Anacapa Campout
Last Saturday, August 31, Joe Kramp, Roger Halter, Steve Wilson and I launched from Channel Islands Harbor to Anacapa for a weekend camping trip. For those of you who are not familiar with this part of the Channel Islands chain Anacapa is the closest island to the main land of all the Channel Islands at about 11 Nautical miles from the Oxnard coast. View MapTech chart. It is also the smallest island and is actually a series of three islands only separated by small areas of water. There are only two places you can land on the Island, Frenchies Cove on the western end and the Landing Cove in the eastern end. Frenchies is restricted for day use only and hence the camping areas are only accessible via the East End landing cove. The landing cove isn't a beach but rather a dock that is 10 feet above ocean. The dock has a hoist to pull up kayaks. From the dock it is necessary to ascend a steep set of stairs and then a half mile hike to the camp site

NOAA forecasted perfect conditions for a crossing but we still decided to get an early start (5:30am) to avoid any potential afternoon wind and maximize time on the island. At launch time seas were clam with some overcast. Even with the overcast Oil Platform Gina shone brightly against the early morning sky providing an excellent navigation aid to steer on. Once past Gina we set out for Frenchies cove. The overcast did obscure the islands for about 45 minutes beyond Gina so we navigated via Compass/GPS for a short time. There was no ship traffic to contend with and that with the smooth seas allowed us to make fast time to Frenchies and we landed just before 10am. The light seas made for a very easy landing.

We all decided to take a long break at Frenchies and explore the area. I even donned my wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins for an underwater view. The warm water and abundance of fish made for great snorkeling. At about 1:30 we decided to launch for the landing cove at the east end and the infamous hoist. The volcanic origin of the island makes for a spectacular coastline with plenty of soaring cliffs, sea caves, natural arches and rock gardens. Joe, Roger and Steve chose to explore up close by playing in the caves and rock gardens while I chose to view the island from a more sedate distance. The paddle from Frenchies to the east end is only 4 nautical miles so even with the exploring we were quickly done.

Joe and I decided to tackle the challenge of the hoist while Steve and Roger opted for more exploring. It's was a challenge rigging up kayaks and hoisting them up but once we got the hang of it we made quick progress. Just as we finished pulling up Joe's boat Roger and Steve pulled in and we quickly had them on the deck. After a rest we headed up the stairs to set up camp and spent the rest of the day exploring east Anacapa. Admittedly the Island is small but it's a wonderful place to explore. I even went for another swim/snorkel in the east-landing cove. What had been mild winds picked up throughout the day and by evening the winds were going strong and were buffeting the tents hard. This did not give any of us an easy feeling about the impending paddle home the next day. However at daybreak we decided to launch and see what it was like out on the ocean. Even as we were launching boats we could see white caps beginning to form. After we launched Joe a dive boat anchored just off the landing cove and he went out to ask the skipper about conditions in the channel. The report was not favorable with significant swells and 20-knot winds at 7:30 in the morning. With the realization that the conditions would most likely only worsen later in the day we decided to call Island Packers and see if they would give us a lift home. There has been a lot of ruckus about Island Packers refusing to handle glass boats recently. I have to say they were more than accommodating to use, offering us a ride on the first boat and going to great lengths to transport the boats.

Even though we only accomplished half our goal we all had a great time and are looking forward to future crossings

    Dave O'Connor

Submitted on August 21, 2002