28 July 2009 Another fun filled day ends!

The beach at Moss Landing was pretty well hemmed in by fog Sunday morning. Apparently, it's like that quite often. We again loaded all the dive gear up from MLML's (Moss Landing Marine Lab) storage area and headed to an area that was once the site of the original Moss Landing Marines labs. Not much remains-a couple of small buildings, a slab where there once was a building and the skull of a whale. After the divers returned, I learned why.

Dustin and I pulled dive tending duty today which went much more smoothly for both Kamille and me. (Yup...she got "stuck" with me again!) It was interesting to watch the seal's reactions as the divers entered the water. You'd see them swimming along, and then all of a sudden, one would stop and crane his little head as far out of the water as he could to see who was coming to join him and his friends. Stacy later told me that when divers are working on the ocean floor, the seals will often come up to them and playfully tug on their swim fins!

Smile These ladies were the first team in the water Francois and Kamille do some last minute checks before heading in Dustin is nearby to offer help if Marco and Bob need it

While the divers were out, Dustin and I had a bit of time for a little one-on-one conversation on this seemingly deserted stretch of beach. I couldn't understand why this beach was so devoid of people, as it was a magnificent place! Dustin explained that while this was a nice beach, there were far better ones in the area. Take that same beach and put it on the northeast coast, and it would no doubt be a top beach.

As you can see, we had the place to ourselves

I discovered that Dustin, too, is a fellow musician and plays guitar and mandolin. He is currently testing the water as a luthier and is making a mandolin. As we continued to pass the time by getting to know one another better, we began to see divers popping up and heading to shore.

Marco and Bob come in for a "landing" up the beach

After everyone was onshore and up off the beach, I found out why this location was no longer the home of MLML. This particular area was hard hit by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake--a 7.1 on the Reichter Scale. I've always referred to this quake as the "World Series earthquake". (How many of you remember tuning in to the World Series only to find it go off air during the pre-game run down?) The epicenter of that quake wasn't far from where we were. For some reason, I thought the epicenter was up near San Francisco. Maybe that's because most of what we saw back on the east coast revolved around the damage to the San Fran area. Below is what is left of the pier.

or what is left of it...this pier was ultimately torn down as it sustained major damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

I think what amazed me most was that everyone seems to accept the fact that they live in an earthquake prone area but don't seem particularly worried--at least on the surface-about the fact that California is due for a big one given the recent reports from scientists this summer that state an increase in pressure along fault lines. That's what we heard on the news back East anyways.

After another full day, it was time for me to pack up and catch the bus back to San Jose, as I had an early Monday morning flight. After thanking Stacy for EVERYTHING, I turned to get on the bus and said, "I'll see you in Antarctica!" Once I sat down, the oddness and enormity of that statement hit me. "I'll see you in Antarctica."

Surprised

I pondered that final statement over and over and over. I guess not many people say good-bye like that, do they?

Traffic was horrible, and as a result, a couple of us missed the train by three lousy minutes. As an athlete and coach, I've often been faced with this question. "Would you rather lose by a little or a lot?" Well, another woman and decided that we would've rather have missed the bus by a lot because missing it by a few short minutes kind of rubbed salt in the wound. I was tired and wanting to get settled in to my hotel, so I did something I've never done. I took a taxi to the hotel. For me, it was well worth it to get there 1.5 hours earlier than if I'd waited for the next train.

After finally getting to my room, I discovered a couple of interesting things.

Look what I found in my hotel room!

How nice! Fiji bottled water! But, look closely at the next picture.

Is it worth it?

What message do you take away from this?

And another surprise....well, had I not experienced something like this the day before, I would've had to think a bit to explain it. Trivia--what is it and why is it useful?

I'd never seen anything like this? What is it, and what does it do?