Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [114]
SEASONS & CLIMATE
Although the climate is mild, with little variation in temperature year-round,
the weather on the islands is always unpredictable. Thirty-mph winds can blow for days, or sometimes a fog bank will settle in and smother the islands for weeks at a time. Winter rains can turn island trails into mud baths. In general, plan on wind, lots of sun (bring sunscreen), cool nights, and the possibility of hot days. Water temperatures are in the 50s and 60s year-round. Also be aware that inclement weather or sea conditions can cause concessionaires to cancel trips on the day of the excursion, so it's a good idea to have a plan B just in case.
SEASONAL EVENTS
From January through March, gray whales can be viewed from the islands as they pass by on their annual 10,000-mile migration from their warmer breeding grounds off the coast of Baja California to their cold-water feeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean. Blue and humpback whales can be seen in the waters off the islands between June and October.
If You Have Only 1 Day
Each of the islands is distinct. If you only have a day, Anacapa and east Santa Cruz are the closest to the mainland and the easiest to get to. The bad side: They're the most crowded (though crowded is a relative term here).
Exploring the Islands
EXPLORING ANACAPA
Sitting only 14½ nautical miles off the Ventura coast, tiny Anacapa has historically been the most visited of the park's islands. (Santa Cruz recently overtook it in terms of visitation.) Referring to Anacapa as an island is somewhat misleading because it is a chain of three small islets—East, Middle, and West Anacapa—inaccessible to each other except by boat. From the shore, the flat landscapes of East and Middle Anacapa stand out in sharp contrast to West Anacapa's twin peaks.
Anacapa is the only island in the chain to keep anything resembling its original name—Anacapa is a corruption of the Chumash word Eneepah, meaning "island of deception or mirage," and on a foggy or hot day it is easy to see why: Tricks of light make the island's cliff walls seem enormous or almost nonexistent, and 40-foot-high Arch Rock, a natural offshore bridge, can seem to dominate the eastern end of the island or barely emerge from the water.
At only 1 square mile, Anacapa is probably not the best choice for people who need a lot of room to roam. To cramp things even more, only East Anacapa is completely open to the public. Visitors to Middle Anacapa must be accompanied by a park ranger.
Visitors interested in seeing the island's marine life up close may want to opt for a trip to Frenchy's Cove on West Anacapa instead of visiting East Anacapa. Unlike most of the mainland tide pools, the island's tide pools remain in pristine condition, housing thriving marine communities. Only the beach at Frenchy's Cove is open to visitors, though. The rest of West Anacapa is closed to protect the nesting areas of the endangered brown pelican—the islet houses the largest breeding rookery for the bird on the West Coast.
Seabirds are easily the island's most abundant wildlife. Because of the island's relative lack of predators, thousands of birds nest on the island, including the endangered brown pelican, rare xantus murrelets, and western gulls. Cormorants, scoter ducks, and black oystercatchers can also be seen plying the air and waters above and around the island.
To protect seabirds, in 2003 the park successfully removed nonnative rats from Anacapa in the largest-scale rodent eradication program on any island in the world. The island is now free of rats, but native deer mice are thriving, and they prey upon seabirds as well.
The island also harbors a community of California sea lions and harbor seals. The animals rest and breed on Anacapa's rocky shores and feed in the