Pelican evening

 

I am not a particularly boat-able person, as I have likely mentioned in these pages at some point or other.  But I have a friend who lives in Switzerland who is the only person on the planet these days who can occasionally get me on a boat.  Maybe there's a joke here somewhere, person from Switzerland, which is obviously landlocked (we're not counting lakes, now), drags person who lives at the beach but hates boats out on a boat ride, and mayhem ensues.  Maybe we can make a sitcom about it.  Hollywood, can you hear me?

Anyway, we had a blast riding the water taxis around Long Beach harbor last Sunday.  We also had a blast last summer riding the ferry on the Seine.  We're figuring on taking a boat to Catalina next time we hit LA together.  But I didn't let myself be talked into the boat on the Salzach, once I saw the pilot doing donuts in the middle of the river.  I have my limits.

We saw two seals, a tortoise, and a flock of pelicans, one of which is pictured above.  The seals just stuck their noses up, it's really tough to get a picture of more of a seal than that when they're in the water. (I have lots of experience getting pictures of blank water from the time we had a pod of dolphins in the river down the block from my house - timing is everything, and my timing is bad.  Also, the lag time on these digital cameras is pretty awful, I used to do better with film.)  The tortoise didn't break the surface, he was just a rather large dark space in the water.  These are the seal noses:

We also had fun riding the LA Metro, which is quite a compliment coming from someone who rides and hates NJ Transit every day.

The mayhem was due to the great idea we had of riding on the front deck of the catamaran as it left Alamitas Bay Landing to head back to Long Beach.  I guess the tide was coming in, and as the boat picked up speed, we got soaked.  It felt good, sort of, but then we wisely (IMO) chickened out and went inside for the fast part of the ride. 

I don't quite understand the physics involved in getting soaked while sitting on the front deck of this (we were way back against the bulkhead), but then, I'm not a boat person.  I also don't think the back deck is any drier.

And actually, I have to credit the woman who sat next to me on the flight out to LA for teaching me a technique for not getting seasick.  She told me all you have to do is watch the shoreline, because it doesn't move (unless there's an earthquake, then all bets are off).  Then even tho you are moving, you won't get seasick.  Amazingly, it worked!  I have to try this again sometime (not too soon, tho).  And if we get that boat to Catalina one day, I'll see if it works when there's no shoreline visible.  THAT will be the real test.