Boat Tour and Sunset Fun

My husband surprised us with a boat tour this past Saturday! So we took a two and a half hour trip to Oxnard, California and joined the Island Packers for a tour to the St. Nicholas Island’s.

When we reached our destination my husband went and let the company know we were there while the kids and I stayed at the Van making and eating our lunch.

We made ham and turkey on sour dough bread. By the time we were done eating we had just enough time to use the restrooms and head to the tour boat. Right off the bat as we pulled away from the dock we spotted a sea lion.

As we progressed farther away from the main land we picked up speed. The wind felt amazing, cold but amazing! With just the wind the air was not to cold but the minute we turned into the waves and the boat started to go up and down the splashing started happening and the spray of the water would drizzle down on top of us making it a bit chilly! Luckily we had some wind breakers and sweat shirts with us to help prevent us from getting to cold.

Let me tell you I did not expect much to come out of the trip. I was thinking that we would not see any sea animals at all, but to my surprise we were able to see two different types of whales, blue dolphins and sea lions on this trip. When we made it to the islands we saw caves, archways, and tons of birds.

I was a very happy lady grinning from ear to ear when I spotted the whales. Below is a picture of a whale blowing water out of its blow hole. You may have to zoom in if you are reading this on your phone.

My husband is pointing to the dolphins in the distance.

Once I spotted the dolphins; I was a kid in the candy shop and could not contain my glee! I was so excited that I had to have my husband take the close up photos for me. I almost dropped my phone into the ocean never to be seen again. Below are the pictures of the playful mammals

They were frolicking under and by the boat for quite a while. These mammals are my favorite and Saturday was the first time in my life I was able to see them outside of an aquarium and TV. So I teared up with tears of joy and could not stop my repeated oh my gosh mantra for their duration around our boat tour..

I almost wanted to tell the captain to stop moving until after all the dolphins were clear of the boat (I did not do that of course). They reminded me of playful pups that would run around a car but stay clear of the tires. With this in mind I did not worry about them getting cut up by the propellers.

The girls wanted to hear the dolphin call! So while the dolphins were swimming around they were trying to imitate the dolphins high pitched calls, every once in a while they would stop for a minute and say I hear them. I on the other hand could not hear anything other than the wind and the the person talking over the PA (Public Address) system.

Below is a picture of the archway. Thos is at our turn around point. I love arches formed out of rocks and mountains. It is amazing how they are formed. I would loved to get all scientific and explain it but the can happen another day. I need to be able to sit and write on paper first.

Last but not least we found a spot on the beach and played for about an hour. The girls ran back and from from the ocean up to the dry part of the sand. After awhile they decided to make a moat leading to the ocean. I decided to get a little creative with my photography and started to have my littles pose with the sun you can see those below.