Tidings of Joy: The Elusive Chanel Islands

Ever since we were talking about cruising up the coast this summer Jeff had the Channel Islands in mind. I didn't really know exactly what they were until doing some reading and even then I still didn't fully understand. When we were staying at the marina in Ventura one of the places in the harbor was the nature center which housed the California Conservancy who maintain the Channel Islands. We walked over and saw maps and this sweet older man who was working there asked if we wanted to watch the 30 minute video about the islands. It was then that I became totally hooked. The Channel Islands are a national park. There is no human habitation on Santa Cruz Island (the most reasonable of the 4 islands we were considering). All of the islands have their own weather patterns and the further out the island are the more challenging their weather is for boaters and no-natives (seals, pelicans and other birds) to get to. After several conferences, reading and the information at the nature center we decided that Santa Cruz would be our best hope. While in Santa Barbara we watched the wind and weather like maniacs. I personally conferred with 5 different sources of weather information. After waiting an extra day in Santa Barbara we finally decided we had enough of a weather window to go for two nights and then we needed to get out of there because gale force winds would be blowing through. Nervous and giddy we took off. We had fog the entire way but never less then 1 mile of visibility. The seas weren't too bad 4 footers mixed with 1-3 foot wind waves and at the end they were on our stern making us feel like we were surfing within the boat. Our first thought was we would go to an area called painted cave - a 600 foot long cave with an incredible interior. You have to take only non-motorized vessels in there because its small and if you don't catch the tides and currents right you can capsize. Unfortunately due to the racing currents and big seas we were not able to even get close to the caves. We tried to taking the Tidings close enough to just peek in but the weather had other plans in mind. Instead we made our way to our first anchorage - Pelican Bay. We picked this anchorage based on the wind and wave patterns that would be happening the next 24 hours. Not only do you need decent weather to be at the islands you also need to be aware of wind and wave speed and direction and pick your anchorage accordingly. We didn't see any other boats as we made our way to Pelican Bay but when we arrived there were several boats already anchored there. This gave us a both a good feeling. Not only did we pick a good anchorage we would also have safety in numbers if god forbid anything should happen. When we arrived we found a nice quiet spot towards the cliffs nestled between the island and another sailboat. We decided since there was nowhere to land on the dingy we would just stay put on the boat and enjoy the scenery. And boy was it worth it. We were serenaded by the most beautifully sounding bird called the oyster catcher. They have a stunning red beak and sing the most gorgeous song. There melody ricocheted off the rocks and made it sound like a symphony. We sat feet propped up basking in our new found location.

Approaching Pelican Bay

Pelican Bay Entrance

Cliffs Astern

Pelican Bay

Moon During Sunset

Pelican Bay

All night long we rocked and rolled in the boat from the exposure to the open ocean. Despite knowing/hoping the boat was secure I didn't sleep much. We took our time in the morning a bit and waited for some of the fog to clear before setting out to our next anchorage - Little Scorpion. I was really looking forward to this stop. I had done a lot of reading about all the islands and this was supposed to be one of the most scenic anchorages of them all. Around 9a.m. we set off for our 1.5 hour cruise. When we arrived we were glad we had left when we did because the anchorage was already pretty full. We found an openish spot in front of two sailboats next to another. We dropped the hook in 50 feet of water which is deep for us and waited to make sure we were set. After lunch we decided to launch the dingy and go exploring. We read that there was good hiking in the next cover over - Scorpion Bay. We took the dingy between the rocks as we watched lots of other dingies and kayaks do but then noticed we were getting closer and closer to the bottom and this path was not going to work for us. Thankfully we got out of there before touching the bottom or doing any damage. We took the longer route around shit rock (a huge rock covered in pelicans and all of their shit) which smelled as you would think it did. Pee-yew! Finally we saw the beach at Scorpion and started making our approach. As we got closer we noticed the entire beach was full of rocks an now the bottom too was turning rocky. This was no place to bring any type of motorized vehicle. Once again we turned around this time making our way back to the boat. We decided the kayak was the best man for the job so we lowered it and made our third attempt. This time we cut through the rocks with no problem and walked it up the rocky beach and made our way towards the trails. The beach was full of sunbathers right on top of the rocks. It was as if they weren't there. Very bizarre to see. As we walked towards the interior we saw a kayak rental and dive shop, a welcome center and some old relics that were left behind when the island used to house a watchman. Jeff found it more interesting then I did per the usual. Our hike/walk was simple it circled the interior of the island and around the campgrounds. We did come across several island foxes just walking around and totally comfortable with people. The walk and the island were nice and we were both glad that we figured it out. When we got back to the boat everything changed. We now were right on top of one of the three sailboats and the fog was drifting in. We quickly began to scurry to raise the kayak, get all the sand out and raise and secure the dingy. I kept saying to Jeff while all of this was happening - "we are getting really close to the sailboat." Being a man and focused on another task he couldn't really take the time to access the situation until the small boats were secure. Once they were we talked with the passengers on the sailboat and they confirmed they thought that we had dragged our anchor. The tide had shifted, lifted up our anchor and took it for a ride before it eventually caught sand on the bottom again. We kept studying the anchor tracker and contemplated what to do. Neither of us would sleep at all if we stayed where we were. Would the anchor drag again? Would we get closer to the sailboat eventually hitting them? Too many scary questions to think about in the fog and the dark. So, we up anchored and headed over to Scorpion Bay where there was plenty of room. This time situating ourselves next to another sailboat and a small fishing boat. Understandably shook that our anchor had dragged we felt better in our new location where it was shallower and we had more scope to let out. Still another sleepless night for me but the hopes of going to Catalina and being secured to a morning ball in the morning got me through.