Friday, February 12-Santa Cruz Island

A two hour boat ride from the harbor in Oxnard will take you to the Channel Island National Park. We boarded the "Islander" at 9:30 am and headed out to one of the least visited National Parks. The weather, once again, was beautiful and I almost feel guilty because of the cold weather back home. On the way out to the islands we did see one gray whale, or at least we saw the spray from his blow hole. The captain did take us past Anacapa Island to see the iconic arch and the lighthouse. We had hoped to go on the back side of the island to see the elephant seals but because of time constraints we had to get to Santa Cruz.

waiting to board

Tall ships on the way out

The arch of the south end of Anacapa

The Anacapa Light

welcome to Prisoner's Cove

Once we landed, we took the guided hike on the Nature Conservancy's trail to Pelican bay. Sharon and I only hiked half way and stopped to lunch on a beautiful overlook before walking back and checking out the wetlands area. Unfortunately, we did not see the endemic Island fox or the Island scrub jay.

The disappointment of not seeing the fox or scrub jay was soon forgotten when we enjoyed pods of dolphins and Orca whales. What a fitting ending to a perfect day.

Common Dolphin

Orca, Killer Whales

Tall Ships back in the harbor