Ocean Institute Seeks Financial Support, Says Farewell To Pilgrim

DANA POINT, CA — The Ocean Institute of Dana Point, has been hit hard this spring, first, by the school closures and cancellations affecting revenue, and then with the sinking of their tall ship, the Pilgrim.

The "floating educational platform" showed hundreds of thousands of students what it was like to sail the high seas in the 1830s. At 75 years old, the ship, at last, fell victim to the tides in late March.

Though they did their best to keep their beloved replica vessel above the waves, fixing the ship was no longer in the cards, they announced Monday.

It was time to consider keeping the rest of the institute afloat, according to Maritime Director Dan Goldbacher.

A non-profit community organization, the Ocean Institute has served hundreds of thousands of area students over the past 40 years is in desperate need of financial support due to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting shutdown.

Due to social distancing limiting gatherings, the institute canceled their largest fundraiser of the year, the Ocean Institute Festival, which "fuels the tank" for events throughout the year, according to Ocean Institute President Wendy Marshall. Speaking over Facebook, she described the institute's dire situation.

"Our highest revenue season has been absolutely obliterated by the coronavirus," she said. "This may be a few months, but the loss is enough to put us in a place that we cannot get out of," she said.

The Pilgrim has become an outward symbol of the struggles going on inside of the Ocean Institute, itself. Though funds were raised to attempt to save the ship, those will now be diverted toward salvaging and removing the beloved floating classroom.

Though the landscape of the harbor will echo the absence of the Pilgrim, better days are sure to come. Hope is the life-raft the institute is clinging to, these days, according to Marshall.

The storm will pass, and we want to be here when it does, she said. "We can't do that without support."

Give to the Ocean Institute, a 501(c)3 organization.