Ventura!

I can't believe I'm in SoCal! The water is getting warmer and I still have swell and wind at my back-am hoping this holds for at least one more week! Most of today's paddle, though, was locked in fog, but woohoo, I had company! Holly and Annette, who paddle in an outrigger club out of Santa Barbara joined me in an OC2. Lemme tell you, I'm totally loving the Pueo because normally I think I'd be left in the dust. They probably had to slow down a little bit for me, but hey, it would’ve been slower on anything else! We paddled past more natural seeps on totally flat an windless water, completely locked in the fog. It was nice to share the fog for once! After they cut out I was once again on my own, paddling in the monotony of constant gray. At one point I got so sleepy from the monotony of flatness and fog, plus the just general lack of sleep that comes from doing this on a daily basis that I lay down a little just to shut my salt burned eyes.I continued on, counting my strokes, while spotting a dolphin here and there, birds everywhere, and with some increasing visibility. Eventually the wind picked up as did the wind swell, and once again I was energized. I was surfing along having a great time when I noticed two guys on paddle boards. John and John were their names and they had come out to paddle me in! Then Paul Jenkins of Surfrider came out in his kayak. What a boost!!  We were joined by another guy on a paddle board, Woody, who teaches HS chemistry and whose class was tracking me that day. The fog came back and the wind died down but now we were having fun in the little bit of wind and swell-the ocean is fun on it's own, but it is simply the best, really the best, to be out there with folks so you can share the fun. As we approached the breakwater we were joined by five guys in an OC6 from the Hokuloa Canoe Club followed by two women in an OC2. It was an amazing paddle in to a perfect beach!Today I'm heading out with company, too! Heading to Malibu! Woohoo!Oh, I do have to mention my disappointment in the California legislature's decision to not ban the plastic bag. it's such an easy thing to do, wholly mackerel, whole African nations have banned the bag and even China has a tax on them! Paddling to Santa Barbara I found, in the fog out on the ocean, a plastic bag. It is a shame when politicians listen to the money folks instead of their voting constituents. Well, the educational campaign will still continue-if enough people bring their own bags instead of using the plastic ones shop owners hand out then eventually shop owners will stop buying them. Makes one wonder if politicians, who of course run costly campaigns requiring big money donations, will ever "do right" by the people who actually voted them there. Or will they always listen to their donors? Well, I guess the Supreme Court says it best, "money speaks."Seriously, I've paddled past so many jellyfish and each time I saw them I first thought they were plastic bags! The preponderance of jellyfish is the result of the near eradication we have done to the top predator species. What a legacy we are leaving for our children.