When I talk with people about travels, I sometimes feel downright uncultured. I’m not complaining and I’m not bragging, just sharing my thoughts and feelings.
We all enjoy talking together about places we have traveled, especially when we’ve visited the same general area and have a chance to compare notes.
Here is where I run into trouble: People naturally ask me if I visited this theater, that museum, dined at such-and-such renowned restaurant, went on a wine tour to the vineyard country, walked through a famous building or saw some ancient ruins.
Nope, I missed those things. Sorry.
“Well, what did you do there?” That’s the question I’m often asked, and I see puzzled looks when I answer the question.
What I did is get out of town, go into the hills, hike to a secluded off-trail spot to sit and experience nature — the local flora and fauna.
I like to think about what the land was like for eons before people came and put our marks on the land. I like to think about the critters and how they lived, fought, ate each other, or cohabitated and raised families.
Were I coming to visit the Santa Barbara area for the first time, I might want to do things like go sit very still and quiet for hours at this time of year in the Ellwood area eucalyptus groves and watch monarch butterflies paint the scene with their colors and silent flight.
I’d want to hike animal trails through the chaparral, climb on rocky outcroppings above the trails and watch the critters, study the plants, and think about how the critter community goes about its business with all those humans not very far away.
When we have marine layer days, I like to go sit at places like Lizard Head and look across the carpet of clouds below to see the Channel Islands break through and look as though I can walk across the marine layer to them.
When the winds howl I like to sit quietly on the mountain and listen to the rustling bushes and trees. When it rains it is magical to sit on a rocky outcrop and watch a stream rise to fill its banks.
I like to spend these quiet times thinking about what I can do on a very personal level to help the critters and the plants.
I look at the nearshore ocean waters and I dream of putting in reefs to restore kelp beds and create ideal habitat for fish, crustaceans and others. I think about putting in water guzzlers for critters that suffer from drought.
I’m a conservationist, not a preservationist. I want healthy, sustainable populations of critters. I want people to be able to fish and hunt for fresh, healthy family meals in perpetuity, which means we must take conservation values seriously. That is what I believe.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
