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The Story Behind the Story of the Replica of the Pacific Grove Glass Bottom Swan Boats... There was a conversation recently on the Pagrovia Facebook Page about the mystery of the Glass Bottom Swan Boats seen every summer in Lovers Point Cove from the 1890’s until the 1970’s. “Where did they go and why have they not returned?” was the topic of the posted dialog. Well here is my part of that story as it relates to the second generation of the Swan Boats that were built in the 1940’s. The original 1890 Swan Boats story will have to be told by someone else. The two remaining glass bottom boats that ended up in the Moss Landing Boat Works were the rescue project of Sabu and Chris Shake. In the mid 1980’s, I was told by “Fat Rich”, the operator of the Lovers Point Beach Stand at that time, that a restaurant owner from Oregon wanted to buy the two remaining swan boats and display them in his restaurant. I contacted Chris Shake saying that these boats belong to the residents of Pacific Grove and that I wanted to buy them to keep them here. He agreed and we struck a deal. They were moved to a warehouse that I owned in Salinas for a few years and later to Carmel Valley.... During that time I researched the requirements of reviving the “Glass Bottom Boats at the Beautiful Marine Gardens of Lovers Point” with guidance from Councilman Don Gasperson and his son, Gary Gasperson. Don rowed the Swan Boats when he was at PG High in the 1940’s. When I used to chant “All Aboard” on the booming PA system on the concrete pier from the weather torn wooden shack, I was 11 and 12 years old. During those two summers I was the tour guide and when the high school kids didn’t show up to work, I was the ship captain caring for the needs of up to a dozen trusting souls, hoping that they would have a safe and educational experience with an undersea adventure at Lovers Point. I was paid 50 cents an hour... what my employer didn’t know is that I would have worked there for free. Well 25 years later, I thought it would be a slam dunk to revive a historic part of Pacific Grove History. My first rude awaking was that the tourist industry was not as popular with the 1980’s Pacific Grove community as it was in the 1960’s. The approval process was daunting and very expense relative to the potential revenue that a four month a year seasonal business at Lovers Point Cove could produce. The business required calm seas for the needed visibility and those calm waters only happened in the summer. That still did not stop the forward momentum of the project... My next step was to call my buddy who was the Commander of the Monterey Coast Guard Station. After I told him of my fond memories of being a ship captain and tour guide for the PG Swam Fleet at age 11 and 12, I told him my aspirations of creating a community experience that was as old as the town itself... Glass Bottom Swan Boats at Lovers Point... He was saddened to explain to me that things had changed since the 1960’s in the marine regulatory world... we would need a ship captain with a ship captain’s license... for each boat and for each trip. I said, “No problem, how do you get a ship captain’s license?”... I’m not sure that I remember all of the details of his answer but it had something to do with a college degree, two years of seafaring experience, and other impossible to afford obstacles for a seasonal business that was intended to be a job opportunity for high school and college students... I realized that our world had gotten more litigious and regulated during my baby boomer lifetime and I was not going to have my dream come true. My dream was further dashed when it was revealed to me that to make my swan boats seaworthy again, it would be more expensive to renovate them than to replicate them. My best possible solution was to donate the boats to the Pacific Grove Heritage Society. They were willing and able to complete the project of replicating the swan boats using the original swan heads. So, a Swan Boat Replica became their permanent display at the Entrance of Loves Point Cove. Before they mounted their replica at its current home, I was able to realize my dream by rowing the finished project as I interviewed a representative of the Pacific Grove Heritage Society on the Swan Boat in the water on my cable television show “Real Estate Today by Pacific Bay” The filming was done by our very own Pacific Grove videographer Robert Pacelli who produced that series. Needless to say, there is still a place in the hearts of all of us natives of Pacific Grove for the wonderful loud speaker on the Lovers Point Pier, crackling and blasting that historic anthem, “All aboard for the Glass Bottom Boats”.