Sanctuary Cruises - Captain's Log

12/14/02: Happy Holidays from Somewhere in Drydock

Last week, we took Princess of Whales to Bay Ship in Alameda (on the San Francisco Bay). This is because every two years, the Coast Guard requires an out-of-the-water inspection, plus we had some projects we wanted to do. We had to go north because there were are no facilities that could handle her size on Monterey Bay. As with all haulouts, it hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.

There are a few similarities to Noah’s ark. We have both dogs and all 3 cats aboard with us. Currently, it is raining cats and dogs as well. The dogs are seasoned veterans and do fine on boats. Of the cats, Possum has shipped out once before and she did well. The new kid, Tater, the cat we rescued from the Arroyo Seco river, also did fine. Chigger, the most feral and (usually) fearless of the three, was seasick almost instantly and remained so much of the first leg of our journey. It was a bizarre sight; she looked as though she’d had a problem with a hot glue gun while trying to fix her dentures, except she doesn’t have dentures and that wasn’t hot glue. Oh, never mind... she made it.

We went to Pillar Point Harbor our first day. Mavericks is a world-famous surf spot that can grow to gargantuan dimensions with the right conditions; it’s located right outside of Pillar Point and waves were over twenty feet when we came in. I was driving and my stomach lurched when I looked to the north, so I just quit looking. Ducking into the mirror calm harbor was a relief.

It was an interesting experience pulling into my former home port with Princess of Whales. An old friend, Ernie, now works for the harbor. He was there to greet us. Several more locals wandered down and we had a grand time. It could have turned into a wild party except my brother got sidetracked coming to visit. Whew.

Both Steph and I were exhausted from all the preparations necessary prior to departure, plus no matter how many times you’ve done it, you always feel vulnerable leaving home and venturing off into the unknown. That’s a pretty standard reaction for boaters, especially until the first 50 miles are behind them. We , said good-bye to our visitors pulled the sleeping bags up to our chins and cuddled with the animals. By 9 p.m., we were sound asleep.

Next morning, we fueled and headed north. Mavericks was still growing and even with the space of a few miles between us, the freight train waves were enough to make us ill. To think people purposely go out there to ride those waves is boggling. The rest of the trip to the Golden Gate was lovely and we rode a flood tide in under the bridge. When we passed Pier 39 at San Francisco, our friend Russ who runs the big Blue & Gold ferries came out on his boat to wave to us. He was doing the Alcatraz run. Then the Oakland/Alameda ferry called us on the VHF to ask who we were and what we do. Also a cat, she made mention of a race. Luckily, we didn’t do it; I rode that ferry the other day and she’s definitely a fast cat. Brian on Zephyr, one of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s vessels, was also headed for Alameda where he needed to pick up ballast. He was a few hours behind us, so we visited a little by radio along the way. Our big adventure into the unknown was suddenly feeling pretty homey.

We only had a vague idea where Bay Ship was and no experience dealing with them prior to this. It being a Sunday, there wasn’t a lot going on, but a person was there to direct us to a regular dock to tie up to for the night. Drydocks are huge, open-ended, high-walled steel structures with a deck. The dockmaster arrived to build our structure on the deck which would support us out of the water. Several workers scurried around attaching the components so they wouldn’t float away when the dock was lowered into the water. The dockmaster works off each vessel’s docking plans but with every new boat they dock, there are questions, so a diver would be in the water with us next morning to assure a safe job.

The support was built by a crane that rides a set of rails along one side of the floating drydock. I love cranes. One of my favorite chores on the tugs was loading grub with the crane. During a brief stint on the Oregon Responder, an oil spill response ship, my job was to exercise the cranes. Heaven!

At 0400, we were warmed up as directed. We would share the drydock with a huge ocean-going tug which was brought in from the downstream end by another tug. Once she was secure, we got our order to move to the upstream end. We would be bow to bow with the enormous tug. Steph and I had flipped a coin; I got to drive Princess in.

"Okay, Cap," the dockmaster said over the radio, "Bring her in nice and easy." I shifted into clutch speed ahead for a few seconds then back to neutral. Princess was good and straight. There was no eddy or cross current to throw her off. She slid in there like she knew somebody. I backed down to stop her as directed. Steph was on deck. He caught heaving lines from the workers on both of the high walls and pulled across the heavier docklines and tied them off on the boat. As they pulled them tight, I shut down the mains.

"Nice job, Cap," said the dockmaster.

Cruising past, Steph beamed. I don’t know if you can understand why this might matter to Steph, but he knows what I went through to get here. I cavalierly describe it as selling my soul, which isn’t far off. From the early days on tugs in Puget Sound, then tugs in Alaska, before settling into one company on the Columbia, all of those experiences have brought me here. It’s not lost on him that this is our boat and the little girl who used to ride her donkey on the nearby headlands has come home.

When both boats were securely on their cradles, the drydock was pumped out and we rose out of the water in a matter of a few minutes. Now, I could fully appreciate the view ahead. It’s a view that would curdle milk if a boat were underway and it’s any captain’s worst nightmare. I tried to include that shot and one of my old tug, but I can't upload them from here. Oh well. It is what it is. As the drydock deck came into view, workers were already heading down the ramp. Inspectors, power washers and others flooded onto the deck which now buzzed with activity.

Our job supervisor went over the list with Steph and I noted how different this was from other shipyards I’d been in with tugs.

"What do you need?" we were asked every few minutes. "How can we make you comfortable? Will this gangway work for the ladies [Fluke and Rumba]?" It was pretty impressive. When I asked for a phone line so I could check e-mail with our laptop, I was set up with our own office for the duration, as all customers are. Fax, phone, heater, desks, even a refrigerator filled with sodas and waters. Definitely not the shipyard experiences of my past, even though some of them were highly entertaining, especially since I didn’t get the bill for those jobs.

A dredge was working just outside our drydock and it took me a while to hear what seemed a familiar sound amidst all of the others. Maybe that’s why I glanced out to see what else was going on. A pusher tug was out there, moving the dredge around. I thought I recognized it and said so to Steph. She looked a lot like Western Sun, the tugboat I spent the most time on in Oregon, but it had been a long time. Now called the Sharon Brusco, I’d catch a glimpse of her, then she’d be behind a crane, or I would have to go tend to something. Could it really be her?

This morning we splashed, which means we went back in the water. Our job isn’t done because we have to wait for materials, but the tug was and two other boats will be in the drydock for the weekend. Then we go back out to finish our job and inspections. Again, the little pusher tug was close by moving the dredge’s anchors. I got a good look at her and not only did I know she was my old boat, I could even tell you where I put my hand to slide down between her push knees onto the deck after working a barge; where I put the fish smoker to smoke the fish thrown on deck by passing gillnetters; where I’d nearly crapped my pants, passing a big ship on the tightest turn on the river for the first time. Much like seeing an old lover, I went over the good memories and the bad ones. The good outweighed the bad this time.

I called over on the radio and asked Sharon’s captain if she was Western Sun. Sure enough, it was my old boat.

"And now you’re running that?" the captain of the tug asked. There was no inflection up or down, just taking stock of the changes. "Oh, no, it’s worse," I said, "I own her." Most captains would like to have their own boat and business, but most have the sense to avoid the urge at all costs.

"You are dumb," he said with admiration.

Then it was time to go to work. The dockmaster instructed me to take Princess out and as I did, the former Western Sun slid past us to starboard a few hundred feet away. I couldn’t help but wonder if she felt as I do, that our lives have taken a turn for the better since we saw each other last.

So that’s Part One of our drydock adventure. I plan to send out Part Two before we head south. We will be back in action on Monterey Bay by next weekend. Those of you who have ordered clothing or gift certificates from our web site have also benefited from our experience here at Bay Ship because they’ve become our shipper. Since I am largely a captive audience here, it’s either clean bilges or ship orders, so keep those orders coming, will you? Besides, we still have to pay for all of this.

By the way, just before we left home, I picked up a fresh batch of embroidered caps. There are new colors like red, carrot, kelly with a navy trimmed bill and more. If you’re interested, e-mail me for a complete list. The red is so cool and Christmasy, I helped myself to one and have worn it every day since. Tell me membership in Sanctuary Cruises doesn’t have its privileges.

Gift certificates can be ordered for any amount and are sent with a rack card that has pictures of the boats, us and our web site address so folks can check it out. Season's Passes are $300.00, good for 10 cruises any time and a great gift for a family. These two presents are the best way I know of to put a full-sized live whale in a legal-sized envelope and they come stamped with this message, "It’s not too late to turn the tide." It better not be.

Order either by calling us at 831.917.1042 and I will include a coupon for a free Sanctuary Cruises silkscreened T-shirt! If you'd like to make reservations for cruises, we have a $2.50 Internet discount for each person IF you request it and give us your password. Any word will do, but it's our way of making sure we note the discount was requested.

Well, I am off to the boat where we plan to listen to Christmas music, eat dungeness crab we bought from Beticia in Moss Landing and play with the cats. If it ever stops raining, we’ll bike around Alameda and look at the Christmas lights. We had hoped to be home to enjoy this time because we love Christmas but as our friend Rick says, "It is what it is."

See you out there.

12/6/02: Talk of the Bay Tonight

Just a brief note to tell you Steph will be featured on "Talk of the Bay," a half hour long program tonight at 6:30 on KUSP/FM (88.9). Hosted by Jane Wade, the program takes an in-depth look at what's happening around the bay; in this case, she's interviewing Steph for the second time.

He was on TOTB just as his program "Life on the Bay" began to air on KUSP. Since then, it's become a staple for commuters because it airs at 7:49 a.m. and replays at 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

What Steph has managed to pack into his 90 second pieces is really something. They are concise glimpses into the bay, its whales, dolphins and fishes, fishing regulations, marine research, conservation efforts, history and more.

At the recent Oceans Fair, Steph was besieged by admirers including marine scientists, aquarium specialists and a lot of folks who said their day, "...isn't complete without hearing Captain Steph!" Many people comment about Steph's voice which is friendly sounding and warm. I'm with them; I just love it. If you have never heard it, here's your chance. If you're out of the area but would like to catch it anyway, log onto kusp.org and click on the Listen Live link. Be sure your computer's speakers are turned on. Then sit back with a cup of tea for a delightful half hour.

Remember the Humboldt squid story? Bill Gilly is a Professor of Biological Studies at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station and he's on our update mailing list. He's a squid specialist we've gotten to know mostly through emails back and forth although he was on Princess of Whales for our Elkhorn Slough event with author Barry Lopez. When Bill read my update on the appearance of Humboldt squid on Monterey Bay, he let us know the Monterey Bay Aquarium had six of them in a quarantine tank. According to Bill, Humboldt squid normally ranges from Peru to Baja and out about 1/3 of the way to Hawaii on the equator. "The range," he explained, "gets extended by severe El Nino Southern Oscillation events like in 1997/98 and then they can go from southern Chile to Oregon. There was a warm water anomaly off Baja all summer, so I suspect that this may be part of the reason we are seeing them around here (normally we don't)."

We were invited down to see them this morning. What an opportunity! They are beautiful. They looked like odd-shaped angels, their fins fluttering languidly as they turned and pulsed through the water of the darkened tank. Photographing them was next to impossible, but I managed to catch two of them here. Each is about three feet long. Email us if you'd like to see a Humboldt squid photograph taken by a friend of Bill's (better detail but since I don't have time to ask for permission to post it, I decided not to use it here).

Watching the Humboldt squid swimming along, I felt a little guilty about having eaten some until Bill told us they're voracious predators. They often feed on each other, tearing off fins as they pass by. That put things in perspective. Guess I'm no worse than them. No better maybe, but certainly no worse.

Gray whales are building steam so start planning your adventure to join a tiny part of the longest migration of any mammal on earth. Through the wonders of technology, we'll be in phone and email contact while we're in dry dock. Have a great week. See you out there.

12/4/02: Gray Whales, Princess of Whales & the Christmas Store

More gray whales are showing up along the Central Coast. Milos of BayNet saw four of them on Thanksgiving Day. Other friends have spotted grays from boats and beaches and two whales were seen playing with the anchor chain under the Point Pinos buoy! By the third week of December, we should have pretty good numbers and by early January, they'll be very strong.

If you set out to accomplish one small thing and look back days, weeks or months later, realizing you underestimated the time and energy it would take, JOIN THE CLUB. Princess of Whales' boatyard haul-out and inspection isn't a small thing, but Steph has been trying to schedule it for 6 months. Finally, about to head to the Bay Area for the haul, we got word our date was canceled because the catamaran in our spot turned out to have other problems. Steph scurried to find another yard that can accommodate a 30 foot wide boat and we were lucky. Set back a few days, we head north on the weekend.

For me, it was the new web site. Chris would do his behind the scenes part, then I'd look it over and make a few changes. Back and forth we went. Complications arose with our URL hosts. A flurry orf emails, then calls. More emails. More calls. Finally the new site was up, so we could tackle the online store. Who could have guessed the company I chose for our secure server would fall apart over an internal power struggle? More emails. More calls.

I realized we needed a well-known heavyweight so I went with PayPal and the cool thing is that once you're registered with them, you can use it for other sites and even between other people. For instance, Chris and his wife went to dinner with friends. Their friends paid for the meal and later that night, Chris logged onto PayPal to send the friends their portion of the bill. No extra charges, just a direct, easy method of exchanging funds with anyone.

Now, our Store is up. Click on the link here to see it. I think it looks great. Simple, easy to navigate, attractive. The photo shown here is our embroidered logo in the color combination used on black & aqua. Grays and other muted colors have a steel blue and navy combination. Ed at Salinas Valley Embroidery digitizes our designs and he does beautiful work. Check out the Store and let me know what you think. We can't handle Gift Certificates or Season's Passes on it because tax is automatically added and these aren't taxable sales. For those, you need to call us with your credit card information (831.643.0128). They are shipped within 24 hours.

Here's our Special for December: When you make a reservation (for any month, not just December), give us a code word of your choice. We'll write it in the reservation book with your reservation. It will entitle you to a FREE silk-screened Sanctuary Cruises T-shirt (value to $15) or a $10.00 credit on any of our thick, cozy embroidered sweatshirts. If you would rather have a $2.50 cash discount per person, just tell us and you can have that instead.

As for dealing with frustrations, whether they're mountains or molehills, here's what we need to do. Take a deep breath. Go for a walk on the beach, in the woods or through a favorite park. Shake a snowglobe and imagine ourselves in it. Lie on the floor with our dogs (or in our case, lie on the couch with the dogs if they will move over) and see the world through their eyes.

Imagine it. Eyes that know nothing of computers, ISP's, Coast Guard inspections or haul-outs. It's almost as good as eyes that are attached to captains of whale watching vessels, eyes that get to be out there in a world of dancing dolphins and spouting whales. Forget the haul-out, I want to be in the whaleglobe. Oh yeah... Shake it up. There are the crazy dolphins and the frolicking whales. Look very carefully. See those little things sitting on the rocks with the big smiles on their faces? It's us!

See you out there.

www.sanctuarycruises.com/store.html

12/1/02: First Gray Whale of the Season!
The day after Thanksgiving, several extended families who had gathered for the holiday joined us on our whale watching cruise. It was a beautiful day, balmy and warm, with a glossy smooth bay. First, we saw Pacific white-sided dolphins. Several hundred were slicing through the calm blue water, throwing sparkling white splashes as they jumped. They raced ahead of us, cut under us and surfed our wake behind us. It was a great start.

To the north a few miles we saw common dolphins. Both being toothed cetaceans they have single blowholes. No one saw blue whales or humpback whales that day and perhaps they have headed south for the winter. We may see a few more stragglers, but it appears as though their migration has begun.

It was such a beautiful day, we cruised around to see what else might pop up and were rewarded by the first California gray whale of the season! It was alone and although it was supposedly southbound for the lagoons of Baja, it surfaced ahead of us, beside us and even behind us a few times. It was a sketchy whale as loners often are. It didn’t fluke, so we never saw its tail. When it surfaced, it took a quick breath and sounded immediately. But there was no mistaking the dark gray skin mottled by large patches of barnacles. Nothing else looks like a gray whale.

In addition, a few times the whale rose from the bay between us and the sun, giving its breath great clarity. Gray whales have two blowholes and a heart-shaped blow; it held even after the animal had submerged. It wasn’t a stunning show. But being the first gray whale of a population estimated at between 17,000-20,000, with the vast majority making this annual trek, it was a grand sight none the less. And every day from now until late January, there will be more southbound gray whales to see daily.

The day after, we saw no whales or dolphins but orcas were out there earlier in the day and they can spook marine mammals. We did see a black-footed albatross, though, and this is probably the latest we have ever seen one. We also saw sea nettle jellies just outside of Moss Landing in such numbers that everyone on the boat was agog.

Some more interesting creatures have been seen on the bay lately and we had one for dinner last night. It was a Humboldt squid, which is a far larger species than our Monterey Bay variety.

Our dockmate Jerry, who fishes the boat Big Dee, had a boat loaded with them. His were several feet long. Phil on Kincheloe caught a thirteen footer! If you had a big enough frying pan, you could have made a squid steak several feet across. I placed an order with Jerry before we headed out on our cruise and several passengers made purchases upon our return. Steph and I agreed it was the best, sweetest, most tender squid we have ever eaten. At $1.25 per pound whole, it was also one of the most reasonably priced delicacies around. I have a wonderful recipe for breading seafood. It’s light, golden, crispy and the breading won’t fall off. If you’d like it, email me: sanctuary@montereybay.com.

Well, we finally head for the San Francisco Bay with Princess of Whales toward the end of this week. We plan to stop over in Pillar Point Harbor, which is where I grew up; that ought to be a hoot. We'll resume cruises December 14th. Email response from December 6-13 will be a little slow, so be patient; we'll get back to you.

See you out there.

11/24/02: What's Out There This Time of Year?
“What kind of whales are on the Monterey Bay this time of year?” The question is one we often hear from callers and since every year is different, there is no stock answer. A couple of years ago, our last blue whale of the season was seen on New Year’s Day. The blues head south in the late fall, but their departure times are based on reasoning we can only guess at. It’s the same with the humpbacks. Orcas? They come and go all year long and we have seen them more this fall.

So yesterday, an excited group boarded Sanctuary (fresh out of dry dock for her annual maintenance and Coast Guard inspection). Among our passengers were the Bardens, a very nice couple from North Carolina. Explaining his choice of Sanctuary Cruises, Brian Barden told me, “Your web site made all the difference.” Gratified, I hoped for a stellar experience for them because they’d read of so many in our Captain’s Log.

This was a different day for us because Steph and I were there to see the group off but we didn’t go with them. Our neighbor at the dock is Kahuna, a charter fishing boat. Since fishing has ended until spring, her skipper Scott needed to find a winter job. We needed to find another skipper and he fit the bill very well. Scott has worked on the Monterey Bay for years. He even ran Sanctuary back in the days when she was Sea Dancer. He knows the bay, the whales and dolphins and he’s good with passengers. He’s also an excellent boat operator and I do believe he is the only charter boat captain out there who is a graduate of King’s Point, the esteemed maritime academy. So yesterday was Scott’s day to run.

Hillary is our new deckhand. She and I have some similarities. Although she didn’t grow up on the coast as I did, once she got on a boat, she felt she was home. Now she’s making up for lost time by working her way up the maritime ladder. Hillary brought our passengers down the dock and off they went. Steph and I buttoned up a few chores on Princess of Whales, which we’re getting ready to take up to the San Francisco Bay for her haul-out (she’s too big for the boat yards down here!). Then we took off on our motorcycles for a ride through the late fall countryside to take a friend to lunch.

Walking past another dockmate, Beticia, we saw Dempsey and Vicki were doing a brisk business in live Dungeness crab. Yep! It's crab season and for those of you who will be joining us this winter, you can take home live or cooked crab just astern of Princess of Whales. If you'd like to place an order in advance, mail them at beticiafish@aol.com or you can call Dempsey at (831) 633-6391.

We dropped in on Kim at The Haute Enchilada for a breakfast burrito and to check out all of the changes in her cafe and gallery. It is SO cool! We also have a beautiful new shop just a block away called Nido, so we checked it out, too. And the Moss Landing RV Park is now open; it's next to the harbor so people staying there can walk over for their cruise. Moss Landing is looking great.

Nice as our day was, I kept thinking about the cruise. How were they doing out there? What were they seeing? Was everyone having a good time? Scott and Hillary do their jobs well, but they aren’t us. Were we missed? You may have guessed that cutting my captain’s apron strings isn’t all that easy for me.

Hillary emailed us last night. She was ecstatic. “We had an awesome trip,” she reported. It included a pod of five killer whales, a blue whale, three groups of humpbacks and they saw the orcas again on the way back in. “The passengers,” Hillary informed us, “were thrilled!” So were we, Hillary, so were we.

Hey, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

11/12/02: Fall Whales, Our Web Site & the First Storm

Have you noticed the color of leaves lately? Even in the fading, dusky light of early evening, gold colored leaves seem to glow as though electrified. Throbbing reds and oranges of Virginia Creeper lace up the front of old brick buildings and yet the green of newly emerged grass is neon bright. Driving through the countryside we smell fermenting grapes, rich, freshly turned soil and decomposing leaves.

On the bay, changes are more subtle. Some of the humpbacks and blue whales are still here feeding and our summer dolphins and winter dolphins are all in the neighborhood. Conditions have ranged from duck pond calm to pretty frisky, but mostly have been on great behavior. We had our first storm of the season last week. It brought big winds and seas, so we canceled our cruises and piddled around at home.

In order to give the ocean time to calm down, we even had a forced day off on a really nice day ashore but we’re ready to go back to work to test a theory. We’ve seen orcas more this fall than usual. On a rough average, we see them every couple of months. But this year, it’s almost been a weekly occurrence and often, it’s been the same three whales. We’re wondering how long the trend will continue.

Then there is our advent calendar. In order for the gray whale migration to begin, we need to see our first gray of the season. That opens the top door. Then there will probably be a pause before we see our next gray, which opens the second door. Next it will be a pair or even three gray whales with a humpback cruising along their direction and another door opens. So it goes until the all of the doors are open on the calendar and the grays are streaming south in such numbers that we lose count.

How late will the blues be around? Two years ago, we saw our last blue of the season on New Year’s Day. That was especially late, but every year is different. Some humpbacks don’t seem to care what month it is and also stay late before heading to Mexican waters.

The new web site is up! It’s housed on www.sanctuary cruises.com so you’ll need to update your bookmark. The site is smaller, tighter, has a fresh look and seems to be a lot easier to navigate according to comments we’ve gotten. Chris Nelson gets credit for most of the work, so if you have something you’d like to pass on: chris@thebeergeek.com. He’s sure to take it very seriously. This is his tagline for emails: “Trying to make the world a better place, one pint at a time.”

Thanksgiving week is often a busy one, so be sure to book your trip early if you plan to get out on the bay with friends and family. We have sort of a treasure hunt special this month. Check out the web site, find the item below and get a great discount or T-shirts for everyone in your party!

Marco Vaccari found the coolest shot of Moss Landing Harbor from the air and it has both of our boats in it. As Chris said, this will prove especially helpful for our passengers who arrive from sea by helicopter. We have posted the link to the photo. If you can tell us where the link for the photo is, we will give you a special $5.00 per person discount or free Sanctuary Cruises T-shirts for every paid passenger in your party for any cruise booked in November. Be sure you mention it when you call and be prepared to give us the page where you find the link.

If that seems like too much effort, you can ask for the Internet Special and receive $2.50 off per person or one free T-shirt for every three paying passengers. As always, people over 12 are $37.50, kids 12 and under are $27.50. Under 2 is free but babies must be traveling with somebody who knows them; we have our rules.

Enjoy those colors and we’ll see you out there.

10/8/02: Sparkling Water, Great Whales & Dolphins
This is a brief update on what we're seeing on the Monterey Bay. The blue whales and humpback whales remain in strong numbers, plus we've seen orcas, Risso's dolphins, common dolphins and more. Waters have been mostly calm and flat and I've gotten some terrific photographs, which we'll post in our galleries. We're running most Wed-Sun at 10:30, but are also taking some days off for scheduled maintenance and to enjoy the wonderful fall weather. On Friday, 10/11, we won't be running our regular cruise because we will be hosting a group for our program Harrison's Cruises for Kids. It's a big deal for us to get kids out there, especially kids whose options are limited. They don't have to be, not if we all pitch in. See you out there! Heidi

9/25/02: Why Are These People Smiling?!

Something extraordinary was on the Monterey Bay recently. In addition to the blue whales, dolphins and three killer whales that we spent some time with during the week, there was a pretty heady gathering of people who share a deep appreciation of our country's marine sanctuaries. This is fortunate since it's their job to take care of them. All of the 13 National Marine Sanctuary managers, as well as their boss, Dan Basta (center, blue jacket), were aboard our boat Princess of Whales. Also in attendance were numerous members of the Sanctuary Advisory Council. Bill Douros, the manager of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, wanted to show it off on its 10th anniversary. That's Bill next to Dan. He looks pretty happy, doesn't he? He had good reason for it: the skies were clear, the air was warm and two blue whales graced us with their presence during the cruise.

Ten years can go by slowly or in a flash. I suspect most of the people in this photograph feel as I do, that the last ten years--each packed full with incredible experiences--have flown by. The formation of our Sanctuary was spearheaded by Leon Panetta in order to keep oil drilling out of our waters. So it was especially fitting that he'd join the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Julie Packard and Ocean Futures' Jean-Michel Cousteau at a forum presented by the Sanctuary's Foundation Friday night to look back at the past ten years and to the future.

Here's how life has changed for us in the past few years. In 1998, Steph and I had a gray whale project. We couldn't imagine learning about these beautiful creatures and not fighting to protect them. So we went to Neah Bay, Washington to fight the proposed Makah Indian gray whale hunt in a positive way. We offered the Makah our help in starting a whale watching business. We were turned down, but we stayed up there for 75 days, escorting the gray whales south. We became friends with many of the Makah, most notably Alberta Thompson, the elder who steadfastly insists whaling belongs in our past, not future. When Alberta was threatened by the tribal police, Steph spirited her off the reservation and we hid her at the small campground where we were staying.

That fall, Steph and I were scheduled to give a presentation on our work with the gray whales for the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. We tried to cancel but they insisted one of us come. How better to illuminate the plight of the whales and the Makah than by letting Alberta tell her story? So on a dark, cold morning, she and I drove to the little airport in Port Angeles, bound for California on a 24 hour whirlwind trip.

Waiting for our commuter plane which would take us to Sea-Tac airport, a man knelt at Alberta's knee and softly asked, "Alberta, how are you?" It was Jean-Michel Cousteau; he was headed to the reservation to make much the same offer we had made.

The press was going nuts wondering where Alberta was. Once Steph knew we were safely at the airport, he announced her location. She was besieged by reporters when we arrived at Sea-Tac and she eloquently stated her case there as well as in Santa Cruz that night. The next day, we flew into Port Angeles on the same plane that would take Jean-Michel away from his failed mission. None of us has given up.

Cousteau continues his work to protect the sea and its creatures and so do we. Steph and I formed Sanctuary Cruises because we figured people would care about creatures they experienced in the wild. I was appointed to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council. Steph has developed his excellent radio program "Life on the Bay" for KUSP FM. At a gala prior to the forum, I was able to remind Jean-Michel of our first meeting and he was ecstatic to learn about our business. "You zee?!" he exclaimed in his charming French accent, "Zer is always hope! You are a perfect example."

September has been filled with celebrations for our Sanctuary and one of the best is coming this Saturday, September 28th, on the Municipal Wharf in Santa Cruz. It's a combination of Shark Festival and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary 10th Anniversary Celebration and it runs from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Festivities include ocean exhibits and information, hands-on activities, live sharks, invertebrates from Long Marine Labs, a treasure hunt and puppet shows for kids, good music, birthday cake and more. For more information, contact (831) 647-4201.

On Sunday, Pat Henry, the first American woman to sail around the world solo, will be on Princess of Whales for a whale watching cruise followed by a dockside presentation on her adventures. Pat's recent book-signing event at Bookshop Santa Cruz was a madhouse! 230 people attended and they sold out of "By the Grace of the Sea." I'm fielding phone calls from people saying they are reading the book and can't wait for the cruise to hear more stories. As usual on our special event cruises, we're charging the regular fare for the whale watching and the presentation afterward features complimentary wine, juice and appetizers. You can make reservations for the cruise and reserve books by calling us at (831) 643-0128.

See you out there.