We own a small construction company in Idaho. With projects over the winter, we scheduled all of our adventures in the fall, one after the other. We arrived home from our Alaska cruise on Sunday night, and left in our motorhome 22 hours later on Monday evening. We were headed to Southern California, with one of our adventures being Channel Island National Park (CINP)

We stayed at Orangeland RV in Anaheim. In June of 1972, Cindy’s family stayed at this park. 2022, was the park’s 50th year of operation and it looks exactly the same as it did 50 years ago. The RV park is built on an old orange grove. The trees are still here and you can pick any ripe orange.

The next morning we left early for Ventura, which is where our tour would start. It was a 2.5 hour drive with morning traffic.

Channel Island National Park has a visitor center at Ventura Harbor, however, the actual park is located 40 miles off-shore.

We went to the visitor center where we learned that the area was named by James Vancouver in 1793 for the deep channel around the islands. There are 8 islands, but only 5 of them are in the national park boundaries.

The visitor center had several exhibits about the marine life but also the animals on the islands. And you just have to have a picture of “Jim the diver”.

There is also an exhibit about a complete pygmy mammoth skeleton found in the national park.

The visitor center has a tower and as you walk the stairs, it gives you the illusion, you are ascending from the ocean floor.

The only way to visit CINP is by private boat or Island Packers ferry. Our tour was approximately 8 hours in length.

We boarded the boat and were ready to go. You must take your own lunch and drinks as there are no services on any of the islands including drinkable water.

There was a heavy marine layer as we left the marina. It lasted most of the morning as we made our way to Santa Cruz Island

For the first 10 miles, the water depth is 100 feet. It then drops off sharply to 800 feet. This is where the cool waters from the north, meet the warm waters from the south and creates an uplift of nutrients. It was a great place to watch a pod of humpback whales.

We also saw literally thousands of common dolphins.

They loved to play in the wake of the boat, but also, to follow along side the boat.

Our first view of Santa Cruz was not promising with the cloud cover.

Once we were near the island, we turned and went north along the coast line. The clouds began to lift and we had a nice view of the landscape.

The Channel Islands were inhabited 12,000 years ago by seafaring Indians, but the first known European explorer was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. It is believed that he later died on one of the islands from an injury.

One of the highlights of our tour was a visit to Painted Cave. This is one of the largest sea caves in the world. The cave is almost 1/4 of a mile long and big enough for our tour boat to enter and drive to the back.

The colors inside the cave are amazing. It truly earns the name Painted Cave. The colors changed depending on the angle of the boat.

After leaving Painted Cave, we drove past Pelican Bay. This is one of the few accessible beaches on the island.

The coast contained interesting scenery, like the 3 sea arches. The fog gave the island a Jurassic Park type feeling.

Our docking point was Prisoners Harbor. At one point, the Mexican government dropped off 40 prisoners on the island. When the government officials returned, the campsite was burned and the prisoners were not to be found, thus the name. To access the pier, you must climb a ladder and depending on the tide, it might be a short or tall climb. The long pier is used to bring supplies off the boats.

By 1938, the islands had become home to several beef and sheep ranches, which were harming the island’s ecology, consequently, the islands of Abacapa and Santa Barbara were made a national monument. In 1980, the area was made a national park and the islands of San Miguel, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa were added. There is 1 nautical mile of water around each island that is included in the park boundaries.

Half of Santa Cruz Island is owned by the National Park Service and half is owned by the non-profit organization, Nature Conservancy, which has an ongoing restoration effort on the island. They have employees that stay on the island, full-time.

CINP is home to 2000 species of plants and animals, of which 145 can not be found anywhere else on the earth.

There are numerous hiking trails on the island. The Ranger explained the different options. We elected to hike the Pelican Bay Trail. Since it crosses Nature Consevancy property, you have to sign a waiver.

Because our tour included a trip to Painted Cave, we would only have time to hike to the Pelican Bay overlook.

The beginning of the trail is a steep climb, that takes you to a bluff above Prisioners Harbor.

There were a few places of rock scrambling. Jim got a bit too close to the trail’s edge and it gave way. He was able to catch himself about 5 feet down. It was an exciting few seconds!!

The trail was marked every 10th of a mile so you could gage your progress.

This is stop 15, the Pelican Bay Overlook. We waited a few minutes for the clouds to clear for a better view. We were told, Pelican Bay, is a great area to spend the day. (There is a tour that skips Painted Cave and drops you off in the morning, so you have plenty of time to hike to the bay).

We were so close, yet so far away…

We had hiked so fast to get to the lookout, that we didn’t enjoy the scenery. On the way back, we took a slower pace.

This is known as Harvey’s Lookout. In the late 1800s, it was used to spot ships that were entering the harbor with supplies for the ranches on the island. It is named for one of the Nature Conservancy early island directors.

The Island Scrub Jay, is considered the most range restricted songbird in the world, as it is found only on the Channel Islands. Bird watchers from around the world come here for a glimpse as it is considered so rare. The ranger told us, that they are very loud. While hiking back, we heard several in the trees and Jim was able to spot two.

We had one last look, before we headed back to the boat at Prisoners Harbor.

Near the pier, along the beach are large boxes. In Idaho, these are known as bear boxes, but on Santa Cruz Island that are fox boxes…lol. The Island fox is very reclusive and not seen very often. We had hoped for a glimpse as we had seen it’s poop all along the trail.

Before we got on the boat, we marveled at how beautiful the rocky beach was. Then low and behold, an Island Fox appeared.

What a great day we had on Santa Cruz…the painted cave was amazing and we enjoyed a great hike to the Pelican Bay viewpoint. We saw both the Island Fox and the Island Scrub Jay, which many people do not see either during their visit.

The fog set in just as we left the island.

On the way back, we saw many more common dolphins. It was an amazing sight.

In the channel off of Ventura, there are 4 oil rigs built in the 1960s. They are right on the edge of the channel shelf, so only in about 100 feet of water.

What an amazing day…back at Ventura Harbor in the Island Packers office was the wildlife count recorded for the 3 tour boats. We could also add Island Fox and Island Scrub Jay, as well as a few pounds of island dirt.

We were tired and hungry, so headed to Ventura. We picked Duke’s and had the seafood basket and clam chowder.

We finished off the day with yogurt.

We defintiely Built A Memory in Channel Island National Park.