Over Thanksgiving week my daughter and I had the opportunity to visit Channel Islands National park off the coast of California. Our family traveled to Santa Barbara to be with my wife’s family for Thanksgiving. We went down there two years ago, but a fire forced us to evacuate. It was time to try again.
My daughter, Andrea, lived in Santa Barbara for five years for school. She graduated from Cal. State Channel Islands. I have been down to Santa Barbara numerous times to visit family. Despite this neither of us had gone to Channel Islands National Park. This year we decided it was time to go.
Channel Islands National Park is one of the least visited National Parks in the US. This is probably because it is not a park you can drive to. One can only visit by small plane or boat. That’s it. While it is possible to take your own boat out to the islands, most people will take an excursion trip out to the islands. Tickets are just over $60 for adults making it a fairly expensive park to visit.
The boat excursions do not go to all the Channel Islands, just a few. The trip out takes 60 to 90 minutes depending on where you are going. There are a few options of where you can visit. Be sure to think carefully about your choice. We ended up going to Prisoners’ Bay on Santa Cruz Island. While it was a nice hike, we felt like there were better opportunities for hiking from a different location. I didn’t do my homework well enough ahead of time. In truth I picked the one with the latest departure time. Not the best criteria for this decision.
While the islands are visible from Santa Barbara, the boat excursion starts in Ventura. Our boat was to leave at 9:30, but they wanted us to arrive 45 minutes early so it was still an early start for this night owl.
Check in was quick, and then we waited to board the boat. The boat has two levels with indoor seating around tables and a concession stand below and covered seating above. It was a nice boat and was fairly full on a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Passengers were required to wear masks at all times except when eating, but no one enforced the rules so a few people were quite lax in wearing them appropriately.
The trip started out well for me. As we were leaving the harbor, I stepped outside along the rails to grab some photos. Two pelicans decided to follow the boat and were flying right in front of me keeping pace with the boat. I was able to click off some great photos of them. It was really fun as I usually don’t get good bird pictures.
Out in the water off shore are a number of oil rigs. While our boat didn’t get really close, it did get close enough to see more detail than we can see from the beach which was interesting.
Then the fun began. The first event was the siting of a humpback whale. Everyone rushed outside to get a look. I was not initially in a very good position to see it. Eventually I got to a decent viewing place, but the whale never breached so we just saw the back some. If I had been on the upper deck I might have seen it better.
One of our tour hosts had suggested at the beginning of the tour that we might see whales or dolphins. Andrea said she’d seen dolphins and wasn’t excited to see more. However she was about to change her mind. As we neared the island we encountered dolphins. Lots of dolphins. They were everywhere. We could see them under the water swimming by the boat. We could see them jumping into the air. I was surprised how two or three would jump together as if performing for a Sea World show. It was amazing. Andrea took a video which I think shows it the best.
There seemed to be groups of the dolphins, maybe 20 or 30 in a pod, but then there would be another pod farther ahead. The pods just kept coming. Initially I was somewhat overwhelmed by all of them and how to photograph them well. Trying to time a shot was useless. Finally I just pointed my camera in the direction of a pod and started clicking away hoping I would catch something. Here are some of my better captures.
After the dolphins came the birds. Our guide called it a feeding frenzy. Apparently a school of small fish were swimming through the area, and the birds were enjoying lunch. It was a frenzy. There were a lot of pelicans but also seagulls and perhaps other birds. I also spotted dolphins around. So many were flying around it was hard to distinguish. Again it seemed like the best course of action was to point in the direction of this frenzy and start clicking away. Hopefully this will give you some idea of the commotion.
With all this excitement I told Andrea that we already had the value of our tickets. However, we had yet to explore the island. We arrived at the dock and had to use a ladder to get onto the dock. Not everyone got off here. Some continued on to see a site called the Painted Cave. I had not seen that option when I registered. They would eventually return here but have less time to explore.
We were given basically two hiking options. One was a narrow path that seemed to go up and down called the Pelican trail. Andrea opted for the other which was mostly uphill, but the trail was initially a road and then turned onto the North trail. She was glad that I had bought boots for hiking after my fall in Iceland, but was still concerned about hiking with me. She didn’t want to take any chances so she chose the safer option.
The sun was quite warm, but it was actually a beautiful day for hiking. We could see various coves along the shoreline. The terrain itself was pretty dry and uninteresting. There were some fascinating trees with moss hanging down from them. That surprised me as it seemed too arid for moss to grow.
We reached a spot with a picnic table and had our lunch. After continuing on a bit farther, we started to go down which meant we would have to climb back up. We weren’t sure there was anything of interest to see there so we decided to turn back.
On the way back Andrea kept seeing a blue bird and wanted me to get a photo of it. It seems the Scrub Jay is very common throughout the island but found nowhere else. I put on my long lens so I could see it up close. However, the only shot I got was in the shade of a tree. The other times I couldn’t seem to get my camera up before the bird would fly away. I had to brighten the photo a lot to see the bird well.
We knew there were foxes on the island, but we didn’t see one until we were walking back on the road. One was just walking up the road rather slowly seeming to take no notice of us. It didn’t seem very healthy to me and was skittish when it realized we were there. Later at the dock area another fox was walking around under the picnic tables searching for food. It got quite close to me but never looked at me at all. Andrea took a picture of it almost at my feet.
When we arrived at the dock, we were early so we had to wait for the boat which was sitting there away from the dock. Finally we boarded, again using a ladder, and we began our trip back to Ventura. We didn’t stop to see any animals on the way back, but we did end our trip with a beautiful orange sunset.
The Channel Island National Park extends out into the water from the islands. For us the best part of the trip happened in the water. If I were to go again, I would choose the trip to Scorpion Anchorage rather than Prisoners Harbor as there looks to be a greater variety of hikes to choose from there. I also think spring might be a more interesting time to visit for plant life. Despite those caveats, the trip was definitely worth it.
Did you figure out what was in my final photo on my last post before Christmas? Of course it was dolphins, but none were completely visible in that photo.
Has anyone else had the opportunity to visit Channel Island National Park? I’d love to hear about your experiences and where you went. Leave your comments in the box below. Also if you are not receiving this post by mail, be sure to sign up. You will receive an email each Wednesday with my latest post.
The foxes are adorable. It looks like one is wearing a dog collar!
Thanks, Nate, I think all the foxes are tagged on the island.