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View Full Version : Santa Cruz Trip with 40 students


Erasmus
10-08-2008, 11:36 AM
Trip went well, swell was rough on Friday and Sunday but Saturday was great. I took a group of non swimmers (hate to use the term inner city but there was no pool where they grew up) over to Prisoners where they fished off the pier and had a blast!

The rules are still the same, 2 fish per day maximum and I have to see you eat it that night. The majority of the fish taken are always the ever present Opaleye and out of the 40 only 4 - 6 actually spear. The rest snorkel, kayak and hike the island.

The highlight was a night dive for lobster. Long story short after years of making hoops for them to jump through and ability in the water is tested - one kid was ready for his second night dive, first one at the Islands. The other two kids that were ready had gotten the flu right before the trip and were pretty upset.

This young man is pretty shy in school but after he got back from the dive one of his swimming buddy said "its like he's on drugs, he wont shut up."

The bugs were out as were the Calico. As we were paddling back in the dark he turns and says "last year I was afraid of kelp."

The only down side was one ranger, when I got off the boat the first guy greeted me "Joe, hey you know the rules, can you give them to everyone" and I did. good guy I know, The next morning another ranger (who I also knew) came over and apologized for some drunks in the campground and I asked him if my kids behaved and he said "I know you crew is always under control, I'm never worried about them." I knew they had shut down at 9:00 but I like to be polite.

But some new young gun read my kids the riot act, accused them of lying about where they caught the 4 fish they had, told them that they had to fillet the fish outside the MLPA and then keep the skins so he could identify the size and type of fish. He began to chew out one of my autistic kids for holding (not fishing but holding) a fishing pole on the pier while waiting for Island packers. I intervened calmly but was a bit frustrated.

I think someone stole his lunch money as a kid.

abachar
10-08-2008, 11:41 AM
Really cool what you are doing. One of the best bug reports of the year. Let me know if you want any visual educational material for your kids regarding fish. If you got a classroom I'd be happy to send you some ID's to hang up.:beer:

fin
10-08-2008, 12:11 PM
great post i have never had a problem with the rangers on sc but it sounds like you came across everyones nightmare ranger, sorry to here that. it sounds like a great trip despite the bitter ranger.

bowfront26
10-08-2008, 12:32 PM
Sounds like a nice trip, was this at scorpion or prisoners? Sounds like prisoners but the pic looks like scorpion rock. How was the vis?

rhyne
10-08-2008, 01:14 PM
right on...that sounds like a great event for the kids. way to go! i've created a few events for foster care kids in socal and had some challenges when attempting to put together an event that included snorkeling for them. I'd love to hear more about what you have going. Is it a regular occurence?

Erasmus
10-08-2008, 01:17 PM
We camped at Scorpions and paddled outside the MLPA for the night dive, I took a group to fish from the pier at Prisoners. Viz was between 5-20 ft depending on the day.

Abachar, I'd love some fish ID photos and will PM you with some info.

99% of the time the rangers are great, love and respect for them. I think we just got a new guy.

abachar
10-08-2008, 01:21 PM
Abachar, I'd love some fish ID photos and will PM you with some info.


Please do. If you want you could get some of the kids started up on the Fishing Passport Program, where they can log the different fish they catch and learn a little more about them. I'd be happy to help with that as well.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fishingpassport/

Styric
10-08-2008, 05:05 PM
Your a good man. I can tell in the kids face how stoked he is. Are you a teacher?

H2O’Side
10-08-2008, 09:22 PM
Thats way cool man my hats off to guys like you.

Kelsea
10-08-2008, 09:38 PM
This was a wonderful opportunity these young people had - you should be very proud of this! Thank you for sharing this with us. ^_^

RCadiz03
10-09-2008, 12:10 AM
Erasmus: Sounds like an amazing trip. I take my marine ecology students on a camping trip up the coast but never thought about taking them to Santa Cruz island. Awesome. My studnets see a bunch of ecosystems but ran out of time to snorkel (I never even considered the idea of taking them fishing/ hunting). I'd like to hear some of the logistics of a trip like that...

Abachar: Thanks for the info on the fishing passport, I have a few students that I think would be interested. Also, ( I don't want to sound greedy but...) how can I get some of the ID prints for my classroom?

Anyway, congrats on a great trip and showing students the right and responsible way to utilize resources (read "hunt") sounds like a great idea.

Robin

abachar
10-09-2008, 09:36 AM
Abachar: Thanks for the info on the fishing passport, I have a few students that I think would be interested. Also, ( I don't want to sound greedy but...) how can I get some of the ID prints for my classroom?


Pm me if you have not already done so and we can work something out.