Life on the Road with June and Dave: Channel Islands National Park

We spent 4 days in the Ventura, CA area. We went to Santa Cruz Island of the Channel Islands National Park. That was a beautiful place with an interesting history for an island. The other days we did some chores, Dave did some work and we hung out. There’s alot to see, but sometimes you do need a break and a little reset.

The ride over to Santa Cruz Island was an hour boat ride. Lucky for me (lol), the water was rough the day we went. Dave got to see a feeding frenzy, dolphins and a whale. I on the other hand did not. A feeding frenzy is when there are lots of fish (thousands) in one place and the dolphins find them, then the pelicans see the dolphins and the whale hears it as well. They all just “pig out.” Apparently it is quite a site. The dolphins are a smaller species than we are used to. They swim constantly from birth to death to stay warm. We also learned that the whale “blowing” out the hole on his head is actually a sneeze to clear the area to take a breath. Dave was not able to get a picture of the whale, but did get the feeding frenzy and dolphins.

There were several tent campers on the boat. You can bring your supplies over and stay in the campground on the island. You have to bring everything and take everything out, garbage included. It looked like a cool way to experience the island, but not my thing.

Santa Cruz Island is partly owned by the National Park Service and partly owned by the Nature Conservancy.

There was a volunteer who led a hike, so we did that to learn about the island. The island was originally inhabited by the Chumash in the 1500s. They lived with the land. They had boats that they made and would take extra supplies to trade on the mainland. It was a long boat ride and to do it in a canoe… I am at a loss for words. By the 1890’s all the Chumash had either passed, couldn’t survive on the island anymore or were relocated to missions. The missions kept good records, so many can trace their heritage. There is a lemonade berry plant on the island that the Chumash used to make a drink. Guess everyone likes lemonade.

Once we finished with the volunteer we continued on to Potato Harbor. Gorgeous!!

The island then became a ranching island. They grew olives, grapes, grain and raised cattle and sheep. They had a bread making operation on the island and marino wool from the sheep.

They planted eucalyptus trees because they grew fast, provided a good wind break and they could also use them for wood.

There was a bird called the scrub jay on the island that is only found on that island. We did not get to see one. According to the signage there are nearly 150 plant and animal species that only occur on the island. One other prevalent animal on the island is the fox. They believe that they were brought to the island by the Chumash to kill rodents and other things that were eating their food. In 1990 a survey was done and there were only about 15 foxes left on the island due to the Golden Eagles on the island. This became a project of the park service. They relocated the golden eagles and now there are 3,000 foxes on the island. Unfortunately, we did not see one of them either. There is a mineral occurring on the island called diatomaceous earth. This was familiar to me because my Dad used it in our swimming pool filter.