I reached Ventura before sunrise and located the visitor center for the Channel Islands National Park. Since the center wouldn’t open for several hours, I drove to the dock where Island Packers, the official boat transport to the islands, was located. I had scheduled a tour with them to see the islands–I thought. Somehow, the tour I had in mind turned into one that dropped campers/hikers at two points on one of the park’s five islands, Santa Cruz, and would then pick up others from the same two piers before returning to Ventura.
My plan to spend the morning on the boat tour, followed by a drive to Irvine–where a colleague was holding an opera performance ticket for me–had to be adjusted because the boat would not return until after 5 p.m., which left insufficient time to make the drive to Irvine before the performance began. As sometimes happens with trips like this, I had to go with the flow and change my plans. Fortunately, I was able to shop for my usual walking stick medallion and refrigerator magnet at the Packers gift shop because the park visitor center would be closed by my return, too.
Daylight revealed gray, cloudy skies that had the potential for rain and cooler weather. I wanted to be able to board the boat early enough to choose a great view inside the cabin. For the most part, I was successful in this. While a few hardy folks stood outside on the boat’s deck, most travelers rode out the trip to Santa Cruz sheltered inside from the falling rain and less-than-pacified Pacific Ocean.
By the time we reached the first stop on the island, unloading passengers had to show great care disembarking because the rising and falling waves often significantly changed the distance between the boat deck and the dock. If I had had any thought of leaving the boat, watching this hazard to physically fit hikers certainly made it clear to me that I shouldn’t make the attempt. Instead, I stayed inside and took what pictures I could, although the fog and the raindrops on the windows reduced the quality of the images.
The second stop was even more physically challenging, with a ladder hanging from an extended pier as the means of reaching the island. The boat’s crew offered the only other option, that I stay on the boat while they anchored in the ocean for several hours until they returned to the island to pick up passengers for delivery back to Ventura. I saw no alternative at that point, so I contacted my colleague to let him know I would not be in Irvine in time to attend the opera for which he had arranged a ticket for me. I ate the lunch I had brought with me and took advantage of the clearing skies to take numerous pictures of the area.
By the time the boat crew weighed anchor and returned to the island docks, the sun shone long enough for the passengers to have an easier time boarding the boat and for me to get clearer pictures of the areas. The rain did return, however, but when it stopped again, the skies filled with a beautiful rainbow. My efforts to capture its deep colors were inadequate, but I had to try.
The boat returned to Ventura too late for me to do anything more than find dinner and start the journey to my next national park, Joshua Tree, which was southwest of the Channel Islands.
There is a sampling of the pictures from that day below. The rest are available at https://singin1.click/piwigo/index.php?/category/8.
As always, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the Silver Bullet (SB)–or whatever I am driving–as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzes by my windshield.
This early into my trip, and I’m already making adjustments. No real surprise after all my previous trips because I intentionally add options in case I need to make just this type of change in plans. While I expected to get to Irvine that evening, the stops to the Nixon and Reagan presidential libraries weren’t realistic options, but one never knows what opportunities will present themselves. Below is the updated map of my route from Channel Islands directly to Joshua Tree NP.
BTW, my Randye’s Replays playlist has pretty much played itself out for now. To give myself more variety, especially with all the driving planned (somewhere in the range of 3,000 miles), I have gone back to my Mixed Nuts playlist and its nearly 3,200 tracks. I’d forgotten how much great music is on that list!
