Monterey to Santa Barbara

Returning from the comforts of Philadelphia to our boat in Monterey was a little deflating — and not just because we’d accidentally left some Brie out on the counter for a week. Maybe that explains our sense of urgency to get off the dock and on our way to the Channel Islands, “The Galapagos of North America.” (Though I would have loved more time to explore all the historic buildings from Monterey’s time as the capital of Mexican California, especially the lovely Cooper Molera Adobe.)

We snuck out of the marina early on a Saturday morning. With all this time ashore and dock-bound, it felt good to get going again. Unfortunately the forecast was for boringly light winds the whole way — a forecast that was projected to hold for the coming week. Motoring out into a confused northwest and southwest swell, we all felt a bit woozy rounding Point Pinos. Within a few miles the seas moderated and our left turn helped smooth things out. We were moving south again!

After a quiet overnight trip, we anchored at Cuyler Harbor on San Miguel Island, the westernmost of the five islands that make up Channel Islands National Park. Already in the anchorage were a few boats who had sailed from Seattle to San Francisco as part of the Coho Ho Ho rally. They were quick to dinghy over and invite us to join them the next morning for a hike.

Once settled, it was time to take Pelle’s collar off, get the toys out, and answer the burning question: is the electric outboard strong enough to pull the kids up onto a foil? (Answer: no, but it was fun to try for a few hours!)

In the morning, we managed to land the dinghy through surf without going for a swim, and got to know our new friends on the hike up to the ranger station. Maxi, an entomologist, helped identify the flying ants that had died all over our boats overnight and Melissa, an emergency vet, pointed out footprints of the house cat-sized island foxes who’d been snacking on a seal carcass.

San Miguel is owned by the US Navy and was used as a bombing range, so visitors aren’t allowed on hiking trails without National Parks staff due to unexploded ordnance. We were lucky that — despite the government shutdown — a volunteer ranger was on site. We were even luckier that it was Chuck, a photographer, writer, and general badass who thinks nothing of kayaking 30 miles around the island one day, and hiking 16 miles from one end out-and-back the next morning.

San Miguel is exposed to harsh weather from the Pacific and was overgrazed by sheep in the 1800s, so the views while walking the island’s plateau are wide and barren. James spent most of the hike talking through his E*Trade investment strategy — he bought one share of Advanced Micro Devices and made $70 in a week — but paused to take some photos of the Caliche Forest, an otherworldly landscape of fossilized trees.

Steve and the boys turned back to get to the boat in time for school, but I continued on to Point Bennett, a rookery and resting site for thousands of California sea lions, elephant seals, and northern fur seals. The constant barking from this crowd might have been even louder than a car full of middle-schoolers.

After a few days of perfect weather, a strong northwesterly was approaching, so our mini-fleet dispersed in search of more protected anchorages. On Flyer, we decided to head to Santa Barbara to reprovision and, more importantly, to see LMN’s Interactive Learning Pavillion at UCSB.

While Steve was working on this project, he told us stories of the magical land with a climate so perfect that classroom doors open directly to the outdoors and building specifications include surfboard racks. Somehow, reality actually surpassed our expectations.

The day we visited, Steve’s clients in the department of Design and Construction were having a fall office party, so we got to reconnect with them and even hear Ernie — a former bass player for The Beach Boys and a University architect who worked with Steve on the ILP — serenade the group with his acoustic guitar.

Santa Barbara was very good to us. The harbor marina is bustling with friendly people. The sand spit at the harbor entrance has a sweet mini surf break — about a 30 second dinghy ride from our spot on the dock. The poke bowl from the sushi place near the marina office is incredible, and you might get to watch an octopus chase crabs in the water below while you wait for your order. The local skate shop has a finger skateboard park, and the surf shop has a room full of used boards. Paul visited it five times before spending his life’s savings on his first fiberglass surfboard!

After our three nights at San Miguel, we knew we wanted to spend more time in the Channel Islands. It was exciting to push off the fuel dock in Santa Barbara with poke bowls and new surfboards in hand, clear skies above, and hundreds of dolphins leading the way south across the channel back to the land of kelp forests and tiny foxes.