HOME ARTICLES ABOUT LINKS CONTACT
We
do not collect, store, or sell personally identifiable information.
Third party advertiser pixels may be present.
Continued
navigation of the site will assume consent. Accept Privacy
Policy Opt-Out
DESTINATION
IDEAS
California
Nevada
Other
West
Bargain
Travel West guide to unique destinations, sight-seeing, history and
culture, budget travel vacation ideas for the U.S., Canada and Caribbean.
Travel Bargain destination
in California
ANACAPA ISLAND
Cruise to Unspoiled Nature on the California Coast
Mama seagulls look
up at you from their perch on the green-gray speckled eggs of their
lazy nests of matted dry grass among the brambles and blooms
beside the walking trail. They seem less aggressive than you’d
think, almost more curious at the interlopers who have landed on their
isolated island retreat. It almost seems as if they liked you to rest
them a spell and tend the eggs so they can fly off to find a snack. What
strikes you about Anacapa Island in late spring is the pristine desolateness.
The pureness of nature just within distant sight of the California Coast
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of five volcanic rock islands
which stretch along the Southern California coast from Oxnard to Santa
Barbara, forming the Channel Islands National Park. Anacapa Island, is
the nearest to shore, the smallest and easiest to visit about 14 miles
from the coast of Ventura. Regular cruises to the island are provided
by the Island Packers cruise company based in Oxnard at the Channel Islands
Harbor.
A three hour
tour to the island begins with a journey by boat from the harbor past
the sailing sloops and stacked
colorful kayaks awaiting the afternoons sport, dodging
massive freight ships plying the channel waters on their way north to
San Francisco or south to Long Beach, off-shore oil platforms in the
distance, like hives of metal weeds sprouting from a smooth waveless
ocean, the occasional nose of a curious harbor seal, brief flashes of
frolicking dolphins gliding through the current, with a eye out for a
fluke of a migrating gray whale. Its a little late in the season for
the annual migration, but soon the mighty giant blue whale will be feeding
in the deep shelf beds, so there is always a chance you might spot one.
Motoring around the Arch Rock forty foot high needle eye rising from
the sea which is the signature of Anacapa Island’s southern tip,
you arrive at the deep rock cove of the boat landing to climb the steep
steps to the top of a cliff. The steps had recently to be refurbished
from the wear of seas and rust of time, but are now renewed new and secure
again.
On the island,
the only signs of civilization are a small park Visitor Center, a few
picnic tables and outhouse style bathrooms and the Anacapa
Lighthouse, (the old giant Fresnel lens can be seen the in the visitor's
center) with a few buildings once used by the coast guard, the rest is
open nature surrounded in all directions by vista views of the sea. The
island is virtually ringed by 200 foot cliffs to the ocean below, with
the ladder of the landing harbor the only way to reach the water.
There
is no walking along the beach on Anacapa, and no shade trees, just
California desert chaparral secluded and separated from the mainland
by sea, untouched
for millions of years. Not even Native American settlements. The Indians
fished along the shores by never bothered to try to live here, as there
is no natural potable water. Just you, the seagulls and pelicans, and
from about late February to the end of April, a rainbow of color
provided by a
rich mix
of native wildflowers, turning to the golden grasses of the long days
of warm summer, when the sunflowers and Buckwheat bloom. You have a
few hours to explore another world, like a visit to a distant planet,
before
the inevitable return to the bustle-hustle of modern life.
The
cruise to the island can be taken throughout the year with each
season offering a different view of the cycles of life on the shore islands.
It is possible to camp on Anacapa Island, but you must bring everything
you need with you and cart away all your trash when you go. To camp you
must make a reservation with the National Park Service. In addition
to day cruise excursions to Anacapa Island, the Island Packers offer
whale watching
cruises from Oxnard. California Gray Whales migrate from
late December until March and Pacific Blue Whales appear in the food
rich seas off the island channel in the summer months. Nature shore cruises
of the islands and sunset dinner cruises of the Channel Islands Harbor
are also offered by Island Packers. © Bargain
Travel West
Find the best hotel and travel deals in Oxnard on TripAdvisor
Web Info
Island
Packers Cruises
Channel Island
National Park
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel West and WLEV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
See these other articles
on Bargain Travel West:
WHALE
WATCHING AND WINE TASTING IN MENDOCINO
CHANNEL ISLANDS MARITIME MUSEUM
BODEE’S RESTAURANT & TAVERN - OJAI
Discover the west with budget travel ideas at Bargain Travel West ©2006-2019 Winged Lion Entertainment Ventures, LLC
