Santa Cruz Island to Channel Island Harbor

Notre Isle with Anacapa Island in the background

We left Santa Barbara on a beautiful morning and headed towards the Channel Islands. The seas immediately became bigger the second we left the harbor and I knew we were in for a long day. The winds were only 7 knots but the swells were about 10’. We motored with the jib and a full mainsail because we were going right into the wind. A couple of hours later out of the five hours of sailing, we were able to turn off the motor and just sail.

As we were getting closer to Santa Cruz Island, we saw four Bald Eagles flying overhead! I have never seen Eagles other than the one I saw in Alaska, in captivity.

Our first anchorage we came to and decided to anchor was called Pelican Cove. Not sure why it’s called that. We did not see a one. Anyway, it seemed like it would be a calm quiet anchorage. It ended up being so rolly we did not sleep all night long.

The next day we motored to the other side of the island and we anchored at Yellow Banks Anchorage. The water was a light aqua blue color close to shore and the sand and rocks were pearly white. It was like a dream…so inviting. After anchoring we did not get off the boat. We were so tired from the day before we just slept. Harley looked a little annoyed and you could tell she really wanted to go swimming and do her business on the beach instead of the little fake grass mat we have on the boat. But it’s such an ordeal to get the dinghy off the boat. We were just too tired.

 

Yellow Banks Anchorage sitting on the beach looking out at our boat

The next morning after slowly waking up, we dinghied to shore, walked the beach and went swimming. It was a little chilly but the temperature outside was warm enough to endure the brisk water. Harley had the best time! She was romping around in the waves and digging in the sand. She was long overdue for being on land and swimming in the water. Unfortunately she’s had this problem lately where she drinks the salt water….a lot of it. It makes her pretty sick later on. She gets an upset stomach, cannot control her bladder and her poops are extremely runny. This goes on for a couple of days. We’re not sure what to do. The smart thing would be to keep her out of the water, but she has so much fun. Don’t dogs know better than to drink salt water?

Yellow Banks Anchorage

Later in the day we moved over to Albert’s Cove - A little cove that was recommended to us by our friend Larry from Brickyard Cove Marina. He said that when we get to the Santa Cruz Islands, we needed to go to Albert’s. So we searched it out on the map and anchored there. We loved it! It looked secluded and protected from the wind and swells. The water was that same pretty blue we saw at the previous anchorage. While anchored here, Rick squeezed into his wetsuit, put on his fins and snorkel and checked out the kelp beds. I wasn’t feeling as adventurous. The Jaw’s theme song was going on in my head.

Albert's Anchorage

After seeing a few cool fish, Rick swam over to the backside of the boat and attempted to clean the bottom. It was a bit more of an undertaking at that particular moment, so he didn’t get far and got back on board.

 

The water was so clear that we could see our anchor chain and anchor in the water.

We left this paradise earlier than planned because we saw on the news that the Santa Ana's were coming and would be knocking out some 50 mph winds…and…we did NOT want to be on anchor during that. So late in the evening, we pulled up the anchor and left.  As soon as we were out of the cove, the winds blasted up to 30+ knots and the swells were over 10’high. Waves were splashing up over the boat. It was the sloppiest sea I had ever seen and I wanted to be anywhere but where I was! I was glad to have left a potentially dangerous situation (crashing into the surrounding rocks), but afraid of the long sleepless night ahead, sailing in the dark and fighting through a storm. 

As we were dashing through the waves and wind, Rick announced it was going to be a long night and that I’d better curl up and rest a while so that he could rest after I was awake. I blurted out…..“I ain’t sleepin’ now!” Who could relax?? But, eventually the fear of capsizing and drowning left me. I guess I just got used to what was going on and realized the boat was handling the situation. At one point I felt as if we were in an episode of Deadliest Catch. I do know I’d rather watch that show on tv than live it!

The winds died down a little bit to 25 knots, and the swells got smaller so I decided I would force myself to take a cat nap so that Rick could get a rest later. I slept a total of an hour and as soon as I was awake and taking over the helm, Rick fell asleep in his chair. It was the strangest thing but I wasn’t feeling scared at all. Even though it was pitch black out and I was dodging splashing waves. I just kept my eye on the chart plotter, stood up every once in a while to make sure there were no ships or other vessels in my path.  Rick woke up within an hour and before we knew it we were entering the Ventura Channel. This was very difficult to navigate in the dark and high winds but somehow we managed. We ended up tying up to the fuel dock around 3 in the morning and figured once the sun came up we could move on to our slip at the Yacht Club. No sooner did we lay our head on our pillows, we got several loud abrupt knocks on our boat. It was the Harbor Patrol telling us we had to move.  Apparently we were a fire hazard. Fortunately it wasn’t a big move and the Harbor Patrolman helped us tie up to a dock nearby. 

Once we finally made it to our slip at the Channel Islands Harbor Yacht Club, I called the Port Captain who I’d previously arranged getting a slip with, and let him know we had landed. He came down later to give us a key and to invite us to their Scampi dinner they were having that night at the YC. I’m allergic to shellfish, but I knew Rick would really enjoy it, so I agreed and we went up that evening. Everyone at this club was super friendly! The Port Captain was one of the nicest people I have ever met! He was so accommodating, so much so, that he offered to drive me to the grocery store the next day.

While at this dinner where about 100 people attended, we met some really nice people. A lot of these people only live in Oxnard part time. They have these really nice homes right on the beach for half the year. Then the other half they are back home. One couple we met was from Minnesota, another from Oklahoma.  Oh…and I’m happy to say that the Port Captain and his wife saw to it that I had something other than shellfish to eat for dinner.

This morning we finally woke from a pretty good night’s rest. It was sunny and warm out…light winds. Harley had thrown up again, and right at the companionway. I had to carefully step over her mess to get out of the boat. Poor little girl. 

After quickly cleaning up after Harley, I got her on the leash and we took a little walk across the street and to the beach. Dogs are allowed on the beach before 9am and after 5pm and they do not have to be on a leash. I let Harley off the leash and she ran around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Hollywood Beach is the name of the beach we were on. It was one of the biggest cleanest prettiest beaches I have ever seen! There was no one on the beach yet so it may look differently when it is filled with people and their beach paraphernalia. But at 7:30 a.m. it was incredible looking. Beautiful houses and condo’s line the edge of the beach. All located right on the sand. There are no walls or fences. 

Upon my return, Rick was awake and starting to clear things off the boat so that he could hose and scrub off all the salt from sailing for the past few days. The salt was stuck on everything like cement. Just a hosing off was not going to cut it. It needed scrubbing. While Rick was working on the outside of the boat, I got the laundry done at the Yacht Club and straightened up the inside of the boat and tried to get it back to a more organized state. When you are underway, things get a little out of place and clothes, jackets, shoes, dishes, etc. can pile up. And we seem to accumulate lots of dust and sand throughout the boat.

At 11:30a.m, the Port Captain, Bill Cline, came by to drive me to Ralph’s Grocery Store. I had my Trader Joe bags and grocery list in tow. I got all of the groceries I needed and a few more items that Bill thought we might like. He was so nice I just couldn’t get over it. He pushed my cart, bagged my groceries, and loaded them into the car. After we left the store, he drove me around and pointed out some cool sights and places we might want to go to. We were gone quite a while and I thought Rick was probably wondering where I was. But, then again, he probably wasn’t. 

We like it here so far and plan to do a little more exploring while we are here. We get three days free here, but we may add a couple more days to our stay. After the free days, it’s only $35.00 a night. Not a bad deal.

One thing I forgot to mention and that was while we were in Santa Barbara; we decided to fill our water tanks, which hold 190 gallons.  We filled them as usual, through a special hose that has a filter on the end of it. Well…. that water turned out to be terrible tasting! It also had white little particles floating in it. It was so bad we could not drink it. We did not notice this until we were close to the islands. And there is no place to buy anything on the island, let alone bottled water! So I decided to boil the water and put it in empty Gatorade bottles, hoping to get rid of the taste and anything in it that could make us sick. It still did not taste great, but it was drinkable. Now we are in a quandary wondering how to get rid of 190 gallons of bad water!

And one last tidbit…Rick cut his elbow over a week ago on a wench while we were out sailing. It hurt and left a pretty deep cut. He did not think much about it for a day or two, but then it really started to hurt. We figured it must have been getting infected. Well, the next day, Rick’s elbow was swollen about the size of a baseball. It definitely was infected! So, he’s been on antibiotics for a few days, which has not been very kind on his tummy. He is supposed to drink lots of water with these pills too. It’s been hard for him since the water has tasted pretty bad. Fortunately I was able to buy some bottled water from the store today. We are both happy about that!

The weather has been in the 80’s for the past few days. But things should be cooling down by the end of the week.

Tomorrow we are going to walk to Trader Joe’s to get my favorite items…Sunflower Seeds and Kale Chips. I really like the Trader Joe’s brands of these items the best. This will be a 6-mile walk there and a 6-mile walk back.

Happy Thanksgiving if you don’t hear from me before then!

Love to all,

Maryalice and Rick