Santa Cruz Island - August 2017

In August 2017, Nancy and I took a tip out to Santa Cruz Island, one of the islands in the Channel Islands National Park.  The Channel Islands sit some 25 or so miles off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura. The one we visited, Santa Cruz, is the largest being some 96 square miles.

Approaching Santa Cruz

The boat service leaves from Ventura Harbour in the morning and returns in the afternoon.  We had a campsite reserved so we went out Monday morning and returned Tuesday afternoon.  Campsites were hard to come by but we took advantage of the fact that there are many group campsites and when it gets close to the date the Parks Service lets individuals take these.   You pay the $40 instead of the cheaper $20 for an individual site but when it’s the choice of that or not going it’s an easy decision.

Scorpion Anchorage

The boat ride out was uneventful, about 1 ¼ hours, and the weather was fine - not too windy, not too rough.  In the mid point of the channel we passed the oil platforms that sit in the Santa Barbara Channel and grace the view of those affluent coastal homes.  We offloaded at Scorpion Anchorage where there is a small pier.  The water there was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom and the swaying beds of kelp.  First responsibility was to listen to the Park Ranger’s introduction to the island and all the do’s and dont’s.  No trash receptacles on the island so pack out what you pack in; don’t feed the island foxes; be careful of the island foxes they are inquisitive and they are ingenious at getting into your tents and bags in search of food, put everything in the bear (or fox) lockers at the campsite, fasten your tent zips at the top not at ground level where the foxes can open them.  

We had visited Anacapa Island a couple of years ago and there there are thousands of nesting gulls that mob you and crap on you and make the whole place a little smelly.  The reason why, there are no island foxes on Anacapa, no predation of the eggs.  On Santa Cruz, the oh-so-cute foxes keep the not so cute gulls at bay.

Abandoned Oil Rig

Back in camp we decided to go for a hike.  We walked up Scorpion Canyon to the ridge line at the top of the island - quite a slog up the hill, and it was quite humid, though thankfully not too hot.  On the top of the hill there was an old abandoned oil rig.   I am not sure when it was operated, probably in the 1950’s I would imagine.  It had drilled a well but all that was found was water.  The oil bearing formations of the Santa Barbara Channel and the mainland did not extend out to the islands.  We walked down the road from the top and it took us once more down to Scorpion Harbor.  There were nice views of adjacent Anacapa Island to the east of us.

Anacapa Island

Our campsite was about ½ mile from the dock.  We pitched tent and went back to the dock area where there were some old building and old agricultural artifacts from when the island was an operating ranch (mainly sheep farming).  There was also concessions for kayaking and snorkeling so we signed up for the next morning’s kayak trip.

We had a fine dehydrated camp meal in the evening and then took an evening stroll up from the camp towards Potato Harbor.  There were lots of exposures of white diatomaceous earth on the way up.

Island Fox

Back in camp we watched the foxes wondering around looking for food and being chased off from everyone’s campsites.  They are certainly very cute and they certainly do well on foodstuffs they scavenge around camp (despite everyone’s efforts to not feed them).   Apparently after once being endangered they responded well to a captive breeding programme and are now recovered and doing quite well.  They are smaller than the foxes on the mainland and they have a little more reddish brown colorings.

Kelp

Then next morning, Tuesday, we did another early morning walk towards Potato Harbor before going down to Scorpion Harbor for our kayak trip.  We were assigned a guide (Scott) and given the basics before going down to the beach and into the water in double sit-on-top kayak.  We paddled around in the bay practicing our stops and turns before heading out west along the coast.  There was lots of kelp - huge waving fronds of the stuff anchored on the bottom and providing something secure to hold on to whenever we came to a stop to look at something.  The water was amazingly clear.

View towards Potato Harbor

The high point of the trip was to visit the caves.  There are several along the coast and we entered about 4 or 5 of them.  As we pushed around Cavern Point we were heading out into the wind and the swells and it was quite exciting, if a little hard work to make any headway.  After Cavern Point we entered one more cave, the largest, and then turned to head back.  A great trip - we should do more kayaking.

Back on land we changed and had some lunch before making a quick visit to the visitor’s center to learn about life on the ranch.  Then we just had time for a hike up the trail behind the visitor’s center (Cavern Point trail) before coming back down and catching our boat back to Ventura.

The Ferry Boat to Ventura

On the way back to the mainland we saw several flying fish.  It was remarkable how long they could fly for - several seconds and for quite a long way.  At first site we thought they must be birds until they disappeared under the water.  

Again we had a calm crossing and were back in Ventura at 5:00 pm.  A great little expedition from Santa Barabara - highly recommended. More photos are here.