Since the last exciting episode of “where are the Kuakites”, we made our way from Point Conception through the beautiful Channel Islands, from northwest to southeast, and ended up setting foot on continental ground again in San Diego- for the first time since Crescent City. Apparently we only like touching the continent at the very far ends of California.
A great part of our trip to the Channel Islands was meeting up with Bryce and Ross’ parents, Bryce’s fiance Jen, and their cousin Peter, who has a snazzy Benteau 46 in Santa Barbara and brought everyone along for the week. He has also spent much of his life living in and working on the Channel Islands – it was a special treat to learn about the islands from him. Two boats and 8 people made for quite a crew!
After two nights at San Miguel island, and a beach walk to see the cute little Elephant Seals, we motored and sailed to the east end of Santa Rosa and dropped anchor at Becher’s Bay near a large pier. After a beautiful afternoon walk the wind picked up sufficiently to stop us from even ferrying between Kuaka and our buddy boat for the week, Alakai. We felt so bad for Ross, who was stuck on Kuaka, away from his family, that we threw a veritable party and I even instigated a card game.
The first day taught us a lesson and we hurried back to the boats early the next night to catch the wing foiling.
(this was actually the first night – but so pretty that I had to post it- Kuaka and Alakai are anchored off the pier in the middle of the photo)
After 2 days on Santa Rosa we headed to Santa Cruz island and another great hike, followed by some 2am misgivings about the anchorage as the wind blew from the south (directly into the anchorage) before veering to the northwest (protected). The boats are anchored behind the hook to the left of the point in the photo below, with Santa Rosa in the background.
With a windy forecast (gale) we parted ways with Alakai, taking Jen with us, and headed to the southern coast of Santa Cruz and a moderately protected anchorage named Alberts. 22 years ago we anchored in the same place and were chased off the beach by a wild pig. The pigs are long gone so we enjoyed a hike this time on the Nature Conservancy preserve.
It blew and blew, so much so that the dinghy flipped over on the beach, outboard and all. Santa Barbara island had gusts in the 50s but we only saw high 20s and very gusty. The beach where the dinghy flipped is in the center of the photo below with our anchorage hidden below cliffs to the left.
With the weather settling we sailed and motored to Catalina with a dying breeze and sprung for mooring buoys. We spent 2 nights at Cat Harbor and one at Avalon, experiencing both some more great hiking and some serious southern California glitz and excess.
Mid hike glitzy bison
Deer are a big deal apparently. It was fascinating to spent a week and a half exploring places where humans both destroyed ecosystems, and where there are now widespread efforts at restoration, most of which have been successful. It is also unique how in both the destruction and the restoration, human’s play god on tiny islands filled with unique and endemic species. It was nice to see how today’s efforts have been largely successful at restoring a semblance of ecological balance – although they included SWAT teams hunting down pigs and a NYT publicized battle over deer eradication.
Glitzy Avalon
Not too glitzy Bryce and Jen (they should take that as a compliment)
And very cool murals at the Marlin Club
And then we were off to our last stop in the US – San Diego. But more on that later! It was mostly eating delicious food and buying food, followed by miscellaneous boat part hunting. We also went from 5 people on board to 4, then to 3 – our current complement.
That’s all for now from the Kuakites! More soon – and I promise I’ll post more often.