The four of us paddled out but as we left Channel Islands Harbor, we could see that the cruise ship was no longer in Hueneme Harbor. Peter mentioned that it was so tall, that it could easily be seen as soon as you cleared Channel Islands Harbor.

The weatherman finally got his forecast correct and the conditions we were seeing were very close to the predicted weather. The visibility was 10-11 miles with a hazy marine layer and the swells were right at the predicted 2 - 4 feet.

Since the cruise ship was gone, we decided to check out our friends at the Hueneme Buoy and we set off at a fairly rapid pace towards it. George and Peter were vying to see who could paddle the fastest and they quickly left Chris and I behind. The swell was from the southwest which is a little unusual and the boats wanted to weathercock into it. Both Peter and I used our skegs to make it much easier for us then Chris (without a rudder or skeg) and George (who was not using his rudder).

As we paddled over, I saw a very small dorsal fin right in front of my boat. In no time, I was right next to it and looked down to see my boat pass over a very small or baby shark. It couldn't have been more than 3 - 3 1/2 feet in length. This was the first shark I had ever seen from a kayak.No matter what kind it was, it was certainly harmless because of how small it was.

When we got Hueneme buoy, there were a couple of baby sea lions on it as well as the normal adults and juveniles. The babies were the smallest and cutest that I have ever seen.

We then headed west and started paddling away from shore and the buoy. When we were opposite the CIH breakwater, we turned and started paddling in. George turned to go behind the breakwater on the west side, and Chris, Peter, and I opted for the east. As we paddled in, there was a large sailboat coming right towards us--we stopped and it then turned towards starboard so that we would pass port to port. Next was a very large cruiser coming right towards us with a very large bow wave. Every time we tried to turn, it followed us. Finally we stopped paddling and it adjusted course to remain on a collision heading. I finally called it on the VHF and told him we were 50 yards off his bow. He said he saw us and this time altered course to starboard and we did the same.

Next we paddled into the pond to play in some of the breaking waves. Chris met a sea lion that started trying to climb up on his back deck. Then it started nibbling on his deck lines. We were not sure if it was amorous or hungry or both. It then swam away and surfaced 50 feet away from us with a fish in its mouth and proceeded to eat it in front of us.

About this time, we saw Carol paddling out of the harbor over to us and we all then paddled back to eat at Daddy-o's.

    Steve Holtzman

LAUNCH LOCATION
Exit Victoria South (left) - towards beaches Cross - Channel Islands Blvd, continue south for 1 mile. The Beach is just past the Coast Guard Station on the right side. Look for the skinny, colorful boats on the beach.

View Map.
View picture of the pond and Channel Islands Harbor.