About 350 people visited the Western Flyer, the most famous fishing boat in the world, at Santa Barbara Harbor on Wednesday, on one of its stops on the way to the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, between Baja California and mainland Mexico.
The Flyer is re-creating the groundbreaking six-week expedition that John Steinbeck, the Nobel Prize–winning author from California, and his friend Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist, made on the Flyer in 1940, effectively pioneering the field of marine ecology. Their book, The Log from the Sea of Cortez, is an American classic.
The Flyer, once a state-of-the-art sardine seiner, fell into disrepair and sank twice in this century, but it was meticulously restored and returned to Monterey Bay, its home port, in 2024. It is now a floating platform for education and research on ocean conservation.
The Flyer will remain at the harbor today, but visitors will not be allowed on board. It leaves on Friday for Long Beach and will make stops in Newport Beach, San Diego, Ensenada, and other ports along the route of the 1940 expedition before returning to Monterey in May.
At 7 p.m. tonight, March 20, at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, Tom Keffer, chair of the board of the Western Flyer Foundation, will present “The Story of the Western Flyer,” delving into the history, restoration, and future plans for the legendary vessel. Gail Steinbeck, who was the wife of the late Thomas Steinbeck, John’s son, will be a special guest at the event.
The museum is located at 113 Harbor Way. Admission for the general public is $20.
