Set forth your journey into an off-shore blissful experience and channel out your inner adventurer to the outside world. The preferred way to do this would be with a visit to the infamous Channel Islands National Park with Year long activities. All these activities appeal to all age groups, children and adults alike.
Ranging from an infinitude of activities from a serene walk on the sea kissed shoreline and a nature touched hike to gazing at wildflowers. In addition to this, experiencing the soft touch of the light sea breeze as you reel in an exotic fish indigenous to the region is also an option. Therefore, Channel Islands is one Magnificent destination for your mind and soul!
The National Park is Spread over a humongous area of a geographic area of around 250,000 acres. Even though almost half of it is submerged, the area above sea level itself provides more than a week’s content for a trip to this beautiful chain of islands!
This chain of five islands—Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa Rosa, Santa Barbara, and San Miguel—is rich with nearly untouched natural beauty and a California destination worthy of your attention!
Galapagos Islands of North America
The park is made up of five picturesque islands that are often referred to as the Galapagos of North America. These are surrounded by the Channel Islands of National Marine Sanctuary, which is a mind skedaddling reserve full of underwater sea creatures ready to take your breath away.
Getting to the Channel Islands
To reach the islands, you’ll have to take a boat or a plane. The National Park Services have a detailed guide on how one can reach the Islands and the reserve. Some readily available public transportation methods to reach the islands are listed as follows:
Airports
Trains
Buses
- Greyhound
- South Coast Area Transit
- Camarillo Area Transit
- Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District
- Coastal Express
Island Packers
Every day, all year long, The Island Packers boats and ferry allow adventurers to reach all the islands. Many people contact them to get to Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, or San Miguel islands with minimum or no troubles and it’s all a smooth sail.
The trips vary in length — from a little over an hour to several hours, depending on the island you wish to reach.
The Island Packers have been taking tourists, adventurers, campers to the sacred haven of nature for over 50 years now. Furthermore, they make sure that the ride is an adventure in itself. Henceforth, allowing tourists to experience the presence of sometimes a pod of dolphins to a school of exotic indigenous fish species and sometimes even a variety of whales. From humpback to blue whales depending on the time of the year can be seen frolicking in the seas.
Make sure to check out our article on the Redwood National Park, another national park waiting to sweep the grounds from below your feet.
Things To Do
With an endless number of activities and backpacking, camping, day hiking, scuba diving, and spearfishing and sea-cave exploration as you kayak through them.
Getting to the islandic national park is a scenic and memorable experience- one to three hours by boat or an hour and a half by plane. Most boat or ferry trips depart from Ventura Harbour and arrive at either of the two closest islands, Santa Cruz or Anacapa.
One can also piggyback a U.S. Coastguard Captain on a Santa Barbara Sailing Yacht. This way, you can experience the presence of the massiveness of whales, the frolicking of dolphins and the rarity of flying fish!
Paddling a Kayak
The best way to explore the Channel Islands is by kayaking your way through the slipstreams of the sea waves. You can also work your way through the caves and the depths of forests.
Hiking and Looking for Wildlife
Every island offers its own scenic hikes with pristine views and opportunities to see wildlife and birds. Santa Cruz has some 15 trails and Anacapa even offers a hike to the infamous lighthouse which is one of the very few man-made structures around here. On the other hand, Santa Rosa Island has its infamous Lobo Canyon, with sandstone formations, tiny mammoth fossils, and an opportunity to see local island foxes.
Dolphin and Whale Watching
Depending on the time of the year, many species of whale ranging from the most common humpback whale to rare blue whales can be seen in their natural migration pattern.
Take a whale-watching tour with Island Packers between December and April to see grey whales on their annual migrations between the Bering Sea and Mexico. On the other hand, you can come in the summer to see humpbacks (and sometimes even giant blue whales) looking for a local buffet of krill.
Snorkelling and Diving
Roughly half of Channel Islands National Park is underwater, with its boundary-stretching a nautical mile out from shore; a zone six nautical miles beyond that is protected as a national marine sanctuary. This makes the park’s waters an extraordinary place to view marine life.
One can experience the kelp forests, the sea caves and the coves of the park as they skim through the waters in the park. These activities are done best on three of the five islands, Santa Barbara, Anacapa, and the eastern Santa Cruz Islands.
Channel Islands Adventure Company is the officially authorised kayaking guide and hardware supplier for swimming, diving, snorkelling and also the supplier of guided snorkelling tours.
All this is just the tip of the iceberg and there’s a lot more to explore and experience in the beauty provided by the Channel Islands. We hope all that is mentioned is enough to prove that the Channel Islands is one magnificent destination for you to enjoy with your family and friends!
If you’re interested in camping, make sure you check out our article on camping in Sequoia National Park
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