Out of touch in the Channel Islands

Well hello there! We’ve been sorta outta touch since leaving mainland Cali and heading out to the channel Islands. Our SSB modem is out being upgraded so no radio updates either. But we’re back to society…sorta…on Catalina Island. We are currently sitting at an outside bar having drinks looking out at palm trees and a busy Mooring field….this place is crazy cool.

Isthmus Cove…the crazy side of Two Harbors. Believe it or not, this is a slow weekend…we are on the other side…way less crazy…unless u enter after dark like we did…CB!…your other Port

The Channel islands are anywhere from 18-30 miles off the California Coast between Santa Barbara and LA. When we left San Luis Obispo we were planning on rounding Point Conception (the cape horn of CA…or so ppl. said) and head to either Santa Barbara or San Miguel (the furthest north island) depending on the weather. But as typical with cruising, those plans changed. We had such a good weather window that day, we decided to go all the way to Santa Cruz Island. There was supposed to be some heavy winds coming in and Santa Cruz provided better protection than San Miguel. As it turned out…this was a very good decision on CB’s part (story to follow). Any who, our first anchorage was call Forney’s, which some crazy guy named Douglas who wrote numerous cruising guides said was the most beautiful anchorage on the island and provided good protection to north westerlies. Now unless a bird poop covered rock that stinks and brings in multitude of flies is what u call beautiful, this was not what I saw as defining beauty. This was also our introduction to what “protected anchorages” are outside of the Pacific NW. The protection was a small reef with 2 low lying rocks that apparently blocked the swell and caused the wind to go over the top of the boat….if you felt comfortable anchoring 20 feet from said reef. Hmmm we thought…let’s check out somewhere else. So off we went to a “more” protected anchorage. So about 15 miles around the island we came to Coches Prietas, a popular anchorage providing good protection for impending NWerlies…this was a beautiful anchorage. We got there and it was calm and hot. We made our first surf landing on the dinghy and went for a hike in this desert landscape that is the Channel islands.

Full moon against the sandstone wall backdrop in Coaches Prietas…not too shabby

We met some ppl. on the beach who were locals that showed us all around the trails and gave us good history on the island… they also said it was not thaaaat protected from the northwesterlies…which is why they anchor around the corner….pssshaaw we said:-) The next day we awoke to the winds. As the day went on, we realized we were not exactly protected from the 25 knot gusts and went next door to Albert’s anchorage where a big cliff provided protection from the wind…sort of. We were getting the hang of this…basically a protected anchorage was the side of the island where the wind was not blowing from…and u have to anchor close in and hope the wind does not switch and blow u into the shallow. We finally brewed another batch of beer at this anchorage. This one would be called black pig heffeweissen because Coaches Prietas means black boar in Spanish…so we were told:-) We hung out a couple days and kept on going around the island to Little Scorpion.

Here, these rocks are protection from all the swell of the NW Pacific ocean…it actually was pretty good…and we met our new friend Frank on s/v Solitude…really cool older guy that introduced us to snorkeling in this area…never thought it would be so different from the PNW…thanks Frank

This anchorage had multiple sea caves that u could snorkel into. We also were finally able to swim and stay in the water for more than 5 seconds. Waterline washing progressed. We hung out here and hiked on the trails for a few days and enjoyed the warmth. Here comes the wind story…weather prediction was for gale force Northwesterlies up to 47 knots…WTF we say…so we open up another guide book…not the one by the crazy guy…and find the best anchorage for gale force NWerlies…it was just around the corner. This is a lesson learned moment. The anchorage was protected by high bluffs that block the winds. The lesson learned was that u have to bite the bullet and anchor very close to shore to enjoy this shadow and hope the wind doesn’t turn and push u ashore. We, not knowing the laws of the land, anchored JUST outside the shadow and enjoyed sustained 40 knot winds for 7+ hours with a gust to 50. It sounded like hell and we thought the dinghy may flip at one point…but by 3 am the winds died and we finally slept…welcome to cruising. Luckly the boat did great and nothing bad happened. The next day we moved around the corner and way in and the 30 knot winds seemed way less. On the 27th the wind finally lightened and we made a 62 mile crossing to Catalina island and anchored in Cat Harbor…which is the less popular side (read relaxing) of Twin Harbores. If all goes well we are off to Avalon tomorrow and doing an overnight to San Diego the following day. My family is flying in to meet us and family that already live in San Diego, to have one last get together before we are off to the land of 10 cent tacos and dollar beers.

The beautiful Channel Island landscape is a harsh difference to the green PNW…but I am really digging this desert motif! [/caption pi