The Channel Islands

Sunday October 5, 2005 LOCATION:Santa Cruz Island, Smugglers Cove GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 34 24.245N,119 41.548W
We have just completed a few days around the Channel Islands. We departed Santa Barbara a little early because there was a 940+ foot cruise ship coming in and they needed the extra space. We headed for the more remote island of Santa Rosa first and went the a cove on the far side called Johnson's Lee. A friend asked me the other day if this trip was more than I could have imagined. I realized at the end of this day, these were the moments and memories that made it just that.
First, we took the road less traveled, left civilization behind and headed for a place where there was no one to be found. On the way there we were visited by some dolphins riding on our bow current. They were a little shy but entertained us well. Matthew also pulled out his second top tooth with a little help from dad. yeah.
When we found a cove to stay in we had to choose our way carefully through a big kelp bed and not foul the prop. As we anchored we discovered on the shore was a large colony of elephant seals. The islands are privately owned so were not allowed to go to shore without a permit but they were fun to watch and listen to from a distance. The islands themselves don't look like much, very barren and dry. But the history behind them can fill volumes. On Santa Rosa Island they had found the most complete skeletal remains of full pygmy mammoths in 1994, there are 3,000 year old cemeteries, fire areas over 12,000 years old, and tree stump 16,000 years old. Amazing, and it tied in well to our history lessons.
After we anchored, Tristan decided to practice climbing the mast. A new all time favorite activity for the boys once they are harnessed in. Once up there, he was able to spot Manta Rays swimming around for us to see. That was a first for all of us to see them in the wild. A baby was following it's mother around like a little duck. We were all speechless. That night I went out to star gaze and realized the water was alive with the glow of phosphorescence or bio-luminescence. We had seen them off the wake of the boat or flushing down the toilet in the middle of the night but never so active like this. As I understand it, the phosphorescence are little microbes in the water that have the ability to glow like that when they are disturbed. As only boys could, they discovered they could disturb the creatures just by spitting in the water, great fun.
We spend the next two days spent exploring Santa Cruz Island and one of the largest known caves 120 ft high and 600 feet long. It gets dark and narrow in there fast so we explored only the first portion of it. Tristan did spot his first Gray Whale for us. He was so excited. From there we headed into Ventura Harbor for some more laundry and re-provisioning. The boys are becoming such great travelers and don't blink at the idea of having to walk 2 miles to the grocery store. As with each stop, we met some wonderful people. Lawrence and Deb Foster on Spice are preparing their boat for a trip south this winter as well and were a lot of fun to swap stories with. Neil and Judi Larson kindly came to our boat and brought a bunch of fun, creative games for us all to play on our travels and directed us to our first geocache. A GPS guided treasure hunt. Let's just say the hunt was a success, we found the treasure, left some goodies for the next gang to find the spot and we will definitely be looking for more of these along the way.
Next destination, Marina del Rey and then the happiest place on earth (besides the boat) DISNEYLAND.
until then, sail on
love lisa and the boys

Quick reminder for the Google Earth, just click and paste the coordinates exactly as we have them written there above. The google program can be fickle about how the coordinates are entered.