AN ODE TO ISLAND TIME

After nearly two months cruising coastal harbors, our eagerness to get out to the islands had become palpable – and Santa Cruz Island did not disappoint. Smuggler’s Harbor was beautiful with the old olive grove and surrounding cliffs. The first evening brought us one of the most magical sunsets, and we settled into a state of happy awe at the beauty of the area. The anchorage was exposed to a southern swell and the steep waves crashing on a narrow gravel beach meant we were unable to make it ashore, so we spent the day reading and remarking upon how gorgeous it was, even while bracing ourselves against the rolling of the swell any time we moved around the boat. We spent our second evening having a lovely meal catching up with Jeanne & Dan aboard Lucky Dog (we’d been bumping around with them since Monterey), then had another very rolly night even with the flop-stopper out. Over morning coffee we decided to head for the more sheltered northern coast. We departed Smuggler’s on 11th October and had initially planned on anchoring at Little Scorpion, only to find on our arrival that the better spots were taken.

We decided the remaining deeper area was too challenging for our first ever fore & aft anchoring attempt, so continued to Prisoner’s Harbor. We were delighted to find a wide open, sheltered anchorage with no swell and no other boats – perfect! We anchored on the west side of the pier near the cliffs and had a perfectly still evening. Settling in for the night, we’d just turned the lights out when suddenly chaos hit! Thunder, lightning (very very frightening, me – Galileo!) and a sudden, huge offshore gust that drove the boat hard against the anchor in the opposite direction to how we’d set her.

The anchor alarm went off and we jumped up to start the engine and get ready to reset. A trawler had arrived at dusk, and on this bearing we were much closer to it so it appeared that we were dragging anchor. Though the adrenaline levels were high, we talked through what was happening and took a couple of breaths. We were able to determine that if we had dragged, we had successfully reset and were holding well, so we decided to wait and watch for a while. After reviewing our position and the anchor alarm app, we were relieved to see that we’d not dragged at all. A combination of very strong winds stretching out our chain, a slightly off anchor waypoint with a conservative alarm range, and the trawler having less scope out than we had when we swung towards them made it seem so, but our nice new Rocna anchor was well set. The experience grew our confidence in our ground tackle.

We watched the lightning move off, and as the wind dropped stayed up to watch the most amazing phosphorescence show we’ve seen yet.

Schools of tiny fish swimming around the boat appeared as a glowing murmuration, ebbing and flowing in the currents with sudden bright flashing streaks as predatory fish found their tasty dinner. Sea lions huffed around, glowing indistinctly, and at times we could see the ghostly outline of large fish as they darted by. It was astonishing, enthralling and we watched spellbound until the late hour drove us to bed.

Early the following morning Zeus arrived with captain Paul and Manny, friends and fellow yachties from Marina Village back in Alameda.

They’d come directly down the coast, just rounded Point Conception and we celebrated their passage by hosting dinner aboard Tino Pai. It felt strange that they’d covered in just three days what had taken us two months! While we’d planned to buddy boat for a while, the next morning Paul discovered his house batteries were completely drained and Zeus had to head for Santa Barbara to sort out the issue, but not before a breakfast celebration for Shannon’s birthday.

We stayed at Prisoner’s for another few days, hiking, paddleboarding and trying out our new wetsuits and spearfishing gear. During both our hikes we were lucky to see Santa Cruz Island Foxes, and each time they were remarkably close. We chatted with a conservancy volunteer who hiked the trail often and had never seen one; we felt even luckier to get to watch them for a while – we were enchanted by them, though we don’t think the feeling was mutual as they largely ignored us. Each evening we settled in the cockpit with sundowners to watch the evening sun transform the cliffs in varying shades of amber, red, pink and purple as it set while stars brightened in the sky. It’d been some time since we’d seen the Milky Way in such brilliance, as previously the view had been obscured by either clouds and fog, or light pollution in marinas.

We were ready to explore more of this gorgeous island, so on October 16th we moved on to Fry’s Harbor, just to the west. It was a short, windless motor and we were rewarded with a spectacular and empty harbor. Fry’s is tight for swinging room with a canyon and small beach at the head of a narrow harbor with rocks and steep bluffs on either side. This would be our first fore & aft anchoring experience and we talked through various ways of doing it. With wind offshore down the canyon, we dropped the main anchor and Andy paddled the stern anchor out on a paddleboard. Andy paddled back to the boat and we talked through it a bit more. Andy decided it would be best to paddle back out, haul it up on to the tippy paddleboard, and take it further out to give it more scope. Not the best method probably, but effective in the conditions.

Fry’s is a gorgeous harbor and we had it to ourselves for most of our stay. We spent the days relaxing, paddleboarding around the caves and coves nearby, snorkeling and spearfishing. On a paddleboard trip to nearby Seal Cove – appropriately named – we were privileged to have a Harbor Seal swim up to Shan’s paddleboard, hang around checking it and her out, and even nudging it a few times. Shan thought for a minute it wanted to come aboard! It was a magical moment.

Andy successfully speared two nice rockfish and we filleted one each… it’s a skill we’ll improve! This was our first success spearfishing; and Shan made some stunning fish tacos with the fillets.

The next day, we were given a good-sized Sheepshead from a generous neighboring boat new to the anchorage. Shan got some more experience filleting this very sought-after and tasty fish. We were enjoying the delicious bounty the sea was providing us. The next day we were heading back from exploring the underwater walls, which were beautiful, but our fish bag was empty and we would have to resort to boat provisions for dinner. Andy decided to snorkel along over the sandy bottom to check out our anchor and look for the most coveted of the fish in the area – the pacific halibut. Only a couple minutes later, he calmly called out to Shan “got one.” He’d speared a large halibut and we harvested over 6 pounds of delicious meat that Shan made into various tasty meals – the ceviche was spectacular!

We were loving our island time, but when high winds appeared in the forecast and didn’t dissipate, we sadly decided we needed to head back to Santa Barbara and better shelter. Spectacular as they are, Santa Cruz anchorages can be exposed to high winds and we didn’t want to push our luck. We reluctantly raised both anchors on 21st October and pointed north. Ironically there was little wind and we motored in overcast conditions. Our spirits were lifted by a dolphin sighting mid-channel, though they didn’t join us. We then spotted a whale a way off to starboard and watched its fluke as it dived. Shan gets to have a Grey Whale gin sundowner whenever we see a whale, so she was happy.

Shortly afterward we saw another fluke, then a mass of activity ahead as a massive jumble of dolphins, sea lions, sea birds and at least five whales fed on a buffet of anchovy. We couldn’t have avoided it if we’d wanted to, and for the next 10-15 minutes didn’t know where to look while whales breached around us, dolphins swarmed and sea lions jumped, and a group of the dolphins took time out from dining to bow ride with us. It was incredible, overwhelming, and marvelous. As we approached Santa Barbara we radioed in for a slip only to find out they were full, no doubt a result of the incoming inclement weather. We diverted to Channel Islands Harbor at Oxnard and had a pleasant motor in flat conditions as the skies cleared and the sun came out. We’d rather sail, but enjoyed our views of dolphins in the distance, the coast, mountains and islands. We settled into our slip, tidied the boat and grabbed a tasty meal at a local taqueria as we waited out the weather and started to plan our next steps. We wanted more of that island time!