Call me Ishmael. No, call me disappointed. Okay I’m not that disappointed, but today’s experience did remind me a little of the two nights (so far) of my life that I have spent waiting for the grunion to run. And don’t even get me started on jackalopes. Here’s the deal: we went whale watching today in Dana Point, CA. The boat company we used guaranteed dolphin OR whale sightings, a smart move on their part as had we seen neither whales NOR dolphins they would have had to give all of us a raincheck (whalecheck?). We headed out to sea for the proverbial 3 hour tour, and after about half an hour encountered a pod of dolphins. They were on the payroll, apparently, as they proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes being especially frolicsome and photogenic. We were all quite happy snapping pics and filming them, and before we knew it we were headed back to land, having seen nary a whale. So it goes. We did see a guy in a weird kayak/outrigger canoe as we headed back to port. While not a whale, it was unusual enough to warrant a photo.
On the way home, we visited Mission San Juan Capistrano, the “jewel of the missions.” it has fabulous gardens, and interesting archeological findings. The mission is gearing up for the annual return of the swallows on March 19. I managed to avoid purchasing the commemorative t-shirt. But I did light a candle in the church. There’s no such thing as too much good karma.
I was pondering, though, if the swallows manage to remember the March 19 date so well, what’s up with grunions? Back to topic: full photo coverage can be fouind here.