Editor Pick
Harbor Cruise
The harbor cruises are a great, inexpensive way to spend an hour and see the harbor, and learn about Long Beach. Harbor Breeze offers the option of harbor and sea life cruises for very reasonable prices. My cruise was only $10 for 45 minutes (for kids under 5 it's free). They are located in Rainbow Harbor near the Aquarium of the Pacific. They have a small booth and announce up coming cruises every few minutes over their PA system. The boat they use is two floors with the top floor being open seating which fills up the fastest. I sat on the wrong side of the boat. I took a seat on the left hand side when all of the good sites were on the right, but my consolation prize was that I got great photos of sea lions.
The tour guide goes into the history of Long Beach; how it started off as a major port of call for sailors and served as a Naval base. Remnants of this still exists across from Rainbow Harbor, where the Queen Mary is docked and thousands of containers wait to be unloaded. When the cruise boat gets out to the Queen's Gate, a gate built from a pyramid of rocks, I could see several ships full of containers waiting to enter the harbor. I don't know what it is, but I love the site of this. I'm not sure if it is do to the time that I lived on a ship and basically lived in these types of ports or if it seeing a ship and my mind racing to image where they are from and what fascinating thing they could be carrying.
At one point, this is where my consolation prize comes in, the boat slowed down and we came up to a Bouies with four sea lions lazily sleeping on it. We were so close that if I was on the bottom level I could have reached out and touched them.
When the boat turned to Circle back we sailed past two large ships that I found out were carrying oil. However more interesting, there was a sea lion sleeping on the rutter that was above; consolation prize number two.
Finally we went past a few islands that were built to house oil rigs. These islands were built by the five major oil companies of the time and designed by the Disney company. The oil companies were given the condition by the city that if they were to be so close to the shore that they had to be pretty. So, in came Disney. They brought in large boulders from Catalina Island to surround the island and planted large trees along the perimeter to hid the buildings. Large casings were even built to cover up the oil rigs on the two islands closest to the shore.
On the way back into the harbor constellation prize round three was waiting for me; pelicans. Pelicans were swimming in the harbor waiting for me.
The harbor cruise was so much fun, but I regret one time: forgetting my sun block. I had a very nice sun burn with two large rings around my eyes where my oversized sunglasses sat.
From journal Sea Lions, and Dolphins, and Whales, Oh My
Editor Pick
Whale Watching
I walked along the pier looking for a whale watching tour. Most that I came across were harbor cruises. Near the Aquarium of the Pacific I found Harbor Breeze. First the basics. During the months of June though September Blue Whale's migrate off the coast of Southern California; 2007 was their longest season with the whales staying until December. The Blue Whale is the largest animal in the world and only 14,000 are known to exist. How do I know this? Well, unlike the other cruises, Harbor Breeze sets sail with a specialist from the Aquarium of the Pacific. The cruise costs $45 for the whale watching that last 3- 31/2 hours. They offer other tours such as the harbor cruise ($10), a dolphin and sea life cruise ($30), and private charters. The boat has two floors with lots of seating, but not enough for everyone. I found myself standing the whole way out to sea. Snacks and sodas are served on board for $2.00, and binoculars are rented for $5.
On the first part of the tour I was pretty sure that the cruise was hopeless, and was ready to cut my losses. The 1 1/2 hours out were great. The first 1/2 hour we went out we were cruising through the harbor which was wonderful for pictures. There was even a sea lion and a pelican sitting on a pipe. Things started to pick up when we got to the offshore oil rigs; this is where we saw our first blow. The lady from the Aquarium of the Pacific quickly identified it as a Blue Whale due to the pink stuff, she identified as Blue Whale poop floating in the water. We followed the whale for about an hour. She would surface, play around, and dive. Usually they would stay down about 8-12 minutes, so there was a lot of down time, but when she surfaced she really put on a show. Twice before we left she lifted her tail out of the water. I found the best place to watch was on the railing between the stairs. There is an open view in front and no one on either side of you due to the fact that they clear off the stairs. Only two people can fit here, but most of the passengers are to busy trying to run from side to side and to the front that they never stay in that spot.
The ride back was even better we came upon a boat being chased by dolphins, who ended up chasing us. Again the best place to be here is in the back of the boat because the dolphins like to play in the wake. At one point there were about 50 chasing us. I found that it was best to set my camera on multiple photos because I had to take the pictures so fast just to try and capture them on film. The fun didn't end with the dolphins there were a couple of sea lions jumping along side of the ship as well.
Overall this was a great cruise. Many families with small children were on the boat and for the most part the youngsters stayed entertained.
From journal Sea Lions, and Dolphins, and Whales, Oh My