renee & Randi in the cockpit.

Had to throw a few pictures of the last time Renee went out with us! Only 11 years ago...

Visit from the D'Hulst Family!

We were happy to get a call from Chuck D'Hulst (one of my neighbors from 17-19 years ago...)
They were coming for a quick visit! We hadn't seen them for 6 or 7 years and WOW have their kids grown! Ethan was 1 or 2 when we met him before, and we hadn't met Aidan or Sydney yet. The boys were really excited, because they were going to get to sleep on a boat! Laura, Aidan (almost 4), Sydney (almost 2), Ethan (almost 8) and Chuck!

Ethan had been to the beach way back, but this was the first time for Aidan!






First time for Sydney too!




Too much sand in the eyes...





Back to the boat for Jim's famous burgers! We all had a great time. The kids (and Chuck & Laura) all slept great. Ethan was excited about telling his third grade teacher he slept on a boat! Then they headed out for the rest of their California vacation.

Memorial Day 2007 - Santa Cruz Island

Time for an island trip!
We hadn't been out since sometime last year (Jim was gone so much doing deliveries...)
So grabbed Stan-the-man and headed out early Saturday morning.
Had a line at the fuel dock, then had to slow down to let this giant by.








We motored to Prisoners and anchored in "our spot".
And it really is "our spot" too, just ask Island Packers...
Stan & Jim went fishing in the dinghy and I read in the cockpit.
They came back with this! It was pretty cold out, so Jim fileted it in the cockpit instead of the bottom step of the transom.








Stan had fun playing with the fish roe...










Then they shared an "Arrogant Bastard"!

The sun finally came out late in the day. Stan noticed a bald eagle flying around the anchorage! I couldn't get a picture of it though...




Made halibut tacos for dinner (YUM!) and hung out in the cockpit watching listening to music.

Sunday morning we all slept in late (especially Jim who ended up reading til 3 am or some weird time - read an entire book!). I made a big "cruiser breakfast" of orange rolls, bacon, eggs & potatoes. Then we loaded the dinghy for a beach-combing excursion. Went to all the beaches East of Prisoners. We found a few dried up starfish,








lots of bones, and some interesting trash. Found a jar with some creepy slimy parts inside... and an old outboard engine that Jim & I had seen on this beach a dozen years ago!









Had a nice view back towards the anchorage too.
We climbed some rocks and explored a bunch of tide pools.
We spent most of the day doing this!






Stan played with some wild pig tusks...
Had a wet dinghy ride back to the boat, as the wind was picking up. It picked up enough to have Mark's boat drag anchor. I noticed it right when we got back to the boat, as it was dragging right down onto our boat, so Jim & Stan zipped over in the dinghy and I put a call out on vhf. Mark and his friends arrived at his boat the same time Jim & Stan arrived and the anchor re-set at the same time!! Yikes, I needed a glass of wine after that... Mark re-anchored, then his dinghy floated away. He wasn't having a very good day.

Time for a hike, so loaded up our ice chest with supplies and grabbed the camera. Took the dinghy to the dinghy dock and walked down the pier. Then did a short hike up the hill to the East of the anchorage. The fennel smelled amazing!






If they tell me I can't do something, it just makes me want to do it even more. Including being on the wrong side of the gate! I also think I'm the only one who goes hiking in crocs with a glass (not plastic)! Crashed the yacht club happy hour party back at the picnic tables (actually we were invited) and gave Mark a hard time for giving me a heart attack earlier when his boat got too close to ours. Met a lot of nice people and Jim ran into a client. We were the last to leave the party... go figure. Then one couple came for a tour of our boat, as they had never been on a catamaran before.

Jim made 3/4 pound burgers for dinner (they were huge!)!! Loaded Stan up with some Tylenol PM for his back and we all went to sleep.

Cold, cold, cold on Monday Memorial Day morning. Washed last night's dishes and made coffee. We were cold sitting in the anchorage, so figured if we were going to be cold, we may as well be cold while we were fishing! So we pulled anchor, said adios to Mark & his friends, then went to some rock fishing spots. Jim pulled up (and threw back) this giant sheephead.
And Stan pulled up this tiny halibut...

They caught enough rockfish for dinner!

We pulled out the headsail and motor-sailed back to the harbor. Heard on the vhf that Scott & Lee had lost their dinghy, so we all looked for it on the way home with no luck.

The neighbors were all out on the dock to grab our lines and invited us over for happy hour on the dock. Put the boat away, visited for awhile, then had our fish dinner! Another great trip.