Sea Caving.
L.A. was not my favorite place and also not my least favorite place. The best part about my visit to Los Angeles, other than the fact that I got to stay with my old roommate and one of my favorite people, Erika, and our cat Duke, was Channel Islands National Park. I've decided I'm going to use this post to tell you all about it and save L.A. for my next one in a few days.
Located off the shore of Ventura, California, about an hour or so north of L.A., the national park is made up of a few islands. Thatcher and I chose to visit Santa Cruz Island. Waking up almost too early to function in order to account for the predictable traffic that we were about to run into, we headed out to Ventura for a nine o'clock boat ride to the beautiful island. There are a few marine parks in the national park system, in case you were wondering. I'm sure there are some that I am missing, but two are at the bottom of Florida, Biscayne and Dry Tortugas. Biscayne I spoke about earlier in my trip even though I only visited the 5% of land the park had to offer, and Dry Tortugas, off the shore of Key West, I decided I didn't have the time or resources to make it out to. I figure I'll save that for another trip. Channel Islands National Park, however, was well worth the slight splurge. Pro tip should you decide to make it out there, plan ahead and rent or bring your own kayaks. With the promise of sea caves, Thatcher and I were not risking going without kayaks. Opting out of the guided tour we decided to rent individually and explore on our own; best decision ever. After checking in, carrying our kayaks to the ferry, and trying not to hurl during the course of the hour long boat ride out to the park, we finally made it.
The island in front of us was made up of a wall of sea cliffs, the pacific below faded shades of blue and clear as day, kelp forests covering the majority of it especially close to shore, and colorful rocks lining the edge of the water and boat dock. Kelp forests are what look like huge branches growing out of the sea floor. At the ends and along the stem small, yellow, air filled buds sprouted off of it along with long, slick, textured leaves as thin as paper. Giving them a small tug purely out of curiosity, I was pleased to find them strong and securely in place. With every wind gust the leaves exposed on the surface of the water flapped in unison and made it look like a chorus of fish tales waving to us. Very carefully setting up my belongings in the dry bag on the back of my kayak and getting my camera ready just in case of submersion, I not so gracefully stumbled into my kayak along the shoreline of rippling waves.
The kelp forest at the beginning almost made it impossible to paddle, their heavy, overlapping leaves clinging onto my oar with every stroke. Slowly taking it all in, we finally made it out of the majority of kelp when something popped out of the water, surprising us. Staring in disbelief, I noticed the whiskers first and the shiny black head second as the sea lion casually popped out of the kelp no more than twelve feet in front of us. Curiosity got the best of him, I guess. I know it definitely got the best of us. We slowly followed where we thought he went only to have him pop up behind us. At one point it seemed as though he was following Thatcher. Gliding alongside of us a bit longer, he gradually faded out of site as we kept paddling among the giant sea boulders and cliffs. I guess it makes sense that they would stay among the kelp, it probably acts as a good home and natural protection against predators with it being such a thick forest and hard to navigate through. I loved looking down between the leaves and seeing a whole other world below, so vastly different than the one I saw from above. Later that day we ended up seeing another sea lion, maybe the same one, I don't know, jump fully out of the water the way that dolphins do when they jump from wave to wave.
Having yet to find a sea cave we paddled close to the cliff's edge and kept finding what looked to be caves but were really an illusion. Then, finally, we found one. Small and incredibly dark, we were both way too excited not to go in. A smile, smirk, and a quick glance was all it took to have the same thought. We put on our helmets and headed into our first sea cave. Tucked along the side of a cliff like a very small inlet / indent, the waves came in and out every minute or so and pushed us back and forth as we waited like sitting ducks for the right time to proceed. Thatcher going first, he paddled ahead and rode the small wave into the dark cave. I was next. The narrow cave walls didn't curve too much and opened up to a very small beach where we pulled our boats up and hopped out. There wasn't room for much in there, that's for sure. The light pouring in from outside world was blinding, that's how dark it was inside the sea cave. Every few minutes the water would pull out enough to leave our kayaks on dry land and then surge back in at such a fast pace that we almost lost our boats the first time it happened. After playing around with our cameras and getting whatever shots we could, we rode that same wave like a rollercoaster back out to daylight and the many seagulls calling this particular corner of cliff home.
We decided to go just a bit farther knowing that the way back was going to be rough and incredibly windy. This part felt more like we were in the open ocean than before and the waves, while in reality probably only six feet, felt like they were easily closer to ten. They rolled and pushed us along our journey, guiding our kayaks whichever way they saw fit. The most memorable part about the day was this moment. I remember not even needing to paddle since the waves were carrying me and two big, beautiful, and graceful pelicans swooped by right at that moment. They were, I'd guess, maybe ten feet above the water and they were so close to us I could see every detail on them. They're black beady eyes, huge bills, and large wings gliding through the air. I turned to Thatcher and shouted "I'm in Jurassic Park!" That's exactly what it felt like, it was magical. The ride back towards shore, however, was not. The wind was exceptional that day and every ounce of energy I had went into telling myself I could do it if I wanted the PB & J. I did really want the PB & J, I was starving by then. With every stroke I felt like no progress was being made. I kept jokingly shouting "Andre" to any sea lion that would listen, hoping they would come and pull us to shore so I could give my arms a break. By the way, that's a movie reference, and one that Thatcher and I use to love as kids. Finally coming around the bend, we saw the shore. It was rough, but we made it. PB & J success.
The way the park works is this - you either take a 9 or 10 am boat out to the island and a 4 or 4:30 pm back to the mainland. Since that was the case, we had the whole day to see as much as we could. Taking advantage of the last few hours, we set off in the other direction, wind howling on the way out this time instead of the way back. The corner of the sea cliff drastically shot down from the top and when it reached the water tunneled out creating yet another sea cave. Helmets on. This one was so much different than the last. For starters, it was much larger. The small entryway on one side opened up to a larger room, hidden rocks jutting out of the water, waves crashing up along the sea walls. The other side's opening was closer to thirty feet high and incredibly wide. That was the last smooth sailing we'd see that day after turning the bend only to find the wind pushing us back towards the cave. The energy it would take to push forward was just not worth it. Giving in and riding the wind back through the cave, we headed for shore to turn in our kayaks. Hiking is also an option on this island so we did a very short hike to the top of the same cliff we had just kayaked under and sat in awe at the view. The perfect island edge cutting in and out in the distance and a large train of colorful kayaks in line to board the boat down below, I never wanted to leave. The boat ride back was rough, really rough. It probably didn't help that the captain decided we needed to stop and see the dolphins that never appeared on the horizon for a few minutes, bobbing up and down, helpless to the power of the ocean.
Worth every penny.
That was by far one of the best national parks. Not my favorite, but definitely worth seeing. It was so unique and interesting and so much fun to kayak around. If you don't want to kayak, I'm sure hiking is great as well, I just can't imagine having missed the sea caves.
Next post - L.A.
- G.
The Photo:
Our kayaks from inside the small sea cave.
Santa Cruz Island.
Channel Islands National Park.
6/27/27.
