Outdoors Page Updated: Saturday, April 16, 2005 9:37 AM PDT
Hoping to catch sight of gray whales near Coos Bay,
from left, crew member Gary Davis, South Slouth
Manager Mike Graybill and Shoreline Education for
Awareness volunteer David Bone peer out to sea
during a trip last weekend aboard a locally-owned
charter boat, the Miss Linda.
About five miles out to sea, Mike Graybill was
discussing the finer points of whale watching, when he
suddenly stopped in mid-sentence.
"I see a blow!" Graybill shouted, while wildly pointing
off to starboard.
Nine heads whipped around, their owners dashing
to the front of the boat. Binoculars were snatched to
nine pairs of eyes and eagerly trained on a faraway
speck of water.
Sure enough, a puff of surf exploded about 200
yards off the starboard bow. A barnacle-covered form
slowly broke the surface, its back lazily breaking from
the frothy steel-colored sea.
Several seconds passed. The beast slowly arched
its back as it swam north, beginning a plunge back
into the deep. Its flukes - the animal's broad tail -
flipped upright in salute.
It was an impressive sight, especially for several
passengers along for more than a pleasure cruise.
The unique voyage, conducted last weekend aboard
the Charleston-based Miss Linda, was actually a
seminar for naturalist interpreters, known as docents,
from Shoreline Education for Awareness, a Bandon
nonprofit.
Graybill, manager of the South Slough National
Estuarine Research Reserve and avid birdwatcher,
was onboard training the docents for pelagic, or
seagoing, duty. Usually, the docents, who are
nonpaid volunteers, take up posts at tourist
destinations like Shore Acres, Cape Arago or Coquille
Point.
But thanks to new partnerships with charter boat
operators, like Bob and Shirley Pedro, owners of the
Miss Linda, the docents will accompany local tours as
an educational resource for ecotourists.
"A lot of things you'll see, people haven't seen
before because you have to be on the ocean to see
them," Graybill told the interpreters while the Miss
Linda chugged seabound.
Sure enough, one of the volunteers spotted a rare
bird - a pair of marbled murrelets bobbing inside the
bay. About 15 minutes later, the volunteers glimpsed
two more. "Jeepers, there's murrelets everywhere!"
exclaimed Graybill.
That kind of enthusiasm is what Joan Russell was
hoping the docents might learn. Russell co-founded
SEA in 1990 with her husband, Bill, to provide onsite
volunteer education for South Coast wildlife watching.
The couple hadn't thought of training pelagic
docents until they met Bob Pedro, who attened a SEA
seminar in January. Pedro, a member of the Coast
Guard Auxiliary, had just converted the Miss Linda
from a commercial fishing vessel to a charter boat
catered toward tourists and wildlife viewers.
So Pedro approached Bill Russell after the January
seminar and asked him about bringing trained
naturalists on board.
and asked if we wouldn't mind having their docents
onboard," remembered Pedro. "I didn't say it like
this, but I was like, 'Uh, yeah!' Having
professionally-trained naturalists onboard would be
an asset for my business."
For Russell, it seemed like a perfect fit."(Pedro) is
busy driving the boat and he doesn't have time to go
out and help people understand," said Russell, who
didn't accompany last weekend's voyage. "There's a
lot to see.
"The joint venture, between a former commercial
fisherman and nonprofit naturalists, represents a
new twist for marine-based business. Pedro
estimates fishing quotas are 5 to 10 percent of what
they were 13 years ago, when he bought the Miss
Linda.
"As times are changing, I believe there are
opportunites for fishermen that want to get out of the
fishing business, or are forced out of the business,"
said Pedro, who sold his commercial fishing licenses
last year.
And the docents were happy to oblige. The
voyage proved educational for docents Bea and
David Bone, who live in Medford but volunteer for
SEA about twice a month.
The Bones had done whalewatching trips before,
but having Graybill along gave them a fresh
perspective - especially when it came to identifying
local birds.
"They weren't sitting still, like the birds on land,"
said Bea Bone, also an Oregon Parks whale
watching volunteer. "Now, you have to watch
behavior, the altitude and the shape, not just the
color. Sometimes, that's hard to see in this light.
"But the docents did see plenty of birds last
weekend. Back at port, Graybill again rounded up
the volunteers and asked what birds they saw
aboard the Miss Linda.
Just at that moment, Graybill again abruptly
stopped mid-sentence, this time pointing at the sky.
"Look, a bald eagle!" he called out, as the majestic
bird soared above Charleston's marina.
It was a fitting end for a voyage taking aim at new
sights - and new heights.