Channel Islands

Channel Islands here we come after weeks of preparation, in over 100 degree weather, of fixing, repairing and some creative storage techniques. We pulled out of the driveway, happy to get away from the early heat this year and looking forward to the cooler weather at the coast. The first couple of hours on the road were intense as we were in line with a gazillion trucks on the freeway through Los Angeles, plus the road was rough from the gazillion trucks traveling on the road. They must have waited for the heavy traffic to die down also before they left. Our truck springs were so tight it felt like we were travelingover gravel. After passing Magic Mountain and taking Highway 126, Santa Clarita Highway to Ventura, the ride improved greatly. Boris spotted fuel for $4.41 a gallon at an ARCO station and quickly pulled in to fill up the boat with fuel, somewhere around 100 gallons. Who would have thought we would be excited to pay $4.41 a gallon.

It has been years since we have been in Ventura. So after spending some time searching for the launch ramp we did manage to find the Dock Master who made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was not there for pleasure cruisers, only commercial fishing boats. He also informed us that his harbor, Ventura, brought in more fish than anywhere else on the West Coast. He gave us the phone number of the Harbor Master, who he said could probably helps us and he did. The Harbor Master directed us to the launch ramp and the boat slipped nicely into the water and we spent the night at the Ventura Yacht Club so that we could leave early in the morning for Santa Cruz Island. The weather was June gloom, overcast and cool and we are loving it after leaving the hot weather at home. 6:00 p.m. seemed a little too early for bed but 8:00 p.m. just couldn’t get here soon enough. Exhaustion and sleepiness came upon us like an unexpected visitor as we sat still for a few minutes in our lovely bimini covered cockpit. Laying stretched out in the V-berth and on the water again was heaven.

Santa Cruz Island, Fry’s Harbor, here we come. June gloom seems to have settled in quite nicely, but again we would rather put on a sweater than sit in front of a fan. The ride over, twenty-seven miles, was good even though there was plenty of fog. The radar was on, as always, to make sure we were aware of any boat, ship, or stationary structure around us. Because the Channel Islands are a marine sanctuary, we saw an abundance of seals, dolphins, and birds on our way over. By 10:30 a.m. we were anchored and Boris had the dinghy rolled out in the cockpit of the boat and was trying out his new electrical pump which was slow and noisy but much easier than the 800 leg pumps with the foot pump to get the dinghy afloat. We took the boat to shore and walked around the site of an old quarry and looked at old rusty cables and metal hooks that had been forced into the ground to secure the off-loading equipment. Walked up a ravine and was surprised to hear the water of a stream trickle and gurgle over the rocks. It has been so dry I wasn’t expecting to see running water on this trip.

Sometimes you forget how powerful the water in the ocean can be. Boris had rowed to shore, which was no big deal because we were fairly close. So upon leaving, the plan was for Boris to get into the dinghy after it was afloat in the water and from the bow I would give it a good shove into the water and jump in. Somehow the timing got off and a surge from a small wave turned the dinghy sideways and I was now at the stern, jeans wet halfway up the calves of my legs, my flip flops are slipping on the rocks and I flop into the back of the dinghy like a whale. I was now in Boris’ way as he was trying to get us away from shore with the oars and I am crawling around him, slipping because I am wet, trying to get to the bow of the dinghy. You would have thought we had never been in a dinghy before. By the way, Boris forgot the seat at home.

After we got back to the boat we noticed that we were closer to the boat next to us than we were comfortable with so we decided to pull the stern anchor up and move it out further to give more distance between us. It was in the afternoon and the wind had kicked up. We pulled, tugged and struggled to get the stern anchor up and it wouldn’t budge. Since it wasn’t coming up we decided to leave it as it was. Little did we know that the anchor had finally broke loose in the mud and soon Boris and I could see the boat was moving quickly, seemed like mach speed, toward this other boat. The other boat owner had just got back onboard and hurried to fend us off. I ran to the bow with the boat hook trying to keep from making contact and Boris is trying to get the stern anchor up so that we can pull the bow anchor up to move and re-anchor. It got pretty exciting for a little while. Unfortunately for us the wind was building as we were trying to anchor, it won’t catch and we keep pulling up grass from the bottom. Boris even changed out the bow anchor for the stern anchor, hoping for a better hold. The other boaters are standing at their bows yelling, “Don’t anchor there, our lines are there, you’re too near, etc..” Welcome back to Southern California. We finally decide to leave the anchorage. It was 5:00 p.m. and we headed down to Pelican’s Bay, about three miles. As soon as we got there we dropped our anchors, they held tight on the first try and we were grateful it was still light outside while we were doing all of this. The evening ended up on a pleasant note. As it became dark we could hear one of the other boaters playing a horn for a little personal entertainment which we also enjoyed.

The next morning, when I awoke, I noticed the dense fog outside. It looked like the windows were steamed up on the inside from cooking, but weren’t. The fog shrouded the other four boats in the anchorage, it hung heavy in the air. We knew it must be extremely hot inland for it to be so foggy out here. I enjoyed the cockpit with my cup of coffee while Boris slept in because he hadn’t slept well the night before. Later in the afternoon we took the dinghy and explored the shoreline; there are no beaches in this cove. The scenery is rustic and beautiful. The cliffs are alive with seagullswith their chicks still in the nests. Plus the large variety of other birds; cormorants, oyster catchers, guillemots, brown pelicans and more, all feeding and chirping away. The brown pelicans were a kick to watch because they kept diving close to the boat for their dinner. They flew overhead, tucked their wings in and drove straight as an arrow into the water. The seals popped their heads up every so often and then the small fish, maybe six inches long and silver, by the hundreds, swim around and would jump out of the water. We keep hearing these little splats in the water and we aren’t sure if they are trying to get away from larger fish or seals or were trying to get their own dinner, bugs.

The evening was lovely and we played Mexican Train. It was actually dark when we went to bed. Unfortunately the rest of the evening was miserable because the boat rocked all night, kind of like a rocking chair, rolling from side to side because of the way the swells were coming into the anchorage. It was really tough to sleep.

It felt good to finally get up after the awful night of not sleeping. It was clear this morning, sunny with blue skies, very picturesque. By 8:00 a.m. the anchors were up and we were on our way up to the Painted Cave, about seven miles. Our first goal was to take this boat into the Painted Cave, as we have done with all our others boats. The waters need to be calm so that there would be no surge inside the cave and when we arrived about 9:00 a.m. it was calm.

Our second goal for the day was to go over to Santa Rosa Island, just west of Santa Cruz, and anchor in Becher’s Bay. The ride was a choppy and lumpy but only lasted about an hour. Then we were in the lee of the island and that blocks the large sea swell that come down from up north. We got there about noon and it was windy all afternoon between 15 – 20 knots. We anchored once, it didn’t hold, then Boris put the heavy Bruce anchor back on the bow and it held beautifully. (We are the tiny dot, not the little dot, in this picture.) By the way, this is the first time we've anchored with this boat in So Cal, and apparently Bruce anchors don't dig into seaweed very well.

Someone raised cattle on this island and you can still see farm buildings and roads. As we waited for the weather to become “light and variable”, which is what we kept hearing on the weather channel, we played some games. When I was sitting in the cockpit journaling, I could hear the seals take a breath when they popped their heads out of the water. While making dinner, I looked out the window and coming towards us were hundreds of seals swimming our way, kind of like dolphins do; diving down and then jumping out of the water and kept repeating the same actions. We had never seen seals do this before in such large numbers and still am not sure what was going on, but it was impressive to watch, which we did and so did all the other boaters.

After dinner, about 7:00 p.m., when the wind had calmed down, we took a dinghy ride around this large bay and saw a great place to land and hike the next morning. There was a dinghy there so we knew it was doable and it looked like a calm place to land.

Woke up refreshed from a great sleep because there was only one anchor out and the wind was light but kept the boat in a straight line instead of rocking from side to side. By 8:00 a.m. we were in the dinghy and on our way to that little cove we discovered the night before. It was overcast but should burn off before long. Before we landed we discussed in detail how we would work the dinghy this time since the last time didn’t go so well. Boris put the motor up and we each took an oar and paddled toward shore. Got on shore nicely, no mishaps, drug the boat up so the tide would not take it out while we were gone, but Boris had checked the night before and the tide would be going out starting at 8:00 a.m. Just as we were patting ourselves on our backs, I realized we forgot our bag of walking clothes and shoes on the boat. Yes, we went back and in the process got more practice bringing the dinghy ashore and getting it back in the water again. Went for a nice walk after we climbed up the side of a cliff to get to the road. Hiked to the top of a ridge, walking on steep dirt roads surrounded by acres and acres of wild oats that the cattle use to eat. From the ridge we had a beautiful view of Santa Cruz Island surrounded by water and a little surprised to see how large and mountainous it appeared seeing it from that view. After we got back we changed into our dinghy clothes because some part of your body always gets wet when you go ashore. As we got the dinghy into the water, I jumped into the dinghy but Boris’ foot slipped on a rock and he was now wet up to his waist. He finally climbed in, his ankle bleeding and I am paddling like crazy so we don’t get shoved back onto shore. Even when you practice, there is always that unexpected event that changes those well laid plans.

When we got back to the boat it was still pretty early, about 9:30 a.m. and because the weather channel said “light and variable” winds, I said "lets go to to San Miguel Island", which is just west of Santa Rosa Island.By the time the words were out, Boris had the wheel cranked. This is the only island in the Channel Islands we had not been to. The ride was only a little over an hour, sixteen miles, in our fast little motorboat. Looking at the chart, the bay looked trickey. Never having been here before, it is yet another new adventure. As we get to Cuyler Bay, avoiding the rocks that show up on the chart and maneuver our way around the seaweed which laid on top of the water in long wide strips, we find what looks like a good spot and drop anchor. The anchorage is almost two-thirds of a circle with fairly high cliffs which looked like they would wash away if there was a lot of rain and on one end it appears to be sand dunes. Turns out this is a haven for elephants seals. We only saw the small black seals in the water, but the big sea lions were laying all over the beaches. They make the funniest sounds. Boris said it sounds like an unmuffled two-stroke motorcycle that is reluctant to start and I thought it sounded like someone hitting a bongo drum, when it is one noise at a time, and it has an echo sound effect, plus the fact that it was extremely loud. I am pretty sure it is just the males making these sounds. It was quite entertaining.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was out with blue skies. We took the dinghy and explored the coast line. There were many caves carved by the sea waters but seaweed guarded their entrances. Many white beaches dotted this bay but most had large seals sun bathing on them and because of their size we decided it best to leave them alone. We found an area of beach with no seals and it looked like it would be fairly easy to bring the dinghy ashore. The sand was so soft, it didn’t feel grainy at all, it almost felt like walking on cloth. I enjoyed the soft feeling under my feet and strolled up and down this section of beach. I can certainly see why the seals just lay there all day. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed sitting in the cockpit with our binoculars, checking out the scenery in greater detail.

So glad we bit the bullet and came to San Miguel Island because the weather has been beautiful but it is known for unpleasant conditions. Slept well again last night with a light rocking of the boat lulling and keeping us asleep. It was another lovely morning sitting in the cockpit and observing all the life that surrounds us. After breakfast we got the dinghy motor back on its brackets on the stern of the boat and brought the dinghy into the cockpit to deflate it for the ride back to Ventura. As Boris was looking into the water at the stern, I heard this sound from him, not knowing what it meant and he said that his glasses just dropped into the water. We both just stood there looking into the water and realized they were gone. Luckily he had prescription sunglasses on board and has recently discovered he can read without his glasses, something new in his life. We definitely do have to get him some new glasses though.

Ventura is fifty-five miles from San Miguel Island so we figure it would be a five hour ride. At 10:00 we pulled up anchor and worked our way around the seaweed beds, rocks and out into the Santa Barbara channel again. The swells were pushing us right along. The winds kept building and the last couple of hours gave us quite a ride for our money. Boris took it off auto-pilot and we would surf down the front of a swell. It got fairly choppy because the wind was up to 18 knots and gusting higher. I was a happy girl to finally get inside the Ventura breakwater but I think Boris kind of enjoyed the ride. I asked Boris how the boat handled and he said, “It was like driving a kiddy car.” And then I said, “On ice” because we were slipping and sliding all over the place. Being tied up to the Ventura Yacht Club guest dock again was heaven. They have wonderful showers, which we both needed badly, and had an appetizer table that was our dinner for that night. And it was free.

Our Channel Island trip will leave us with many great memories as our trips to these islands always have.

The northern part of our trip is coming. On to 'Frisco.