Day 1

Well, since we are three weeks late in starting this blog, we may have some Negative Day numbers (IF we ever go back:)).

This weekend was incredible. It started on Friday with the adventure on the Point Lobos. The word was that it might be a bit rough (and the folks getting off from Thursday's cruise had greenish tints to them) so I was a wee bit nervous (didn't want to add to the Point Puke's lore on my first time at sea). Leaving the house at 5:30 was also a bit early. It was like a bit of a roller coaster ride to start. The hardest part was the thought process in the first 30 minutes (yikes, what have I got myself into, I still have 8 hours to go), but talking with some of the incredibly nice crew (and fellow intern), and remembering that the boat wasn't going to roll over (watching WAYYY too much Deadliest Catch), turned the corner. Watching the Ventura ROV deploy and sink to 1800m was like a dream. The "mission" was an engineering one, needing to release or fix an anchored, underwater buoy. One of the ROV pilots was kind enough to try explain how all the instrumentation worked, and life floated below the camera on it's way down and up. To sum it up, we returned by 4 and with A and the girls waiting, it was picture-perfect. The only down side was that the bonine I took, really kicked in when I got home and I could not stay awake if you paid me (pretty much out for the night by 4:30pm).

Saturday, we decided to hike at Pinnacles National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/index.htm ). For the record there are two sides to the park (and they are about an hour away from each other). Of course, we went to the wrong side, but making the best of the situation (okay and not wanting to try and convince our two kids that they were going to be in the car for another hour) we decided to hike. It was worth it! Part two on the west side was equally impressive. So impressive, that I literally blew out my hiking shoes (of course they are 13 years old). The trail ended with a 0.4 mile section through a series of caves (flashlights required).

Today (and by the way Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there), we went low key... church where the second lector took a frightening tumble as he was walking up. Andy called 911 while nurses went to his aid. He regained consciousness and was taken to the hospital. Our prayers remain with him and his family. We took our "summer kayaks"... thank you George and family... out on the Elkhorn Slough. Sure we exceeded the weight limit (with Andy and Margie in one and Soph and me in the other). The highlight was floating through a whole school of bat rays that were feeding. Soph had the best take as she said in a flight attendant voice, "please keep your hands, feet and all other objects inside the boat", I'll admit there was a brief Jaws-like moment of panic when we saw their wings flitting through the water surface (really, they look a lot like fins). They do have leopard sharks in the estuary, but alas, we didn't get to see them.