October 21, 2022, Ocean Diary
Today was a little overwhelming on the ocean regarding swell and wind changes. The marine forecast looked good this morning, but it was challenging between the waves and driving a different boat. I’m usually pretty tired after being on the water, but today it is extra.
My friend and I covered approximately 25 miles on the ocean. We cruised around on a boat with an indoor cabin, which was excellent in many ways but much less enjoyable for whale watching (from my perspective) than having an open-air boat. It had a beautiful interior but was harder on the body because it was “more boat” hitting the waves. When you’re in the captain’s chair, it can feel like a lot sometimes.
We started heading West from Oceanside before heading north towards Trestles, aka San Mateo Point. We covered soo much ocean, but it was impossible to find whales. There were too many waves and white caps.
What we did find kind of blew our minds, though. We were at least 8-10 miles offshore, and this man was standing on what looked like a dingy with a folding chair. At first, I thought he was a buoy, but as we got closer, we realized it was a man on a dingy. I truly can’t believe he brought that offshore.
He was not waving his arms in distress but did notice us there. It was frightening and a little eerie, and I hope he returned to shore okay. Seriously, look how surprised I was.
After that discovery, we needed to head back to the harbor, so we cruised closer to the coast and drove parallel to Oceanside past the entirety of Camp Pendleton. Seeing the cliffs from the shore was pretty spectacular, and although we didn’t see any whales or dolphins, we did enjoy the process of looking and cruising.
Until next time,
Captain Brenna
