Fourteen miles west of Ventura Harbor, Anacapa Island rose from heaving waters like the peg end of a thole pin–straight up-and-down cliffs with no place to dock. Timing the ocean’s surge in the tiny landing cove, our captain placed the nose of his boat against the rock and rammed the engines forward at full thrust.
Crew people shouted at us to hurry, one at a time, over the bow onto the flooding steps of a rusty ladder and up to safety, a platform constructed on a rocky ledge just above the tops of the breaking waves. Mrs. Davis thought this was all quite thrilling.
After a moment to catch our breath, we climbed a combination of ladder rungs and concrete steps to the top, a grassy plain that makes up the surface of the island.
Our voyage from Ventura Harbor took just over an hour and we arrived at 10:30 a.m., escorted by a pod of dolphins surfing in the bow wake.
Atop the island, we walked past noisy throngs of nesting seagulls to the headquarters building and met Dave Begun, a volunteer naturalist, part of a group of 30 who assist the park service.
Dave briefed us on Anacapa’s natural history, beginning with the intriguing observation that the Channel islands are so important as nesting habitat that "There would be virtually no sea birds in Southern California if it were not for these islands."
East island, where we landed, consists of about 100 acres and is the breeding site for 10,000 Western gulls. They come in March and stay until September. The female lays 2-3 eggs and the chicks hatch in May. Within six weeks they're the same size as their parents but they are a different color–a dirty brown–until they reach full plumage in about four years.
Most of Channel Islands National Park is under water. Two major ocean streams meet here and generate more diversity of sea animals in Santa Barbara channel than anywhere else in the world. The confluence of cold and warm currents causes a churning and stirring up of nutrients that enriches the water with food for birds and sea animals. Blue and humpback whales feed in the channel all summer long. A total of 28 species of whales and dolphins inhabit the area and Dave told us that we were liable to see a whale at any time.
Anacapa has no trees and most of the island is covered by non-native plant species. In a mistake that compounded itself, the Coast Guard brought rabbits to the island in the 1930s. After the rabbits ate the vegetation, ice plant was brought in to control erosion. We have now discovered that ice plant poisons the soil by injecting salt from the air so it is being systematically eradicated.
Buena High School students from Ventura come to the island to pull out non-native plants as part of an ongoing science project. They dry the ice plant and spread it on trails for dust control.
Anacapa’s most famous plant, Coreopsis, normally blooms from mid-March to mid-April. We missed it this year, however. Early rain the previous October was followed by a spell of warm weather that fooled the six-foot plants. They bloomed and peaked in February and went dormant early. When they are in full bloom, the golden glow is visible from the mainland.
Dave ended his tour at Inspiration Point, the west end of the island which has views of Middle and Western Anacapa.
Gail and I walked around the north perimeter and back to the campground in the middle of the island where we had a picnic at one of the tables, serenaded by several hundred hungry gulls.
When it was time to leave, we boarded the boat much as we had disembarked in the morning–closely following crew instructions and timing our scrambles over the bow to the flow of waves crashing into the cliff.
A pair of humpback whales escorted us partway back to Ventura Harbor, breaching and blowing and sounding as the sun set behind them. We felt as if we received more than our money’s worth for the day’s trip.
Crew people shouted at us to hurry, one at a time, over the bow onto the flooding steps of a rusty ladder and up to safety, a platform constructed on a rocky ledge just above the tops of the breaking waves. Mrs. Davis thought this was all quite thrilling.
After a moment to catch our breath, we climbed a combination of ladder rungs and concrete steps to the top, a grassy plain that makes up the surface of the island.
Our voyage from Ventura Harbor took just over an hour and we arrived at 10:30 a.m., escorted by a pod of dolphins surfing in the bow wake.
Atop the island, we walked past noisy throngs of nesting seagulls to the headquarters building and met Dave Begun, a volunteer naturalist, part of a group of 30 who assist the park service.
Dave briefed us on Anacapa’s natural history, beginning with the intriguing observation that the Channel islands are so important as nesting habitat that "There would be virtually no sea birds in Southern California if it were not for these islands."
East island, where we landed, consists of about 100 acres and is the breeding site for 10,000 Western gulls. They come in March and stay until September. The female lays 2-3 eggs and the chicks hatch in May. Within six weeks they're the same size as their parents but they are a different color–a dirty brown–until they reach full plumage in about four years.
Most of Channel Islands National Park is under water. Two major ocean streams meet here and generate more diversity of sea animals in Santa Barbara channel than anywhere else in the world. The confluence of cold and warm currents causes a churning and stirring up of nutrients that enriches the water with food for birds and sea animals. Blue and humpback whales feed in the channel all summer long. A total of 28 species of whales and dolphins inhabit the area and Dave told us that we were liable to see a whale at any time.
Anacapa has no trees and most of the island is covered by non-native plant species. In a mistake that compounded itself, the Coast Guard brought rabbits to the island in the 1930s. After the rabbits ate the vegetation, ice plant was brought in to control erosion. We have now discovered that ice plant poisons the soil by injecting salt from the air so it is being systematically eradicated.
Buena High School students from Ventura come to the island to pull out non-native plants as part of an ongoing science project. They dry the ice plant and spread it on trails for dust control.
Anacapa’s most famous plant, Coreopsis, normally blooms from mid-March to mid-April. We missed it this year, however. Early rain the previous October was followed by a spell of warm weather that fooled the six-foot plants. They bloomed and peaked in February and went dormant early. When they are in full bloom, the golden glow is visible from the mainland.
Dave ended his tour at Inspiration Point, the west end of the island which has views of Middle and Western Anacapa.
Gail and I walked around the north perimeter and back to the campground in the middle of the island where we had a picnic at one of the tables, serenaded by several hundred hungry gulls.
When it was time to leave, we boarded the boat much as we had disembarked in the morning–closely following crew instructions and timing our scrambles over the bow to the flow of waves crashing into the cliff.
A pair of humpback whales escorted us partway back to Ventura Harbor, breaching and blowing and sounding as the sun set behind them. We felt as if we received more than our money’s worth for the day’s trip.
