Prisoner's Harbor on Santa Cruz Island

After spending a few nights in Santa Barbara, we struck out again for the Channel Islands, this time towards Santa Cruz Island. As usual, there were a few things to address before we pulled up the anchor and this time we were delayed by a slightly corroded connection in the engine ignition circuit that was preventing us from starting the engine with any regularity. Thanks to Lowell and Vincent's persistence and hard work, we were able to find the problem and fix it before we headed out. Although we feel very comfortable maneuvering the boat under sail it is prudent to have a quickly starting engine as a back-up.

We had a very smooth passage across the channel, close-hauled and approaching the island near it's midpoint on the north shore. Although we had hear about a string of anchorages along the coast, we read that we were unable to make landfall on most of the island because it belongs to the Nature Conservancy, who require a permit to make a landing. Because we wanted to spend a few days and do some exploring, we decided to run down the coast to the East for Prisoner's Harbor, just beyond the Nature Conservancy/State Park boundary.

The time of day and the dramatic grandeur of the island made for a glorious few hours as we cruised downwind along the shore in the soft evening light. We were tempted by numerous the tiny anchorages tucked into the sheer rocky cliffs in front of steep tree-filled valleys but we sailed on, entering Prisoner's and dropping the anchor just northeast of the large pier as darkness fell. The harbor that night was brilliant with green bio-luminescence and we played music on the deck as great seal comets chased scattering fishy shooting stars in the water below.

We spent the following day exploring the island, hiking up the winding, rough road to to the crest of the island to gaze on the ocean to the south.

We delighted in experiencing a new variation of the Southern California bio-region, especially in seeing a variety new plant species. Of great interest was the diversity of microclimates on the island, from a restored wetland near the anchorage to sweeping fields of fennel on the north-facing slopes to lush creek beds below grass-covered valleys sides and oak-filled ravines just over the State Park boundary. Aspect and proximity to water definitely played a part in the uniqueness of each of these zones but the island's complex geological make-up obviously factored greatly into the diversity of microclimates.

One of our most exciting encounters on the island was with a beautiful patch of shaggy parasol mushrooms high in the hills. We caught a few fish and made several excellent meals from the food we had gathered.

In our wanderings we also caught a few glimpses of the endemic, cat-like Channel Islands fox and met a few of the very friendly state park employees, getting to hear a bit more about the island.  

Before long we headed back to the mainland, this time to Ventura to pick up a few crew members. Our passage was an easy one, further east along along the island before heading northwest across the channel.

For more pictures visit our Picasa site at: https://picasaweb.google.com/103461058936929561161/SantaCruzIsland