Avast, me hearties!

This morning, I weighed anchor and set sail for the first of the Channel Islands, Anacapa, named by the Chumash Indians for its seeming ability to dissolve into the atmosphere like a mirage! Sure enough, as the good ship Vanguard pulled out of Channel Islands Harbor, the island was half melted into the low-lying mists, like some distant Avalon… though Avalon is further south!

It was a chilly voyage of ten miles between Oxnard and and Anacapa’s magnificent Arch Rock, spanning roughly an hour. During this time, I kept my eyes peeled for signs of whales, dolphins, and beaver brothers, but there were only a few of the former at this time of day and year. Right now is the tail end of gray whale season, and there are still a few more months before they return to Alaska and make room for the summer blues. Or, maybe they were all sleeping in after their Friday night carousing! In any case, there wasn’t much to do on the boat except watch the mysterious island grow nearer and nearer!

At last, the Vanguard pulled into the natural harbor with its brilliantly blue water and orange kelp. The crew helped unload everybody and gave us a very strict orientation: stay on the trails, don’t collect plants or rocks, and don’t toss garbage. It was a good thing they mentioned the latter, because I had read a disheartening sign on the boat, which said trash dumping was only illegal up to 25 miles from shore. That’s not much further than the furthest Channel Island! I hate to think of freighters traveling out there to dump tons of garbage into the ocean that wind up as part of the great Pacific garbage patch! Yuck!

At the end of the orientation, the group of us set off into the seagull stomping grounds. The entire island was speckled with western gulls scoping out spaces for their summer nesting season. One of the volunteers said it gets pretty rowdy here during that time, and visitors are likely to get pecked! Boy was I glad to be here in February, especially because the giant coreopsis (Leptosyne gigantea), a Channel Islands native straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, was just starting to bloom! Since the boat would not return until three, that allotted five whole hours to frolic among them, all the way to Inspiration Point, where the cliffs give way to a spectacular view of Anacapa’s two other sections and the distant Santa Cruz Island!

Though beautiful, Anacapa is also the second smallest and most restricted of the Channel Islands. With only two miles of hiking trails over flat ground, it would have been a great place to spot George, but it also didn’t take long to realize that he wasn’t there. Nonetheless, I happened to witness something that cheered me immensely: a local high school class spending the day planting native plants! Back in the 1800s, settlers moved their sheep out to this island and introduced all sorts of invasive plants, like ice plant and grasses, which choked nearly everything else. Ultimately shepherding failed on the islands, which meant someone had to undo the damage to the island ecosystem. I think it’s very important to get students immersed in the world and the issues that affect it. That’s the only way to save it, in my opinion.

The winter winds picked up toward the end of this trip, which I spent by the Anacapa Island Lighthouse, the last permanent lighthouse built on the west coast! There was a sign warning visitors about getting too close because of the foghorn that could have blown out my eardrums, but I was still able to enjoy the cliffside views and watch a poor hawk get harried by an entire flock of seagulls. I’ll bet she learned a valuable lesson! The Vanguard returned promptly at 3:00 after a full day of fishing (not a bad career!) and took everyone on an impromptu whale watching adventure, following four gray whales for about half an hour. It was really neat seeing these humongous animals out in the ocean (finally awake), an unexpected perk to this trip! An Italian family on the boat summed it up best: “Balene! Incredibile!”

Of the Channel Islands, I’d say Anacapa is a great starter. There are two landing points, East and West, each with their own advantages. I landed East and got to see Inspiration Point and the lighthouse, but did not get to explore any beaches or tide pools, which are only in the West. Either way, if you’re going to visit this park, you just have to see Inspiration Point and Arch Rock! They’re truly breathtaking! Each of the islands is different, and Anacapa specializes in vistas, seagulls, and easy meanderings. I’m excited to see what adventures await on the other four islands!

Back to port!