After rounding Point Conception, and a night spent in Cojo anchorage, we sailed over to San Miguel Island, the westernmost Channel Island, and part of the national park. We had a lovely sail across Santa Barbara channel in rather Puget Sound looking grey weather. We anchored in beautiful Cuyler Cove, and with a weather event including the chance of thunderstorms forecast, we happily planned a weather day. Two nights in the same anchorage seemed quite luxurious. Nothing to do but get caught up on school, little chores, and cook. We couldn't go ashore on San Miguel, not that we wanted to anyway...the beach was teeming with elephant seals. Fun to watch with binoculars, quite intimidating closer than a few hundred feet!
Two nights at San Miguel and then we sailed over to Santa Cruz Island (another beautiful sail) and anchored for the night at Forney's cove. Another stunning spot. You anchor behind a reef that is just under the surface, it does a surprisingly great job of protecting you from the swell. There were times I looked out over the reef, thought "oh man, we are going to get hammered," but we just rocked a little bit. Really neat.
The next day, after four solid days of not being off the boat, we decided that had to change. Besides that, we hadn't showered in a week, and the laundry situation was getting dire. Santa Barbara was a tantalizingly short 25 miles away, so after some sightseeing by sail of the north side of Santa Cruz island (lots of sea caves) we sailed across the channel.
Our time in Santa Barbara has been great. Lots of chores of course, but also lots of fun. We were able to spend a fun day with our friends from Nomi (kid boat we met in Morro Bay), and went to the Santa Barbara zoo. Beach time, walking everywhere, electric trolley riding, and yummy ice cream! But, we didn't get enough of the Channel Islands. We are freshly showered, the laundry is done, there is lots of fresh food aboard and we are ready to head back to the islands!
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