THE HARBOR COLUMN:

Ahoy.

Wow, is the water hot and I mean hot, as in temperature hot? It is so hot that fish are swimming from Hawaii to bask in our water temperatures. Now, that is great news.

Also, the seas are great this weekend for boating from Southern California all the way up to the Gulf of Alaska. Just watch out for patchy fog and a wind chop in the afternoon that will be good for hoisting your sails.

Well, the warm water brings good news for fishing, with marlin, dorado and yellowtail swimming off our coast. I spoke with Capt. Mitch Keeler, who is a professional delivery captain, and he had a pod of blue whales swimming around his boat off the Mexican coast, just below San Diego.

Unfortunately, the warm waters pose a downside, as seen at Little Corona. The sea urchins along our coast are not accustomed to a warm ocean for this extended period of time. The urchins are dying by the hundred.

However, do not fret. I’ve seen this before on our coast and the critters will rebound when the water cools. It might take a bit but the biggest problem that I see at Little Corona is the run-off from Buck Gulley. As a kid we never touched that water and we would jump over the gross run-off.

I digress, but I do have a solution with what to do with the Pride of Newport faux riverboat when David Muller relocates the Newport Nautical Museum to the Balboa Fun Zone. We tow the barge out off our coast into about 125 feet of water depth. Then, we perform a well-deserved ceremony and scuttle the ship to the sea floor.

The Pride of Newport’s second life would be welcomed by scuba divers, but welcomed more importantly by the sea critters. The structure would create a great habitat on a barren section of sea floor. This technique is common practice off Florida and recently off San Diego County.

Tip of the weekAttention all yacht clubs: Newport Sea Base, flotillas and marine-related groups have until Nov. 1 to apply for a BoatU.S. Foundation Boating Safety Grant.

The BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety & Clean Water has nearly $50,000 this year for providing worthy projects up to $4,000 in grant funding.

The purpose of these grants is to make our waterways safer for recreational boaters. Local community organizations and non-profits are encouraged to submit their ideas for next year’s Boating Safety Grant program.

“If you ever had a good idea that you believed would make recreational boating safer, this is your chance to act,” said Chris Edmonston, director of the foundation’s Boating Safety Programs.

I am positive that organizations throughout Newport Harbor must have some great ideas to help promote boater safety. So, here is your chance to submit your ideas to potentially receive the funding to turn ideas into reality.

Whether it is producing safety literature to signage, you can have a positive effect on boating, and maybe the environment, too.

The grants will be awarded in late January, and the primarily funding is from the voluntary contributions of BoatU.S.’s 665,000 members.

Also, the foundation hosts many other programs, including the free child’s lifejacket loaner program at the Harbor Patrol Office, EPRIB rental program and an accredited free online boating safety course.

You can download a grant application at www.BoatUS.com/foundation, or call (703) 461-2878, ext. 8353. The BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit education and research organization, if you want to make a tax-deductible donation to help keep programs like these afloat.

Safe Voyages.