Kayaking Sea Caves, Coastal Hikes, Whales and More on Channel Islands National Park

did you know that only an hour off the coast of California you can actually kayak through sea caves this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time so when Channel Island Adventure company invited me and a friend to come out and experience it I jumped at the chance we spent one full day on the island and I wanted to share the entire itinerary in case you wanted to do it as well here's all the information on this amazing adventure you can have in California's Channel Islands let's jump into it today I'm meeting up with my friend Kirby and we're heading over to Santa Cruz Island to do some kayaking which is something I've always wanted to do we started the day by arriving at Island Packers in Ventura and checking in for our tour since we booked it through the kayaking company we actually checked in with them and they gave us the tickets for the boat Island Packers will remind you of this but be sure to call the morning of your tour just to see how the waves are and make sure the boat's still going out [Music] we left right at 8am and it's about an hour and 15 minutes right out to Santa Cruz sometimes the boat does stop at Anna Kappa before so it can take a little bit longer but today we just went straight to Santa Cruz head now to Channel Islands it was a pretty gloomy day as we left the harbor but luckily the water was pretty flat almost like glass I've been out here many times and often it's pretty rough this was the best I had ever seen it [Music] if you get seasick I recommend sitting towards the back of the boat it's the least bumpy back there it was a relatively uneventful ride until we got about halfway and we stumbled on a massive pot of dolphin there were hundreds of dolphins surrounding our boat and jumping in and out of the wake here's just a few of the best Clips but it was a pretty incredible experience as you got to see them go under the bow in front of the boat and even ride behind it [Music] things like this are what make Channel Islands such an amazing National Park there haven't been many times where I've taken the boat across and not seen some Wildlife on the way after stopping for about 10 minutes to see the dolphin we made our way towards Santa Cruz Island and the island finally came into view unfortunately you couldn't see the full island because of the clouds but this island is massive made it to the island after arriving we immediately met our tour guides who gave us an introduction to the island and walked us to the kayak staging area got our orientation and we're going out kayaking I got more beer than I know what to do with but ready to go kayaking they provide you with wetsuits helmets life jackets and paddle jackets and once you get all your gear on it's back to the beach for an orientation and yes the orientation shows you how to bend over for caves that you might not be able to enter if you're sitting up about an hour after we landed on the island we were finally able to set out on The Kayaks after everyone launched and got the basics of ocean kayaking from our guide we set out east to hit some of the caves on that side first our guide Addison was fantastic and she went in each of the caves before us to make sure that they were safe before we went in our first surprise of the trip was stumbling on a bald eagle right above us we sat there for about 10 minutes just watching it and talking about how bald eagles used to live here before the golden eagles and all the work they had to do to try to bring them back eventually it was time to enter our first sea cave and right off the bat this was an adventurous one there were two ways to exit either the way you came in or a narrow tunnel that you had to bend over to get through wow this is so crazy every single one of these caves is optional so you don't have to go in if you don't want to but I highly recommend going in it's an incredibly fun adventure the low tide and bird nesting kept us out of most of the caves on the east side so we explored a few of the Rocks off the coast and learn more about Santa Cruz history there was one more tiny cave that we got to enter on the east side and this one you basically had to take turns with the rest of the group go in by yourself make it 180 degree turn and then come right back out just going in sea caves that was cave number two by this time we had been on the water for about an hour so we kayaked about a mile back to where the ferry dropped us off and found a spot to hang out and have a snack while we were having a snack we got to ask questions and learn more about Kayaking and about the island these breaks make the kayaking trip approachable for those that haven't done much kayaking as well after that we headed around elephant rock to enter a few more sea caves there was a lot more on the west side let's bring a friend who paddles for you all right straight through this is probably the most narrow cave we did on our entire trip as we had to go in a small opening make a complete turn and then go back out another small opening plus there's rocks overhanging that you had to try to miss as well it was a total blast leaving the smallest cave we had entered it was about a 10 minute paddle to get to the largest cave we did on our trip this cave was especially cool as there was a few seals that were sitting on the beach just hanging out when we entered I have to say it did smell pretty bad in here though there was only one sea cave left and luckily they saved the best for last this cave was located right at the base of Cavern point which we're gonna hike to later in the video [Music] that blowhole [Music] the spot was called cavern's cave and it started out relatively big as we made our way in about 250 feet this is so insane we're at our last cave and it looks like that so cool once there we waited for our guide to go further into the cave into a section that's completely dark and to see if it was passable luckily for us it was passable and we were able to go one group at a time into this dark Horseshoe in the back of the cave I've never done anything like this before in my life and it was exhilarating to go through the dark with just the light from the guide's flashlight guiding us through the area adding to the adventure there was a big right bend that you had to navigate when she got to the back everybody in the group made it through and everybody was super hyped after this cave that was an adventure on the way out we decided we needed to stop by the blowhole as well and that was one of the coolest things I've done in a long time going through that cave what do you think so awesome two thumbs up after exploring that fantastic cave we started the paddle back to the pier luckily the guide let us use our skills to run one of the small arches before docking in total we were out for about three hours and we did two to three miles of kayaking back from our kayaking adventure and we got about two hours before we got to get back on the boat so I think it changed out all this and go do a little bit of hiking all right so we got two hours left I'm gonna go explore Cavern Point Kirby went and did a more intense hike because he wanted to rush and see some stuff but I'm excited to explore the island a little bit more if you've never been to Santa Cruz Island then your first stop should definitely be the campground so hopefully you can see the cute Island foxes these Island foxes are about the size of a normal house cat and they're found on six of the eight Channel Islands each of the islands have its own subspecies of the fox and these foxes are found nowhere else on Earth these guys have no real Predators on the island so they're not afraid of you or anything else basically they're always walking through the campground trying to find scraps of food that have been left behind that they can eat I was really hoping to see some of the island foxes so now that I checked that off I'm hiking up to Cavern point the hike up to Cavern point is about a mile and a half round trip and it's a great option if you only have a few hours on the island the hike is relatively uneventful in the beginning as it leaves from the campground and it basically just hikes up a small hill once you get to the top of the hill the trail splits and one way goes to potato Harbor and the other to Cavern point if you have enough time go out to potato Harbor but it's about five miles round trip so if you're short on time Cavern point is the best option [Music] after proceeding up another small but Steep Hill the views across the coastline start to break out in front of you right when I cross the top of the hill I was greeted with one of the coolest views I've seen on Channel Islands and that was this little island fox walking up the path with the coastline behind him he then went and started walking along the Bluffs and I hope he's okay as they made the final push to Cavern point I couldn't help but look down on the area we had been kayaking just a few hours earlier it was crazy to see how small of a portion we actually saw of the coastline of Santa Cruz Island and I can't imagine how many thousands of caves there are also it wasn't the best day to see across the island or across the water back to the mainland but it was still an incredibly beautiful place this island is seriously amazing if you've never spent any time here remedy that come to Santa Cruz Island it's beautiful by the time I was coming down from Cavern point it was about time to head back towards the boat this was a beautiful time to be on the island as there was a lot of wildflowers I saw some purple and a lot of yellow colors are I'm three in there two feet above me if you still have time to kill before the boat gets there you can see the small Visitor Center in here there's a few information plaques about the island and you can get your National Park stamp if you're interested alternatively there's a lot of ranching relics and antiques along the main road that you can walk around and see as well after that it was back to the dock to wait for the boat to arrive also be sure you're on time for that last boat of the day as you don't want to spend the night on the island I know someone who had to do that and that's a story for a different video and without our time at Channel Islands National Park is done hopefully you enjoyed it let us know we'll see you on the next one also I hope you get lucky like my friend Kirby did on the way back to see these amazing whale views thank you

Channel: California Through My Lens

Views: 49,083

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Id: 1n_vQKtW0uc

Length: 11min 49sec (709 seconds)

Published: Sun May 21 2023