After 11 Days at Bay, Sailors Welcome Harbor Reopening

Less than 10 minutes after a gray Harbor Patrol boat pulled away the orange boom sheltering Newport Harbor, Colin McDonald and Brad Downey were at sea on their way to New Zealand.

For more than a year, the Newport Harbor-based duo had planned a Feb. 17 departure aboard their 45-foot sailboat, Nipigon. But after the bon voyage party Saturday, the four-man crew was stranded in the harbor.

“Our problem is just getting out the door,” McDonald said as he watched Harbor Patrol boats circle in preparation for the 2:05 p.m. opening of the harbor.

The county’s busiest harbor had been closed since Feb. 8, when crude oil from a tanker spill the day before off Huntington Beach drifted down the coast. But after nearly two weeks of restricting boaters to the bay, and with the cleanup winding down, officials gave the go-ahead Monday to reopen the harbor.

A red Harbor Patrol boat escorted the first vessel, a four-deck cruiser, to sea. About a dozen boats that had been waiting in the wings followed the cruiser closely, as workers hauled the boom onto rocks that line the channel.

“They did a quick efficient job of cleaning it up,” said Eddie DiRuscio, manager of Davey’s Locker Sportfishing in Balboa. “I am just tickled pink that they’ve opened the harbor.”

Between 300 and 500 people usually head to sea each day to parasail, fish and watch whales on Davey’s Locker boats, but with the harbor closed, all trips were canceled. Missing two three-day weekends hurt the business financially, but DiRuscio said that he was glad officials took precautions to protect the harbor.

Business will resume today at Davey’s Locker and at Catalina Passenger Service, whose catamaran cruises carry up to 500 passengers at a time on whale-watching excursions or trips to Catalina.

As sailboats and cabin cruisers headed up the coast, residents and tourists were allowed on the beach between the Wedge at the end of the peninsula and 15th Street.

On the sunny holiday afternoon, hundreds of people strolled on the shore, made sandcastles or just sat. A few of the more adventurous braved the chilly water.

Chris Berney, a Newport Harbor High School senior who lives in a beachfront house, said he is happy the beach is open but does not plan to go into the water for a while, even to skim-board.

“I just don’t think it’s a wise idea until they make sure it’s safe,” Berney said.