California's Unknown National Park
Written: Sep 15 '00 (Updated Sep 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Rugged, unspoiled islands; whales, seals, dolphins
Cons: Sea sickness potential; stinky bird guano
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| realtraveller's Full Review: Channel Islands National Park |
We see them while cruising the coast highway between Santa Barbara and Oxnard. On sparkling winter days, when the air clears, they float off the coast like jagged chunks of jade. In summer, they are more topaz than jade, browned by drought.
Just a few nautical miles away from traffic congestion, strip malls and high-rises, these islands lie untouched by development. To go there is to return to the California of 100 years ago; quiet, rolling brush land, no cars, no smog and very few people.
The islands are rookeries for many species of birds and pinnipeds (seals and sea lions). In the kelp forests near the rocky shores, sea otters roll in the waves or loll on their backs eating mussels. The Santa Barbara Channel between the mainland and the islands is the coast freeway for migrating gray, humpback and blue whales.
There are several islands within Channel Islands National Park: Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Anacapa. In addition to whale watching trips and dive trips to this area, I have visited the two most popular: Anacapa and Santa Cruz.
Anacapa
Anacapa is the smallest and closest of the Channel Islands. It is a treeless, windy plateau. It maintains a small ranger station and a lighthouse. A trail follows the perimeter of the island. The views of the Pacific and of the other islands are breathtaking. The loop trail skirts the cliff edges of Anacapa for approximately two miles. The cliffs are precipitous. One slip could send a hiker hundreds of feet down to the rocks and waves below. Watch where you walk and hold your children's hands; there are no guard rails.
At the far end of East Anacapa, the knife's edge shapes of West Anacapa and a tumble of smaller outcroppings are a spectacular sight. Listen to the boisterous barking of the seals, fill your lungs with the bracing salty air and watch for whale spouts.
Being a very popular resting and nesting place for birds, Anacapa stinks a bit. Bird guano is everywhere and it is pungent.
This island is primarily covered with California native vegetation; which means tough-looking low shrubs. There are no palm trees; there are no trees period.
Getting there
Contact Island Packers, a national park concessionaire for reservations. They can be reached at (805) 642-1393. Or check out their excellent website at www.islandpackers.com.
The cost of an all-day trip to Anacapa is $37 for adults; $20 for children. The Anacapa trip leaves from the Ventura harbor. From the 101 exit on Victoria. Then follow the signs to the harbor. Island Packers' office is next to the Channel Islands National Park Visitors Center.
The boat dock on Anacapa is at the bottom of a cliff. Therefore, you face a 153-step climb up a staircase to reach the island's ground level. The boat tour will take you past the photogenic Arch Rock and near the pinniped rookeries.
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is the largest island in Channel Islands National Park. Until designated as a national park, Santa Cruz was used for ranching and evidence of ranch activity can be seen in corrals, ranch roads, old trucks and equipment and some ranch buildings. We found large piles of sheep bones. Of course, the sheep destroyed large areas of native vegetation.
Santa Cruz offers longer hikes than Anacapa. It also has a sand beach, a large grove of sycamores, a quiet valley and not such a dense concentration of birds and their guano.
Getting there
Traveling to Santa Cruz requires a longer boat trip than to Anacapa. Island Packers charges $42. for adults and $25. for children 12 and under. The boat leaves from the Oxnard Harbor at 8 am. The trip last 8-9 hours. The Island Packers counter is located in the Chandlery shop at 3600 Harbor Blvd. in Oxnard, California.
To access the island, you'll need to be physically able to climb from the tour boat to a dinghy on a small ladder and then hop from the dinghy to the beach. Sounds more difficult than it is.
The Boat Trip In General
The boat trip out and back for me is the best part of the trip. I've seen many gray whales; once a mother whale and her newborn calf. Dolphins spring out of the water in seemingly choreographed leaps. Not just a few. Hundreds. Thousands. It's a spectacle that puts the canned acts at Sea World to shame.
The Island Packers' trips are guided by a naturalist on board to help sight marine life and educate along the way. When pods of whales or dolphins are spotted, the boat's captain will steer the boat that way, off course or not, for better viewing. They don't keep a strict schedule out at sea. We've returned from several trips an hour later than scheduled when the whale or dolphin watching has been good.
Blue whales can be seen from July to September. The gray whale migration runs from January to March. If you just want to see marine mammals, Island Packers operates whale watching cruises during the California gray whale migration. The Island Packers website contains a daily tally of the marine mammals that have been sighted in the channel so you can check out your chances of spotting your favorite whales.
As for seasickness, Ventura Harbor has a narrow mouth that causes the waves to stack up. Expect some large swells at a slow speed getting out of the harbor. Once in the channel itself, the sea is usually calmer. I'm prone to seasickness and I've never lost it over the side on one of these trips. I eat lightly and stay in the fresh air near the front of the boat away from the engine's diesel fumes.
What To Bring
Bring food and water. There is little to no shade on either island, so wear sunscreen and sunglasses. Bring a windbreaker or sweatshirt. It can be 90 degrees in Ventura but as soon as you get out on the Pacific, it gets cold. Dress in layers because hiking on the islands can get hot. You may want to bring a small towel. I've been splashed plenty on the boat trip out and back and returned crusty with dried salt spray. It would have helped to have been able to dry off more.
So the next time you're crawling up the 101 to Santa Barbara, think about the rugged, isolated islands just off shore. See what California's unknown national park has to offer.
Recommended:
Yes
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