Migration of Gray Whale Celebrated

With the annual migration of the gray whale in full swing, scores of Ventura County residents showed up at the Channel Islands Harbor on Saturday for the kickoff of the harbor’s six-week celebration marking their watery passing.

Despite gusty winds and overcast skies, event organizers called the inaugural Celebration of the Whales, which coincided with the sixth anniversary of the Maritime Museum, a success.

Throughout the day, people wandered about the gray cobblestone courtyard to listen to 100-year-old sea ditties, tour the Ventura County Maritime Museum, look inside Coast Guard and Navy vessels or just enjoy a steaming bowl of chowder on the banks of the harbor.

“We had no idea this was going on, but it’s a nice surprise,” said David Halloran of Ventura, who was there with his family. “I think we’re going to go out on a whale-watching tour, because none of us have ever done that.”

Some children enrolled in the Pirate Academy and learned to sword fight from a pair of costumed swashbucklers.

The two--Terri Baker and a cohort who would identify himself only as Capt. Mike--were clad in gaudy outfits complete with bronze-handled scabbards, burgundy velvet tricorns topped with downy ostrich plumes, gold hoop earrings and even a gem-studded silver goblet dangling from Capt. Mike’s black leather belt.

“I liked them the most,” said 7-year-old Morgan Walker. “They look real.”

Kids could also flex their creative muscles by pasting together fish from colored scraps of paper in an activity sponsored by Oxnard’s Carnegie Art Museum.

Nearby, visitors stopped to listen as Geof Agisim plucked the greatest hits of the seafaring era on his banjo.

“All these songs were played by sailors while they worked,” he told a group after playing “Bonnie Ship the Diamond.”

“They even sang risque songs that poked fun at the captain or the officers because they weren’t allowed to complain, but they could sing whatever they wanted.”

With a bushy gray beard, sailor’s cap, striped shirt and bandanna, Agisim looked as if he had just stepped off the deck of a tall ship.

Scores toured the Ventura County Maritime Museum to learn more about the area’s marine history and the ships that plowed the waters off the Ventura coast.

Mark Bacin, the museum’s director, said the facility usually attracts about 150 visitors on a weekend day, but twice that number showed up Saturday. “By all measures, it was a successful event,” he said. “I hope we see more tomorrow.”

The museum also featured ornately detailed scale replicas of some of history’s greatest ships, built by members of the museum’s modelers guild.

“We like to show off our stuff,” said Jim Berger, guild president and a modeler for the last 37 years. “I don’t know if we teach [museum visitors] anything, but it definitely piques their interest in ships.”

The six-week event, organized by the Maritime Museum, the county’s harbor department and the Fisherman’s Wharf Merchants Assn., will run every weekend through March 23.

In coming weeks, the celebration will include jaunts out to sea to watch gray whales on their lazy migration, educational seminars about various cetacean species, a chowder cook-off, a 10K run and a visit from the tall ship Californian. Call 985-4852 for more information on those events.

While the festival includes a variety of activities and exhibits highlighting the area’s history and culture, Bacin said it is still all about the whales.

“We’re trying to focus on the migration of the whale, and we hope people will better appreciate that natural resource and celebrate their return from the brink of extinction.”