Dolphins!

I had an adventurous 4th of July weekend. Our firm gives us four-day weekends for certain holidays, and Independence Day is one of those holidays. So I was all set to enjoy a full weekend of relaxation--until I got invited to count inventory on the Friday of that weekend. But what I missed out on that day, I made up for on Independence day.

My dad will often go sailing, and on this particular weekend, he was planning to journey out to Santa Cruz Island, which is one of the channel islands off our coast (The island is the one with the "B" balloon. Just in case you were wondering.)

We left early in the morning, met up with three of my dad's friends and their three respective daughters, and headed for the sea. Along the way we said hi to some of the locals,

picked up some traveling companions:

and eventually arrived at our destination:

I know, we probably could've picked a prettier destination. But we wanted to do some kayaking, and I wasn't quite ready for this trip yet.

A few kayaking tours were taking place around the island, and my dad and I just happened to show up when the groups were going through a few different caves. As a result, we explored several sea caves that didn't look like they existed. We also found some on our own (mostly as we were looking for the ones we went through the first time). Here's a fun arch we found:

Photo courtesy of these guys

The island had a pretty cool visitor's center; part of it was a replica of the type of ranch house that was on the island when it was used for raising livestock. Not many people come to the island, so the center wasn't staffed, but it was equipped with motion sensors, and the center came to life when a visitor walks through the door.

I think my favorite souvenir from the trip was my wet suit tan. While I did make sure to put sun block on my feet, I guess I didn't reapply as needed. I have a distinct line by my ankles that shows exactly where the wetsuit stopped and where the sunburn started. Seeing as I'm going into hibernation again as of this week, I doubt I'll be anywhere sunny for the rest of the summer. I didn't achieve my flip-flop tan this summer, but I guess I'll settle for this--a semi-permanent memory of an awesome day with my dad and the dolphins.

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When we came back from the island, though, the adventure didn't end. While hauling the boat out of the water, we heard a CRUNCH SCRAAAAAAAAAPE type noise. The trailer that holds the boat ended up breaking at a fairly critical point on the main shaft.

After my dad and his friend scratched their heads (and all us daughters stood looking useless...especially me with my camera), someone suggested they make a splint for the trailer. Luckily, they were able to find wood and webbing (something similar to it, anyway) and jimmy-rig a splint that held long enough to bring the trailer back to the boat yard.

Good thing they were there...if I were in charge of the trailer, I'd probably still be down at the harbor wondering what to do. Three weeks later.