California Coast & Ocean

Tall Ship Replica Will Sail and Teach History
The historic sailing ship San Salvador, flagship of Juan Cabrillo’s 1542 voyage of exploration from Mexico to California, will sail again--or rather, a historically accurate replica of it will. In its reincarnation, the ship will take California schoolchildren aboard to learn firsthand about the state’s early maritime history. The San Salvador was the first European ship to explore and survey the California coastline. The replica, which will be built by the Maritime Museum Association of San Diego with the help of a $2 million grant from the Conservancy toward the estimated $5 million project cost, will serve as a floating classroom, particularly for fourth- and fifth-graders, who study the early voyages as part of their curriculum, and as a cultural attraction for San Diego’s revitalized port and waterfront. The Association will reimburse $750,000 to the Conservancy, with interest, within two years after the ship’s construction.

The ship will be capable of sailing thousands of miles, but will also be equipped with an auxiliary engine and modern facilities, and will be certified by the U.S. Coast Guard to carry passengers. Blueprints have already been completed, and the association hopes to start construction in spring 2008 and finish in early 2010. When it is completed, the 200-ton vessel will reenact a portion of Cabrillo’s 1542 voyage, stopping at maritime museums and public waterfronts along the California coast before returning to its permanent home at the Maritime Museum on San Diego’s northern waterfront.

The museum offers more than 300 daytime and overnight educational programs annually, with more than 15,000 students participating. It also conducts “tall ship” festivals in which fleets of reconstructed and replica vessels sail to various California ports, where the public can board and explore them. The San Salvador will add to the museum’s collection of 10 historic ships, which is already one of the most important in the nation and includes the 1863-vintage Star of India, the world’s oldest active vessel.

Laguna Coast Wilderness Expanded
The City of Laguna Beach has bought the last two pieces of land needed to complete a protected greenbelt along the south ridgeline above Laguna Canyon Road in Orange County’s Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. With $2,458,000 approved by the Conservancy, the City has purchased the 58.4-acre Chao property ($1.5 million) and the 50.37-acre Stonefield property ($950,000). Conservancy funding included $8,000 for closing costs.

Together, the two acquisitions, completed in July and November, will enhance the public trail network within the park, as well as connections to the broader regional trail network along the coastline from Newport Beach to Dana Point. Hikers and bicyclists on the Canyon Acres Trail, which runs through the center of the Chao property, will have expansive views of the coast and wilderness. This property also contains a complex of large granite caves.

The purchased properties will become part of the South Coast Wilderness, a 20,000-acre string of parks and reserves that includes Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, Crystal Cove State Park, Irvine Ranch Land Reserve, City of Irvine Open Space, and City of Laguna Beach Open Space, as well as the 6,500-acre Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

Local citizens have been working for 40 years to create a greenbelt of parks in this region, much of which was once the Irvine Ranch. The scenic landscape was a favorite subject of California Impressionists in the early 1900s and has continued to attract plein-air painters.