We made it to the Channel Islands! After leaving LA, we spent the night in the Ventura River Preserve in Ojai. We woke up with some frost on Yogi.
After packing up the tent, we made our way down to Island Packers to catch our ride to Santa Cruz Island. Water conditions were pretty rough going out with 6 foot swells. It was a very rocky ride and it also started raining a bit before we got to the island. Needless to say we got very wet as we were sitting in a splash zone in the back of the boat most of the ride.
We arrived at Prisoner’s Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. We decided to do a guided hike to Pelican Bay which is in nature conservancy land. During the hike we learned the story behind Prisoner’s Harbor: Mexico decided they didn’t want Spain or any other country to have the islands off the coast of California. So Mexico sent up their burliest prisoners and banditos to the Channels Island to stake claim of the islands. They left the prisoners with a small herd of cattle and some tools to survive off of. The prisoners obviously wanted to escape so they cut the hide off the cattle and made boats to sail off the island. But because the hides were freshly cut the blood attracted sharks which ate all the prisoners. And that’s how the harbor got it’s name.
The rain was on and off during the hike but we still got to see some cool views, an island fox and some island scrub jays. When we finished the hike the rain really started coming down but what it left made up for everything. ļæ¼
We boarded the boat back to Ventura, it was a much smoother ride going back. And we got a great goodbye from the sky.
It was a beautiful end to a great day! Next we’re headed to Joshua Tree National Park. Stay tuned!
MoLeisureXventures 