David scrambles on the rocks at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
This morning was a slightly shorter trip to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. By the way, did I mention Chris is our fabulous driver with help from navigators David and Rodney. They make a fabulous team. We have not been lost once and that infamous Southern California traffic has been unusually kind to us as we move about the area. We started the morning with a gallery walk around the aquarium identifying marine organisms…just like students would do when they come here. We were honored to have two great presentations, the first of which was on research using Ships of Opportunity Program (SOOP)by Carie Wolfe and the second on real-time water quality testing of the Port of LA by Adam from the Southern California Marine Institute. Both presentations were incredibly informative, giving some real-time data information that could be used by students for in-class instruction. We also went out to the harbor alongside the aquarium for our own water quality data collection, as well as participating in an ocean currents activity using some cool convection fluid. Gotta get some of that stuff for our classrooms! At the end of the afternoon we found ourselves wanting to check out more of the California shoreline, so we cruised along the coast until we found a likely spot to park the car. We ended up walking along the edge of Trump (as in Donald) National Golf Course. The golf course hosts public access trails to the beach below the golf course as part of its commitment to being environmentally friendly. The trails skirt the bluff and took us to the very rocky shore full of more tide pools. The beauty of the beach was somewhat offset by the trash along the shoreline. Darn humans, anyway! We were hoping to see dolphins or whales moving about in the nearby waters, but all we could locate was Catalina Island in the distant fog. We ended the day with another great meal at a local sushi/Peruvian restaurant recommended by one of the teachers in our CA group.
