Chanel Islands

After departing the Green tortoise I visited with my parents in Bakersfield. We attended a concert by ABBA mania which was very entertaining.We also celebrated Grandmas birthday while I was there. Early the next morning We drove down to Ventura where we caught the boat to Santa Cruz Island. The boat trip over was a wonderful experience as we witnessed numerous dolphins jumping in the waves as we approached the islands that emerged from a light fog bank.

Dolphins

A volunteer naturalist came and introduced herself and said she’d be leading a short hike when we arrived at Santa Cruz Island and we decided we’d happily join her.

Mom and Dad on Santa Cruz Island.

After disembarking at the pier at scorpion landing we began our hike past the visitor center and up the valley through the campground. The Naturalist warned everyone to not leave there bags unattended as the ravens had learned how to open things. Here we were lucky enough to spot a couple of the endangered Island foxes. We watched them for a bit before continuing up to the top of the nearby hills. From here we were on the edge of a cliff which overlooked the ocean and gave us a lovely view so we sat and ate lunch.

Chanel Island foxes

Afterwords Dad and I started out along the trail that continued up along the cliffs hoping to spot a particular variety of dudleya, Dudleya nesiotica which is endemic to Santa Cruz island. Mom and the Naturalist had just started back down the trail when Dad and I spotted several dudleya growing right there. We took several pictures then hurried back down the trail to catch up.

Dudleya nesiotica

Back at the visitor center we saw a raven land on an unattended pack and proceed to pull the top zipper open. Mom chased it off before it made off with anything though. We then hung out at the beach for awhile while we waited for the boat to return. Dad and I even spotted some more dudleya growing on the cliff near the beach.