[CKF Info] Trip Report

[FryCat at aol.com]

Trip Report 4/2/2008 Santa Cruz Island via Anacapa.
 
Well before the crack of dawn, Dublin Dave arrived to load up my Explorer  on 
his Ford Explorer.  We were on the road to Channel Islands Harbor at  03:30 
AM.  After a brief hunt for the boat ramp, we had our boats loaded  and ready 
to go by 7:00 AM.  The first fly in the ointment presented  itself.  The sign 
on the parking lot pay box read, "Cars without trailers  will be cited."  I 
called up the Harbor Master on VHF channel 12 and he  suggested we park in the 
opposite lot to avoid confusion. Voila!  The  VHF radio worked.
 
Just to be on the safe side, we paddled to Gina.  The workers, if  there were 
any, were still in the sack.  However the seals on the buoy were  happy to 
see us.  After a brief rest and a SPOT OK transmission we were on  our way to 
the Anacapa landing cove.  About a mile out, three Orcas (a.k.a.  Killer Whales) 
crossed our bow.  There was no mistake on the identification  of this whale 
species as the dorsal fins were easily spotted.  
 
Around 10:30 AM we arrived at the landing cove.  The ranger had just  
received his provisions from the CI park boat and was on the dock.  He  wasn't the 
most talkative ranger we had ever met, but he was able to utter a few  
questions.  "Where did you come from?" "Have you ever been here before?"  and lastly, 
"How are you going to get your boats up on the dock."  Looking  up at the 
davit, we noticed it was missing the block and tackle.  The  second fly in the 
ointment just landed.  Ranger Bob, as we later named him,  wasn't about to let us 
use the National Park Service hoist, but was more than  helpful by throwing us 
a rope.  Ranger Bob disappeared and was never to be  seen again.
 
So to make a miserable story less miserable, I'll spare the details on how  
we got the boats up on the dock.
Basically, we unloaded the boats and muscled my boat up with the  rope.  Just 
as we had all the gear out of Dave's boat, the Island Packer  boat arrived 
and pulled Dave's boat onto the stern, walked it to the bow, and  guided it onto 
the dock.  After kissing all the female crew members and  shaking hands with 
the captain we felt a sense of relief.  Island Packer  were our saviors.  
Admittedly, my drysuit was a little overkill on the  crossing and I did a few 
sculling braces to cool off.  But, when  we were unloading boats, I spent a lot of 
time in the water and was toasty  warm.  Ask Dave how cold the water was.  A 
hatch cover got ripped from  it's tether and Dave had to dive for it.  P. S. 
Drysuits aren't compatible  with diving.  That was my excuse.
 
With the exception of a few sprinkles, our stay on Anacapa was  perfect.  The 
coreopsis were in full bloom and the Western gulls  were getting their 
nesting sites ready for the big event.  Maybe  ranger Bob was in hiding but as far 
as we could figure, we were the only  inhabitants on the island.  We drank some 
of our wine to lighten  our load for our Anacapa Passage crossing planned for 
the next day.  
 
The crack of dawn had long passed as we loaded our boats and lowered  them 
into the water.  Launching was far easier than hoisting those boats  onto the 
dock.  We circumnavigated the island clockwise or around the back  side.  Dave 
was feeling a tad under the weather, possibly  from contaminated drinking 
water.  In the middle of the channel  we were divided on whether to go to Scorpion 
or Smugglers.  After  looking at Dumpy square in the eyes,  I think we should 
have gone on  to Scorpion.
 
No problems landing at Smugglers.  We took a lunch break and  then noticed 
that Dumpy had raised its ugly head. Hmmmm... How are we going  to get off this 
beach?  The thought of camping at Smugglers actually  crossed our minds.  
Being able to count to ten, I noticed the sets seemed  to be grouped in seven with 
about a five minute lull.  That theory worked  and Dave launched with no 
problems.  Getting those fully loaded boat off  the beach with no help was not an 
easy task and I almost exceeded my five minute  window.  We made it!
 
As we rounded San Pedro point we were met by a 15 knot wind and we  slugged 
our way to Scorpion.
It was late afternoon when we landed and by the time we set up camp it was  
dinner time.  Barb came over the next day to resupply our provisions.   We 
kicked around Scorpion for the day and put Barb on the 4 PM boat.   Saturday it 
was blowing hard so Dave and I practiced rolls and rescues.   Our original plan 
was to paddle back to Anacapa on Sunday but with a broken  davit we scrapped 
that plan.  The next option was to paddle back to CI  Harbor but my sorry ass 
likes the shorter distance.  We made a reservation  with Island Packers and 
returned on the Sunday noon boat.
 
The final fly landed in the ointment.  Our gracious CKF Pres, Steve  
Holtzman, met us at Ventura and shuttled Dave back to CI Harbor to pick up his  car.  
Ah!  As I was waiting for Dave, our blue and yellow Explorers  were picture 
perfect contrasting with the green lawn.  The picture would  have been complete 
with my Superior carbon Greenland paddle and Dave's euro  paddle lying across 
the decks.  Island Packers forgot to bring them out of  the hold and they were 
long gone.  We had to wait for three hour for  the boat to return. 
They eased our pain with two free tickets to Anacapa/Santa Cruz good for  two 
years.  
 
Let's all plan a "fix the davit" paddle.  All it needs is a block and  tackle 
and some line.
 
Ken Fry
 
 



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