James' Adventure to Catalina

One early Wednesday, January 10, 2007 all the seventh and eighth graders of my school were gathered with their luggage next to the rock wall on Yard 2. We were waiting for Mr. H, our middle school director to give us the "OK", to get on the bus to go to the Long Beach dock. So while I waited, I walked over to my friends and started talking with them about the activities we would have in Catalina. When Mr. H. said it was okay to load up the bus, we put our luggage in the luggage carrier and we were off on our middle school Catalina adventure.

After arriving at the dock, we put our stuff next to the rail overlooking the water. Just like we had waited to get on the bus, we had to wait to get on the boat. When the wait was finally over, we walked across the bridge that led to our boat. I was impatient and wanted to get on with the journey as soon as possible. Our boat was called The Catalina King and was white with red stripes. The inside of the boat was different than I thought it would be. It was carpeted and had a snack bar on the first floor. It also had a movie playing. On the second floor, there was a nice lounge area, a place to spend time with friends, and the top was outside. There are some benches there also in order to see the best part about the boat ride, the seagulls! Because the boat was going so fast, and the seagulls were going the same speed, it seemed like the birds were just hovering in space. I got some great pictures of them.

Seagull

When we got to Catalina, I grabbed my luggage and got out of the boat with my classmates. While waiting again, I saw some people standing on the side of the walkway who looked like hippies. Seriously! They had tie-dye shirts on and shorts or tie-dye pants. As I walked by, they all made a comment about my Mariners hat. How can anyone insult the Mariners? After the torment, the walk to the dorms was long and hard. We finally made it. When we did, we were asked to sit on the stairs and the main instructor talked to us about what we were going to be doing while we were here. When we were finished, Mr. G., our history teacher and a chaperone, told the boys who we were going to be in the dorms with. I was assigned to dorm with JM. and JF. We put our stuff away and then came back outside to see what groups we were in. I happened to be in Group Two with another great instructor, Mary. Mary was a very nice young lady and a great teacher. Our fist activity was algae lab. Don’t throw algae! When we were in the algae lab, we drew a picture of algae to be laminated. We also ate algae. I love algae. It tasted like spicy carrots! I do not recommend eating some unless you are eating in a restaurant that isn’t serving chicken strips.

After algae lab, we went to the fish lab. I love fish! We had to look for the answers in the lab for the quiz at the end of class. I got a picture in there, too! The room had a great model of a blue marlin. That was my favorite part. After we completed fish lab, we went to visit the sharks. There was a horn shark that was very rough, two bat rays that were soft, and a shovel-nosed guitar ray. We learned about sharks and how they were classified, as invertebrates and how they didn’t have any bones, only cartilage. After we had gone to all those labs, we went to a part of the campus where there was a place to play Sea Jeopardy. Group Two was the first group to get there. Then Group Three came, followed closely by Group One. We found our team names as well. We were the Piranhas. Group Three’s was the Royal Boneheads, and Group One’s name was the Air Bladders. We all started to play the game. We had questions about algae, sharks, fish, and body parts of fish. My group wouldn’t have won if wasn't for the Final Jeopardy. Group One won because they got the Final Jeopardy right. We then had free time and spent it by playing a game of football. After football, we went to a great dinner, and then to bed, well some of us did. Most of us just stayed up the whole night, going to friends' dorms to play cards, and other mischievous stuff. I stayed in bed and watched them play. I was good, mostly!Cool Blue Marlin

When we got up in the morning, we had one of the best things in the world to look forward to, snorkeling! After we had breakfast, which consisted of pancakes and eggs, we hurried to our dorms to get ready to go snorkeling! When we got to the dive deck, we got our three piece wetsuit on (with some difficulty) and then found our flippers and masks. We walked (ran) to the beach and did some warming-up exercises and then got in the water. The water was freezing! I dealt with it though because I knew I was going to see some awesome fish. We went into the water and saw lots of things, swam through a kelp forest (or at least I did. I don't think I was supposed to though), and we saw lots of fish and creatures. An example would be the California state fish, the Garibaldi. We saw lots of other fish that I don't know the names of as well. We also saw many rays. When we got back, it was a relief because I wasn't able to breathe. No one else was either. We were tired, stiff, and exhausted. We went back to the dorm and had some more free time spent by playing basketball. That night we heard a story and took turns going through a series of tunnels used by spies who trained during World War II. It was pitch black and officially made me claustrophobic. That night was pretty much the same as the previous night. No one went to sleep until 1:30.

The next morning we went snorkeling again but went to the opposite bay as yesterday. When we walked up to the beach and had our warm-up time, Mary was tightening some flippers and I walked out to beach. All the sudden, about five feet in front of me, I see this big gray thing come out of the water. I was scared! I thought it might be a dolphin, but then I remembered it didn't have a fin on its back. Then, I saw it again! About fifteen feet to my left, and this time, my friends and Mary saw it too. It poked its head out of the water and it had a small head and whiskers. It was a Harbor Seal. We got to snorkel right next to it and some of us petted it. It was so cool! The only bad thing was when we had to get out of the water. I couldn't move my hands because they were so cold. They were numb!

Dock

Later, after we snorkeled and got our wetsuits off, we went back to our dorms to pack. We had to leave shortly after and get to the boat. We had to wait for the other schools to get off first and then it was off to our homes. When we finally got on the boat, a lot of us were very sleepy… I wonder why? A lot of people got sick (don't worry, I didn't take any pictures of that) because the boat was really moving up and down. The ride was quick and the bus was there to take us away. I was sad that the adventure was over and school was fast approaching. The bus ride home was lots of fun though. My friends, Y and J were singing to us. Overall, Catalina was a great experience and I'm glad I got to enjoy it. I can’t wait to go back and see the fish, the kelp, the rays, the seals, the pals, and the fun.

Sleepy Campers

James, Dodger Dog 3