Tips, Info on Visiting the Channel Islands near LA?

[knick1959]

My wife and I are going to LA in August. It seems only natural to progress with our National Park checklist and visit the Channel Islands. I've found much info in books and online, but I've still got some open questions that would be best answered by folks with first-hand experience. Anyone?

We plan on basing ourselves in Ventura. We want to visit the apparently automatic islands of Santa Cruz and Anacapa via ferry. We also have a hankering to get to Santa Rosa, but are looking for a puddle-jumper flight option rather than a long, wasteful boat ride (on sea-sickening open ocean).

Who's done these islands, please? Someone in another thread (I'll invite them here) mentioned schedule "the boat" way beforehand. Which boat is this? Is the ferry to the closer islands usually fully booked in advance?

Has anyone tried a ferry and/or flight to Santa Rosa? Is a flight hard to arrange ... I'm aware it may not be the cheapest plane ride and I probably can't use points .

Overall, we're figuring those 3 islands in about 3 full days. Am I making a mistake in your opinion, spending too much or too little time on these? Or in our distribution.

I'll cross reference to the starter thread where I discuss more details, but this was oriented towards arranging the major air transportation, which I have already arranged. I'll also add a reference there back to here:

https://saverocity.com/forum/threads/not-familiar-with-los-angeles-airports-is-ont-ok.393320/

Thanks in advance.

 

[ArtVandelay]

(i live in southern california and tried doing this trip last summer)

before you book anything look into working with one of the local outfitters. THey will be able to do all the heavy lifting for you (boats, permits, logistics, etc..). Even if you dont book with them youll get a pretty good idea of what youll need to do.

Each island is different. some are full of birds, others animals, some are barren, some are only accessible as a day trip, some require permits, some are known for their aquatic sights. Figure out what you want to see/do and picking your islands wont be hard.

 

[Justinlca]

My phone is about to die so I might respond to this over a couple separate replies. My first advice would be to base yourself out of Santa Barbara instead of Ventura. It might be less convenient for visiting the Channel Islands, but it's probably better in every other way. It's a beautiful city in general that is very walkable with lots of nice restaurants and many excellent wineries in the area. If that's of interest at all, I can provide plenty of wine tasting advice (and some restaurant advice as well).

I will talk about the Channel Islands in a separate post.

 

[Justinlca]

As far as I know, the only boat transport company that has permits with the National Park Service for the Channel Islands is islandpackers.com. The boat trips themselves CAN be pretty enjoyable, but sometimes can be rough. My girlfriend gets seasick easily and tends to need medecine most of these trips. Anacapa is the shortest though.

Anacapa is a very small island. There is a hiking trail that circumnavigates it that is only about two miles. It is primarily a seagull nesting ground. And, the island is essentially a plateau so there are great cliff views.

Santa Cruz, on the other hand, is a very large island. There are two possible docks to enter the island...Prisoners and Scorpion. I have only done Prisoners, but I would recommend that one because it is right next to the Nature Conservatory side of the island. You need special permission to enter that area, but there is often a tour guide who comes with the boat trips and you can take a guided hike with them. I recommend this because you will learn a lot about the island and the Conservancy land is very well protected. I saw a bald eagle there for example. The dominant animal on Santa Cruz island is the Channel Island Fox. They are plentiful at night, but I doubt you will see one during the day.

What I love about Santa Rosa is the untouched beaches. This is how I imagine much of the California beaches looked before people screwed them up. I visited during a particularly crowded weekend and, even then, I would go on hikes andhardly see anyone.

I don't know if it is possible to visit San Miguel right now, but the dominant animals there are seals and sea lions. There are several beaches that are prominant nesting and mating grounda for them. All hikes there have to be guided because it used to be a military testing area and there is supposedly possible unexploded ordinance.

Other than hiking and nature viewing, the only other major activities I can think of are kayaking and scuba diving.

 

[Justinlca]

Joshua Tree is worth visiting, buy I want to mention a less rugged alternative. Palm Springs has a cute downtown area and it is possible to take a gondola to a relatively high point on San Jacinto mountain and then hike to the top. It's not an easy hike, but not that difficult either. San Jacinto is the highest peak in Southern California.

 

[Justinlca]

If you aren't pressed for time on your trip from Anaheim to the Ventura area, consider taking the 10 freeway West to the PCH and taking that until it hits the 101. You drive through Malibu this way and the coastal scenery is beautiful. If you wanted to stop at a beach along the way, I would recommend El Matador. It's completely cliff enclosed (you have to take a stairway down to it) and quite beautiful.