Trip to Santa Cruz Island

Monday the 9th, we drove up to Ventura, where we would leave the next morning by boat to Santa Cruz Island.  Part of Santa Cruz Island, and four other Channel Islands make up Channel Islands National Park.  We camped for three nights, returning to Ventura Friday evening.  The weather was about perfect the whole time.  We had no cell phone service, meaning no news for four days.  The only problem with that was not knowing how bad the fires were going to get around Napa and the North Bay Area.

 Monday evening in Ventura we went into Ventiki, a wonderful tiki lounge.  The tiki lounge culture is new to me, but I was impressed by the devotion of the patrons at the bar next to us.  I loved this do-over of this campaign poster at the back of the lounge.

Tuesday morning at the Ventura harbor. Lucky for us, the fierce Santa Ana winds of Monday had stopped.

On the way out we passed these sea lions resting on a buoy.

This is Scorpion Harbor where our boat dropped us off.  It was about the only place we found to swim due to the sheer cliffs most everywhere else.

At the harbor is one of the historic ranch houses on the island.  It is now the visitor center.

We were hoping to see one of the Island Foxes. It turns out they were hanging around the campground like domestic cats.  They are a species of Gray Fox that became a dwarf over time, and are found only on the Channel Islands.  They are sneaky smart and can unzip packs and tents.

One of our first hikes led to Potato Harbor.  The water is so clear out there!

Ravens

That is one of the caves we would go in on our guided sea kayaking trip on Friday.  We were able to sign up the day before, and had a thrilling three hour plus adventure of going into about a dozen sea caves. Our two guides were awesome, as they knew their biology, geology, and how to give you the maximum adventure without risking your life too much.  Some of the caves had very tight passages, and with the abrasive volcanic rock and a strong surge, you could definitely lose some skin if you weren't careful.

We saw a few Loggerhead Shrikes, waiting to catch flying insects.

 A Rock Wren

There were many Side-blotched Lizards along the way.

The nights were mostly clear with great star viewing. The Milky Way was very evident.

On Wednesday, we hiked 3.5 miles to Smuggler's Cove.  It was a very pretty setting with a restored ranch house and a large olive orchard.

It was great to see an Island fox outside of the campground acting naturally.

We saw a couple Sage Thrashers who behaved like miniature Roadrunners.

I got a partial photo of an Island Gopher Snake.  Unlike mainland gopher snakes, this one maxes out at about 3 feet long.  We were excited to see one, as sightings are not common.

 In the 60's, there was this attempt to drill for oil.  The drillers hit water first, then stopped further drilling after the massive 1969 oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel when an offshore oil platform blew out.  I remember volunteering to clean birds for an afternoon back then. I think kerosene was used and most of the rescued birds died.  Bird rehab folks are much better at cleaning birds these days!

California Poppy

Several times we saw clusters of these red bugs.  I'll have to look them up.

We loved how these old tools  were welded into a door.  Ideas!

On Thursday, we hiked up to Montanon Ridge and ate lunch at this spot.

On the ridge, off the trail a ways, we stumbled on this old plane crash.  This was the main impact area and you can see engine parts and a lot of aluminum.  We followed the line of debris for two or three hundred yards.  Many small parts still had little flags to mark their locations.

This might be part of the engine cowling.

One of the cylinder heads with valves and spark plugs showing.

We took numerous hikes around the Scorpion Harbor area.  

 The Island Fox population was down to 30 in the 1970's. Now it is about 2,500 and stable.

They are cute and the size of cats, but unlike cats, don't use litter boxes.  Foxes like to leave their scat on high spots, so we often had fox scat on our picnic table at camp - not so cute!

Gail accidentally left a wrapped piece of hard candy in her good wind shell, which was zipped in her day pack, and placed under the rain fly of our tent.  We were gone for about twenty minutes.  When we returned, a fox had unzipped her pack and chewed a hole through her jacket to get the candy.  A raven also bored a hole through our 2 gallon collapsible water jug.

Friday at 4:30, we boarded for our trip back to Ventura.  That cave on the left is one we kayaked into, coming out on the right side of that rock/island.  

On the ride out and back, we saw several pods of Common Dolphins.  We also saw a distant whale spout that our captain thought was from a Blue Whale. He tried in vain to get us closer.

An oil platform off in the distance.  

Me and our boat.  We headed off to a great Himalayan/Indian food restaurant before the long drive back to Carlsbad.