Santa Cruz Island  (Channel Islands NP)

This was a totally different National Park experience for us.   First, an 1.5 hour boat ride to get over to the island across the Santa Barbara Channel.  We were warned that the ride could be pretty rough.  Coupled with the fact that the Santa Ana winds had been pretty intense the previous days we weren't sure what to expect, the cruise had been canceled 2 days before, but the ride wasn't too bad. 

The best part was on the ride over and again on the ride back we saw huge pods of dolphins - the boat crew said there were at least 2,000!

Once at the island, the boat left promising to return in 5 hours.   That's a bit of an odd feeling.  We decided to join a park volunteer walk for part of that time which was a great way to learn some of the history of the island - fascinating.  We had been promised we were most likely would see one of the endemic species of fox - which we did and hoped to see the jays - which we also did!   We hiked way up to look down at the water.  Overall an amazing day.   

January 2025