[CINC] San Miguel Is Trip/ Islander

[Paul Jr. Petrich]

Volunteers, Yesterday's trip to San Miguel produced no whale sightings on the way out and back, but the following "people story" may be of interest to many of you. As advertised, this trip was going to have a re-enactment of Cabrillo's landing on the island in 1542. The amazing part of this story involves the person who has played the role of Juan Cabrillo for 39 straight years! I was surprised to find out he was non other than John Olguin, a "legendary" life guard from Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, my hometown. He became a lifeguard there in 1937, and by the time I graduated from SPHS, was the head lifeguard. He was the first director of the CABRILLO BEACH AQUARIUM: having been of immense help in lobbying for the aquarium with the primary contributors. He remains on the board of directors today, and conducts whale watching training seminars for them. BUT, most amazing about this man and his wife Muriel, is the fact that as a team of two, ever since before they married over 60 years ago, they have ROWED A 14 FOOT BOAT to Catalina Isand back ( from San Pedro ), many times! They plan to do it again on John's 90th birthday next year! Their rowing ventures have taken them to San Miguel Island; from Monterey down to San Diego; from Vancouver up the Inland Passage; and to excursions in the distant islands of the Caribbean and Fiji. These ventures were strictly for pleasure, never done as publicity stunts. John's father may have given him his "marathon mentality", as he migrated to San Pedro from Mexico by foot, as a youth. John's mother's side had seafaring marathon genes as well, as she was Gabrielino (Pimungan) Native American, the tribe that inhabited Santa Catalina prior to european settlement. On Catalina, this tribe was expert at seafaring in their own sea crafts, much like their neighbors, the Chumash did in their Tomols.   John and Muriel totally fascinated Skipper Anthony, and a few other lucky passengers, including myself, with these stories as we came home through whale feeding waters that were now empty of whales. Very Good Vibrations.   PaulP.S. Anthony and his crew were fantastic in ferrying everyone on and off the island, including the "Cabrillo Party"! 
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222984/direct/01/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.rain.org/pipermail/channel_islands_naturalist_corps/attachments/20090913/301c541c/attachment.html>