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Kayaking the Chain of Channel Islands Our
first inspiration to go to the Channel Islands was by Margarete Collins
from our local kayak shop.
After she made the suggestion, I hit the maps. A quick look at
the map, and it made
sense that one could put together a great trip by "island hopping"
from San Miguel Island to Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz to Anacapa, and then
return to
the mainland. All of the distances between the islands looked
kayakable, and it looked like a beautiful place from the
pictures in the National Park Service Map. We started
planning the trip eagerly , using information gleaned from the
internet, books, and maps. It didn't take long before we were bummed
out. The biggest problem we were facing was the campground
locations. You are only allowed to camp at the 5 major campgrounds
(which aren't conveniently located for paddlers). Furthermore, only
2 of the islands have fresh drinking water available, you aren't allowed
to land on most beaches (to protect wildlife). We also soon learned
that the winds on the outer islands are frequently over 30 knots -
sometimes even stronger due to their location relative to Point
Conception. We decided keep planning the trip. We wished that we had some sort of guide where we could find out everything we needed to know in one place. It was a lot of work making the necessary phone calls, and gathering all of the (varied and sometimes erroneous) information. No single guide exists for kayaking from island to island (to our knowledge), and so I decided to make one after I returned home. During the trip, we learned many things that would be useful to people who want to plan a similar expedition to the four main Channel Islands. We later discovered that a number of people have done similar trips before. In fact, a staff member from Island Packers named Jimmy had paddled out to, around, and back from this chain of islands twice! We were appreciative to have his advice during our travels. There are many reports on the web by people who have kayaked from the Mainland to Anacapa. If you know the right keywords to use, you can use Google to find reports of people who have even paddled kayaks straight from the mainland to Santa Barbara Island and back! (Those guys are pretty brave)
Pictured above is a map out the route we eventually took while paddling the chain of the four main Channel Islands. The Red paddle route is created from our GPS track while kayaking. Using Photoshop, I drew in the green and blue routes by hand. As you can see from the map, we only paddled three of the four major crossings. Our main hesitation in doing the paddle from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz was the necessary distance (27 miles) from Becher's Pier to Prisoner's Harbor. We were concerned that there wouldn't be any emergency landing spots along the way. Now that we have seen the Northern Coast of Santa Cruz island (by Island Packers' boat), we are certain that it could be done. The best source for kayaking information (other than this page, of course) is the National Parks Page of Kayaking the Channel Islands. Their page is handy for paddling on certain islands, but not much use for inter island kayak travel. You may wish to call them and have them mail you their kayak specific brochures. They make a separate brochure for each island that is not available on the web. If you are looking for a map of the Channel Islands, I'd highly recommend the National Geographic map. No other map we found had as much detail and information for the size. We considered using the USGS maps, but they would have cost way too much, had too much detail, weren't water-proof, and would have taken up too much space. We used nautical charts downloaded (for free) from NOAA. Scroll to the bottom of this page to download a JPG image of each map - easily printed and laminated at Kinkos.
Unless you want to paddle out and back, the first thing you will need to
do when planning your trip is to arrange for transport to the
islands. If you just want to go "the easy way" (i.e.
downwind) I'd suggest taking an Island
Packers Boat out to San Miguel, and paddle your way West to East with
the prevailing Northwesterly. We were very impressed with the
service and staff of Island Packers. Their trips out to The next thing to do (once you have arranged transport to the islands) is to make reservations for camping. This was the only hassle of the entire trip (and it was minor). The NPS charges a $13.65 cancellation fee for any campsite reservation that you change in addition to the standard $15 per site reservation fee. I thought that they would be flexible with our reservations given our dependency on the fickle weather. This was not the case - when I called the main line to change a reservation, the operator was very rude, and made it a hassle to exchange just one day of reservations. Fortunately, it all worked out.
One thing that we initially found confusing was the distinction between backcountry and Campground camping. The Channel Islands operates 4 campgrounds on the main islands (see red dots on map below). These campgrounds cost $15 per night. You are also allowed to do "beach" or "backcountry" camping for free - but you make the reservation separately. To make a backcountry or beach reservation, you will need to call (805) 658-5711. Only campground sites (the $15 ones) can be reserved on the web. Below, I have made a map which I hope clarifies the camping situation. The red dots are clickable for our view of each campground.
These
are the only places you are allowed to camp. You can
see that it's a comparatively long way from the red dot on Santa Rosa (Bechers bay campground) to the Blue Dot on Santa Cruz
Island (Del Norte Campground). (Also to get to that Blue Dot on Santa Cruz called "Del
Norte," you will have to hike a hilly 4 mile route!) It's about
27 miles of kayaking from the Santa Rosa Campground in Becher's Bay.
For most people, this is too much mileage The
Western 75% of Santa Cruz Island is owned by the Nature Conservancy, and
they do not open camping on any of this land to the public.
You can get a permit for landing on their property for
day use if you needed a break, but no overnight. Day use allows you
to go about 50 feet from shore (and no more). I asked a friend of mine to pull some strings at the Nature Conservancy (he works
for them), but nothing ever came of it. Because of the distance and
our uncertainty about the weather, we did not paddle this section.
Now that we have seen the landscape (via an Island Packers boat) We now
feel confident that we could have paddled this section. For those
wishing to make the crossing, the first
good landing on the North Side is Cueva Valdez. Prior to that
(heading from Santa Rosa) the island is sheer cliffs. After that (working
your way East), there are a number of good Once you have figured out the above details, the rest of the paddle should be pretty standard. Photographs indicate that the islands are beautiful in the spring, but we decided to go in September (After Labor Day) to reduce the chances of strong winds. Average wind speeds a little lower during September and October. We decided to mark off 14 days on the calendar and only paddle when when the conditions matched our abilities. The winds were unbelievably strong the first 3 days we were out there. But as we discovered, if you wait long enough, the wind and waves can become placid too. So,
which islands are the best to see? When I spoke with Bill Faulkner -
the helpful park
ranger at the Ventura location (805) 658-5734, his Heading
to Santa Rosa Island by kayak, you have two choices (depending on the time
of year)
Santa
Cruz Island is probably the most visited island of the four. There
are good kayaking opportunities here (just for short trips). And
most of the cave exploring goes on here. We didn't see any sizeable
caves on San Miguel or Santa Rosa. In order to do as much as
possible by Kayak, we went to Prisoners instead of Scorpion. It was an awesome 8.7 mile paddle from Prisoners to Scorpion. We were very
glad to do this paddle because the views are stunning. As you near
Scorpion, there are lots of caves to explore (and a lot more
people). We even went through some tunnels with
our double 22'
kayak. The best kayaking (in my opinion) is along the North side of
the island - and the scenery is fantastic. The entire North side is
beautiful and rugged - rock. The south side is grassy and a little
less rocky. The campground at Traveling
from Santa Cruz to Anacapa might be the most popular crossing (of the four
possible crossings being San Miguel to Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa to Santa
Cruz, Santa Cruz to Anacapa, and Anacapa to mainland). I suspect
that this crossing is also the most likely to be calm because Santa Cruz
Island creates a significant lee unlike some of the smaller islands.
With a strong Northwesterly, you might still get pretty calm conditions
1/2 of the way to Anacapa. The day we When
we made our reservations, we planned to spend 3 nights on Anacapa.
This was probably a mistake - we ended up spending just one night on the
island. The island has about 2 miles of trails to hike, and you are
pretty restricted as to where you can go in other parts of the
island. We were able to paddle from Santa Cruz, leisurely It's
worth preparing for the hoist (also called a davit) before you depart on this trip. The
paddle from Anacapa to the mainland has a new hazard - you will be
crossing one of the busiest shipping channels in California. Those
giant ships look small from far away, but they get closer more quickly than
you might imagine. The day we decided to leave Anacapa was fairly
blustery. By the time we were on the water, wind waves were
averaging 4 feet crest to trough, and there were white caps
everywhere. Being in the trough of a wave makes it difficult to see
who is coming, so I'd suggest picking a calmer start than we did for this crossing (the
shipping lane is really close to Anacapa - so you will be out of it just a
few miles after leaving). We were somewhat concerned by the Landing in Oxnard provided us with the last challenge of our trip - getting the car. Since I hadn't stashed a bike at the Oxnard harbor, I had to run in sandals to do the pick up. I'd advise planning alternative transportation prior to departing - in case you have to land in Oxnard and your car is in Ventura. Kayak safety is too broad of a topic to discuss in this short write up. Obviously undertaking a trip of this scope can be dangerous. Please be responsible and make sure that you and everyone in your group is very well prepared for all of the possible dangers that can be encountered on this trip. Some of the main dangers to kayakers are hypothermia, collisions with rocks, injury during surf launch / landings, and collisions with other vessels. There are many precautions that one can take to be prepared to deal with and prevent these dangers. Other dangers, which are more difficult to prepare for can include drowning and aquatic predators. No matter how much time you have on the water, one of the most important skills an experienced kayaker can have is knowing when to stay on land. Charts section I converted these charts to images. I downloaded the free charts from NOAA, but you need to have special software to view and print. I converted them to images so they are easier to use and print for the average person. If you are using a GPS, you may also find this GPS file useful. It contains several waypoints along the perimeter of the islands and the waypoints for Oxnard and Ventura harbors (and the three "Virtual" geocaches present on the Channel Islands)
Island Botany Section
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