Thursday March 24, 2016 Channel Islands
What another amazing day.
We got up this morning and had a nice breakfast in the lobby. Then we drove back to the harbor where we
were last night. We dropped Nick off at
the empty Visitor Center (didn’t open until 8:30) then the kids and I parked
the car (just a few 100 yards down the road) and checked in for our trip to
Santa Cruz. Nick walked down a little
after 8:30 with hatpins and stamps (for the passport books) in hand – the park
ranger showed up at 8:20 so whew, we made it.
This visitor center didn’t have magnets, strangely, but Island Packers
did so we bought those too. Then it was
time to board the boat.
I’d read about motion sickness and that you might want to
consider taking medication but I assumed it was overblown. NOPE!
I threw up all over the bathroom and again in a barf bag with people
sitting all around me and poor grant was just a zombie. He never threw up but man, it was the longest
1.5 hours of my life. Ryan and Nick were
both nauseous too but both faired ok. A
stranger gave me a Dramamine but I threw it up.
And he gave Ryan and Grant each 1/2.
It was awful. Our boat went
through a herd? of dolphins and I didn’t even take a picture because I was in
the bathroom.
When we finally got there, it was such a relief. When we first got off the boat we saw a cute little fox who is native to the Channel Islands.
We went on a 5 mi guided hike to Pelican Bay. The land we hiked is owned by the Nature
Conservancy, not the national park so we had to sign waivers. It was hard but amazing. The whole island of Santa Cruz reminded me of
the NW side of Maui. We finally got to
our turn-around spot and ate lunch (that we hiked in) on Tinker Beach, so named
because back in the 20’s, the first Peter Pan silent movie was filmed
there. It was gorgeous.
We hiked back on our own (not all with a group) and played
I’m thinking of something which is always fun…for a while. It was hot and we were all sweaty and getting
tired. And Grant and I were dreading the
return voyage. As we walked back to the
pier, the same nice man gave me his last Dramamine so Grant and I split
it. Then we got on the boat a little
before 4pm. We sat at the back, on the
first level because we’d been told the boat doesn’t move as much but then one
of the guides said the return trip is never as bad as the outbound trip because
we’re going with the waves – what a relief.
AND WE SAW WHALES!! It was
incredible. The one we mostly watched
was a juvenile and the captain said it seemed he might even be asleep because
he never jumped out of the water. But
man was it awesome – everyone’s first whale.
Then, it really was a nice, easy trip back. Ry and I played Gin for a bit then we docked
back in Ventura around 5:30pm. We
grabbed the car, drove around the corner and had dinner at Brophy Brothers –
pretty good. Then home for 30 minutes in
the hot tub/pool. Around 8 we got back
to our room and packed up. Everyone was
a little grumpy because this trip has really been go, go, go and it’s coming to
an end. But overall, the day was amazing,
sans the sea sickness which was just plain AWFUL!! First time I’ve ever used a barf bag.
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