A few weekends ago, I had a BBQ and my friend Linda mentioned wanting to go hike out on one of the Channel Islands. I have only ever been to one of the eight Channel Islands - Catalina - but have wanted to visit others since high school when I learned all about them from my TOHS biology teacher Mr. Wucherfennig, who was an expert on the islands. So I immediately said I was in! Linda booked a 3-hour cruise with Island Packers out to Santa Rosa Island at the end of August for the two of us and our friend James.
Here are all the photos from that super fun and gorgeous day. I will definitely be visiting again!
The 3-Hour Cruise
On my last boat ride, I almost puked when I started eating lunch. So I played it safe and ordered motion sickness bracelets for this trip. Best idea I could've had, because it was not smooth sailing. But we saw awesome "nature" on our windy trip out to Santa Rosa.
There were hundreds of dolphins and baby dolphins swimming near our boat. I had hoped to see a whale or two too, but I can be content with baby dolphins :)
To get to Santa Rosa, you leave from Ventura Harbor and sail in between Anacapa, the smallest, and Santa Cruz, the largest of the islands in Channel Islands National Park. Then you take a right behind Santa Rosa for another half hour or so. Here is a three-part mini-island covered in "island snow" (aka bird poop), off the Santa Cruz Island coast.
Our first view of Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa Island
After talking to one of the Island Packers crew members on the boat, we decided we'd take a "moderate" hike out to the Torrey Pines area of the island. He told us it was a fairly flat 5-7 mile hike and we'd have to watch our time (we only had about 3.5 hours on the island before the boat left) but we should be able to make it and there would be a nice shady bench where we could picnic.
Fun Facts About Torrey Pines:
The Santa Rosa Island subspecies of Torrey pine, is considered one of the rarest pines in the world, the last enduring members of a once widespread Pleistocene forest.
A remnant, mainland subspecies of Torrey pine also can be found near La Jolla, California, at Torrey Pines State Reserve.
WTF! You mean we could have FLOWN here?!?!
Path to the beach... and we hope to Torrey Pines.
And there was actually some water in Water Canyon. We had to cross a little plank bridge over a stream to get to the beach. Then we crossed it again back-tracking to search for the trail to Torrey Pines.
But first.... the beach. Ahhhh.....
Who knew there was water this blue this close to California? I thought I had to go all the way to Hawaii to see this.
Yes! We're going the right way!
This is James and Linda. We're heading towards those (Torrey Pine) trees on that hill waaay in the distance.
Spotted a little bit of color amongst all the shades of brown.
We made it! (Note the pine trees there on the left) Our boat is way off by that land mass in the top left of the photo.
The Torrey Pines Trail up the hill, in search of the illusive "bench" and a stream of petrified pinecones.
Me, halfway up the hill, admiring nature.
Our boat is that white speck in the top left of the photo. At this point, we still hadn't found "the bench" so we sat and ate lunch on some shaded rocks. Then headed back to the boat the way we came.
Santa Cruz Island as seen from Torrey Pines on Santa Rosa Island.
The abandoned ranch house near the dock.
Mosses growing on the wooden fence.
Yay! We made it back before the boat docked so we had time for frolicking on the beach.
Getting to the beach by the dock requires climbing down this metal ladder (left).
The barnacles along the pier's posts were still alive.(right).
The Return Trip
Our return trip took longer than the trip out to the island because we made two pitstops on Santa Cruz Island. The first was at The Painted Cave. Our boat couldn't fit all the way inside, but we got as close a look as we could. You may recognize this cave from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
My video of the cave. If you listen closely, you may be able to hear the captain's commentary.
Then we stopped to pick up a bunch of artists and volunteers who'd been staying on the island all weekend. They had a ton of stuff... "because there's a truck on the island to carry it back and forth between the ranch house and the dock," one of the conservancy volunteers told us once on the boat.
Oh, and on the boat, Linda also found two hikers who'd gone past us on the Torrey Pines Trail and asked them if they ever found "the bench." Yep... about five minutes after they passed us. Oh well.. next time ;)
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