Conception fire victim from Oxnard inspires traditions that would 'make Kendra proud'

Pillows embossed with a mola mola fish sit on a couch and fish-shaped ornaments hang from the ceiling in Kendra Chan’s old office inside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura.

The office turned into a reading room four years ago after she died in a fire on the Conception dive boat during a three-day trip off the Channel Islands.

"It was hard to conceive that anyone else could have this office," said Karen Sinclair, her friend, roommate and coworker.

Kendra, of Oxnard, and her father, Scott Chan, were on the Conception over Labor Day weekend 2019. Early that Monday, the 75-foot vessel was anchored off the coast of Santa Cruz Island when flames engulfed the boat.

Five crew members sleeping on an upper deck survived. The one crew member and 33 passengers on lower decks were killed. Kendra was 26.

Now, her old office is filled with her photos, knickknacks and books — a place for colleagues to dig into research, something she loved.

Her friends and family remember her as the girl who was certified to scuba dive at 12 and spent 14 years diving with her dad. She was the one who loved science and the ocean and became a biologist with Fish and Wildlife Service.

Kendra packed for diving trips a week in advance and always brought extra gloves, booties and goggles for herself or anyone else who may need them. She was the one who painstakingly planned amazing trips and could convince friends to wake up before dawn to try to catch the sunrise, even on the side of a cold mountain.

Her favorite fish was the massive mola mola but she would also stare at a rocky reef or underwater kelp forest to spot the tiniest of critters.

“She liked to research the animals that were overlooked,” said Sinclair, also a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Kendra inspires fellowship

In the months after the fire, Kendra’s colleagues developed a fellowship program to continue her legacy. It combines the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Directorate fellowship with the Ecological Society of America leadership program, said Chris Diel, assistant field supervisor at the federal agency’s Ventura office.

After completing the programs, fellows get an opportunity to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service when they graduate. For the past three years, a Kendra Chan Conservation fellow has researched rare species. Two now work for the agency, and the third just wrapped up her research project this week.

For Kendra’s mom, Vicki Moore, of Los Altos, the fellowship is one of the ways her daughter continues to inspire. She was scheduled to meet the latest fellow this week, something she does each year.

Felicia Aasand, who shifted careers, moving from the restaurant industry to wildlife conservation, is on track to be the first in her family with a college degree. She expects to graduate from Oregon State University next year.

This summer, Aasand found herself in the middle of grassy fields watching and listening for bird calls 10 minutes at a time. The 32-year-old from Seattle was gathering baseline data on birds and pollinator plants in advance of restoration work at spots along California’s central coast.

Daniel Cisneros, the first Kendra Chan fellow, now works in the Ventura office. During his project, he researched to find what conditions would help rare plants growing on the Channel Islands thrive.

'Flood your boots'

Kendra’s dad was a hardware engineer turned high school physics teacher. Her mom founded Living Classroom, a nonprofit group that creates edible gardens and provides hands-on instruction on school campuses.

Before Kendra’s feet could reach the trail, she was tucked into a backpack as her mom and dad hiked. As a child, her favorite spot was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It came as no surprise when she pursued a science degree at UC Davis, Moore said.

“She just found her happy place studying coastal and marine life and ecosystems,” she said.

After graduating from UC Davis, Kendra completed a Fish and Wildlife Directorate fellowship in Oregon before she started at the agency’s Ventura office in 2017.

She volunteered with local groups protecting rocky reefs offshore and others that surveyed wildlife along the coast. Outside of work, she hiked, skied, camped, went diving and tide pooling.

Along the rocky shore, she would wade out deeper if she spotted something cool, the water splashing over the tops of her rain boots, friends said. She coined the phrase “flood your boots,” its meaning reaching much further than the tide pool realm.

Dancing in the sand

To Sinclair, the phrase means to go all in and experience things as fully as possible.

Both UC Davis students, the two quickly forged a friendship during a study abroad program in Costa Rica. After graduation, they both ended up working for Fish and Wildlife in Ventura and sharing an apartment in Oxnard.

After work, they sometimes would end up at research presentations. Or, on not-so-great days, they would stop at the beach and dance in the sand.

On the day of the fire, Sinclair woke up early and saw a message about the Conception.

“I really, really hoped it wasn’t true,” she said through tears talking about those first minutes.

Sinclair had returned from a month-long research project in Canada right before Kendra left for the trip. There was just enough time for Kendra to whip out a new poster about kelp and quickly teach Sinclair about the different kinds.

"She was excited," Sinclair said.

But Sinclair didn’t know the name of the boat Kendra was on or which harbor it had left from that Friday. The Conception left out of Santa Barbara, so she thought if she could find Kendra’s car at the Ventura Harbor, it would mean her friend was safe.

She drove there and scanned the parking lots but didn’t find Kendra’s car. Across the road, she sat down on the beach and stared at the ocean her friend loved so much.

“It was all I could do,” she said.

An annual friend call

Kendra's mom and dad drove down to Santa Barbara, getting there around 10 p.m. the night Scott and Kendra had boarded the Conception. Kendra got there first but came off the boat to chat and give her mom a hug.

Moore was headed to see family in Los Angeles and then onto San Diego before she planned to pick Scott up on Monday. But early that morning, she got a call from her sister-in-law whose husband had seen a story about a boat fire on CNN.

She distinctly remembers every detail of that day — unfortunately, she said. But she remembers so much more than that, too.

The list of ways she feels connected to her daughter and late husband is long, she said. She thinks of them when tide pooling or snorkeling, working on environmental education or advocating to keep kelp forests healthy.

On Tuesday, Kendra would have turned 30. Her mom signed on to a video call with Kendra’s friends, something she has done for her daughter’s last three birthdays.

They update one another on the past year. The calls can be bittersweet at times, but Moore said she also gets to hear about how Kendra continues to be a part of all of their lives.

“My quest is to keep Kendra’s legacy as broad and as deep as it possibly can be,” she said.

Make Kendra proud

It wasn't always easy for Kendra to convince her friends to wake up early for tide pooling adventures. But after she died, some of her friends started a new tradition.

They hit the tide pools before the sun came up.

"It was just something she would have done. She would have been excited that we were doing it," Sinclair said.

Every year, Sinclair and another friend also go to Hazard Canyon Reef in Los Osos. They scan the tide pools for octopus and nudibranchs, a tiny but flashy creature Kendra loved, and celebrate when they find them.

"Kendra's there, especially when we bring new people to experience these things that she taught us to love," Sinclair said.

They have another saying now, too, she said. Make Kendra proud.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Conception dive boat fire: Oxnard woman's legacy lives on