Today we had a trip to the Channel Islands, an island chain off the coast of Southern and Central California.   While there are eight separate islands, today we would only be visiting the island of Santa Cruz (one of five that are part of Channel Islands National Park).  Being an island, we had to get there by boat which we had arranged in advance.   We got to the boat dock early so we used our extra time to visit the park Visitor Center.   We watched a movie about the islands and learned a little about their formation from the displays.  They have a complicated formation with multiple geologic activities occurring from tectonic plate subduction to lava flows.

socal173Once the boat departed (a bit late), the ride was mostly smooth and when we traversed the deep part of the channel, the boat slowed and circled for us to watch the dolphins at play.  There are lots of them jumping out of the water (sorry, no pictures).  Sea World must do their recruiting here.  After about an hour, we arrived at Santa Cruz.

After it was clear the guided walk was going to take forever to get started and move at a snails pace, we abandoned it and did the hike to Potato Harbor which makes a nice loop.  While walking near the campground, we did get a quick viewing of the Island Fox, a unique species found only here.  Because the island has been separated from other land for so long, there are many unique plants and animals here.  The Channel Islands have been called the Galapagos of the Northern Hemisphere (without the cool tortoises) for this reason.

After completing our hiking for the day, we returned to the dock for the boat ride back to Ventura.

View the photos from today:

http://sanjoseabrams.com/photos/SoCalJuly2012/Day%204%20-%20Channel%20Islands/index.html