Shamu Sightings!!!

Yeah I saw my 1st wild orcas today!!! I was working on my coral/pipefish tank talking to the curator when a radio call came out that there were humpback whales just off the kelp beds behind work.  We both looked at each other and kinda blew it off as I said "I'm not moving for humpbacks...I'd run out for orcas, not humpbacks." About 2 minutes later "Orcas off the Splash Zone deck!"  This was repeated a couple of times as people were frantically running outside asking each other if we all heard what we thought we heard.  

A few of us came out of the far side of the building where the seahorse and jellyfish galleries are but the whales were too far off and heading towards Lover's Point away from the aquarium.  I ran over to the other overlook deck on the nearshore side of the building but they were still too far and behind the rocks.  Someone said they were headed towards Hopkins' beach.  Patrick from Guest Experience handed me his binoculars and said, "They're guest experience's binocs, just bring them back later.  Go find them!"  So off I went!!!

As my friend Andrea puts it, "One second you're standing next to me, the next you're running like a bat outta hell!" I took off out of work and onto the bike path and about 1/4 mile later (this was also the first time I have run in 2012) stopped to check them out with the binocs.  The first thing I will never forget seeing was the GIANT dorsal fin of the large male followed by some smaller whales afterwards.  There were a few of us from work watching as the whales were fluke slapping and eventually breaching.  Just as we thought they were going to be too far off for us to see anymore they all started breaching at the same time!!!  3 at a time, 2 at a time, it was phenomenal!!! This was one of my goals for 2012, one I was just talking about last week with someone from work and it was fulfilled today.  It was truly something I will never, ever forget; one of the greatest days EVER!

Next goal: Blue Whales

I love Cali...LIG!

These pics were taken by someone else.

Relay for Life Overview

Last weekend we finally had our Relay for Life.  It was a huge success and everyone that participated was happy with how it was run.  Things were completely different than the previous year and it was fun all around.  We had a DJ, live bands, a Miss Relay contest (I got 2nd), food, good people, and an amazing hip-hop dance crew from Hollister (JJs Studio).  The guest speakers had very moving stories and the ceremonies went very well.  We have raised around $60,000 but our overall goal is $80k.  I'm not sure if that is realistic or not but we're pushing for it.  Even with the event having come and gone my work is never done!  I'm now working on planning the team captain wrap-up party along with figuring out what we need to do differently for next year.

In case you didn't get a chance to donate but would still like to it's not too late yet!!  We can fund raise up until August 31st so if you or any of your friends/family are interested then stop by the website and make a donation.

Website: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/cjtpayne

I cannot thank everyone for helping me reach my goal of $1000!  I'm completely blown away by everyone's support for such a great cause.  And save up because I'll be asking for more in 2013!!!

New Ideas

So obviously I haven't exactly been keeping up with my blogging these days.  I guess I've just kinda been bored; just work and Relay for Life stuff recently and it's all been draining the life out of me.  I just renamed my blog from New Discoveries to Living the California Lifestyle.  I'm hoping that 2012 will lead me to exploring more of this amazing state I currently reside in whereas 2011 was me discovering more of myself and less of my environment.

I have a few goals for myself this year and one of them involves getting up on a surfboard.  I'd like to try it out once I've got some strength back in my ankle/legs.  It's been almost a month since I got my boot off and the foot is feeling a lot better.  It's definitely not perfect but it is getting stronger.

My first 2012 Cali expedition came today when I got to go diving at Point Lobos.  I've written about Point Lobos before and it is one of my favorite places around.  A friend from town made reservations for us a month ago, it's a state reserve so they limit the amount of divers, and this morning we got in the 48 degree water.  We entered in and headed towards the point on the south eastern wall.  The kelp forests were abundant with life from the rockfishes and anemones to the seastars and brilliantly colored nudibranchs.  The visibility was almost 30 feet and it was an incredible experience.  I kept thinking about how grateful I was to be able to be there, it was exactly how I'd pictured it.  We finished our first dive after being under for 45 minutes and it took us a good 90 minutes after that to convince ourselves to go back in the water!!!  We were both freezing but we sucked it up and got back in for 35 minutes.  The second dive I was helping Toni learn how to navigate and we headed more southwest.  She did pretty well and got us close to our entry point but that was enough diving for one day!!!

California is a phenomenal place to live and in 2012 I plan on taking full advantage of my surroundings.  With my running being limited I think I'll focus more on other activities and try to broaden my experiences a bit.  I'm a very happy camper...

LIG