Malibu morning picture of the day - Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Greetings Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

Blue on Blue again today!

The Santa Ana winds are blowing, keeping everything clear and dry (and on Red Alert Fire Watch!).

So clear! If we take a close look to the south, we can not only see the faint outline of Saddleback Mountain in Orange County, but we can also make out the outline of the hills down that way trailing off to the left very faintly (3 layers of hills over on the left).

Last night I tried to take another picture of Santa Barbara Island since it was very clear against the sunset horizon. It's a little better than yesterday morning.

Yesterday, I mentioned San Nicolas Island which is farther beyond Santa Barbara. If you went to public school in California, you probably had to read Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'dell, which is all about a girl who lived alone on that island until she was retrieved in later life, taken to the city of Santa Barbara, and then, of course the usual ending to a story of a Native American who is introduced to society, she takes ill within seven weeks of foreign contact and dies. I am SO weary of the triumph of disease story--it makes me so sad.

But it is what it is--some Native Americans survived, the REALLY tough ones. We're glad they're around. OK, maybe not all of us, but I am.

I guess we should also remember to take stock of the millions of Europeans and Asians who died over thousands of years as germs culled out that part of the human race for the fittest and most resistant. The Native Americans just had to go through the same process but on the fast track.


Here's a picture of San Nicolas Island from the website for One Percent for the Planet. A colleague here who is a former journalist for Ventura County media, and who has been to some of the Channel Islands, says it's a many-hours-long boat ride to get out there. I notice they do have a airstrip now.










And here's a map from Eco Dive Center that shows relative locations of these islands.  These islands are ALL probably great skin diving destinations.








OK, enough of Southern Cal island geography for a while. Have a great rest of the day.

Love,
Pops