Trip leader: Darwin Duane Strosaker, 3rd combo, 14th crossing to Catalina.
Participants:
Dublin Dave O'Connor, 3rd combo.
Lunker Jake Stachovak, 1st combo.
Hull Cracker Steve Wilson, 2nd combo
Day one Blue Whale sighted in mid channel: I just finished my hour as navigator, pace setter. Dublin took the point as I dropped to the back of the pack. Thirty yards off my port side I saw the largest creature on earth. Stunned by the massive behemoth beside me, I took a moment to cry out "Whale". It dove out of sight before anyone else saw it. Duane pulled out his camera just in time as the Blue Whale surfaced directly in front of us. The Blue surfaced 4 or 5 times as it maneuvered around us before disappearing into the abyss. An Easy 18 mile crossing, 5 hours 50 minutes from Cabrillo to Two Harbors. After landing a Pelican promptly bombed Jake. He staggered but remained on his feet. That night Jake made Venison Kabobs. They were out of this world tender and delicious. Duane quietly set out his plastic rattle snake. He managed to startle all of us. Duane called it "snake awareness training". The snake (Little Duane) made several appearances throughout the trip.
Day two started early with Jake fishing next to camp. He hooked a fighter and followed it into the water up to his chest as the fish tried to lose him in the rocks. Jake walked out of the ocean shivering with a giant Barred Sand Bass. It looked like a huge Calico. Duane said that's a "Lunker". Jake had his nick name. He became "Lunker". We spent the day at Two Harbors hiking, snorkeling, fishing, napping, and eating. Duane made us all Pop Corn before turning in.
Day three we set out around the wild west end of Catalina. Paddling 16 easy miles to Little Harbor on the back side of the island. A flying fish took flight over my bow, two bald Eagles were sighted, countless fish, birds, and sea lions escorted around the island. At Little Harbor Dave made Apple Pie for us. The suffering continues. The Safari Bus driver wandered into our camp. We had forgotten about the plastic snake (Little Duane) hanging around our camp site. It scared the hell out of the driver.
Day Four again with the hiking, snorkeling, fishing, napping, and eating. Dave lit out for an early hike along the beautiful cliffs. Duane launched to do some fishing around Shark bay. Jake hiked to the island high point Mt. Orizaba 2097'. I took the Safari bus to Avalon returning with Bratwurst and Beer. Quail and Buffalo abounded on this side of the island. Jake saw one of the elusive Island Fox. Jake boiled the bratwurst in beer and browned them over some hot coals (delicious). Dave made coffee cake for dessert as we enjoyed the evening camp fire. Will the suffering ever end.
Day Five another easy paddled on to Avalon for lunch. Along the way Duane caught a couple of Barracuda and a Bonito. Duane and Jake fished around the island catching numerous fish all the way. One of them should do a fishing report. We enjoyed the sights, sounds, and food of Avalon before paddling on to Goat Harbor for the night. The five miles to Goat Harbor was hard paddling against strong head winds. Goat Harbor was gorgeous, green hills, small stone beach, half buried boat wreck, post card views in all directions.
Day Six we paddled 5 miles to Two harbors to complete the circumnavigation. We ate lunch and meandered around this tiny little town (paradise). Back at Goat Harbor we enjoyed our last afternoon. Duane made Pop Corn with Olive Oil and Dave made another coffee cake, his best ever. The view of the mainland was clear and beautiful all night.
Day Seven we launched at six o'clock into clear sunny skies with a light breeze. Another perfect day to cross with a clear view in all directions. Five hours and twenty minutes later we landed at Cabrillo.
Eighty Five Nautical Miles, seven days of paradise, Four paddling friends, and one Blue Whale. So much suffering.
Darwin, Dublin, Lunker, thanks for making this trip even better then it sounds on paper.
Hull Cracker Steve Wilson
Here's a photo of what I think is the most spectacular cliff in all of Southern California. The photo may fail to capture the grandeur, until you see Hull Cracker and Lunker looking tiny at the bottom of the photo. This is at Ribbon Rock.
The rubber rattlesnake was a lot of fun and much better than one of those pink flamingos. It even scared me a few times, and I was the one positioning it. At one time there was a threat to destroy it, but I reminded everyone that the snake has sentimental value, because I bought it as a souvenir on a family trip to the San Diego Zoo.
It had been about five years since I kayak fished, and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. Overall, I caught eight calico bass, two barracuda, and one bonito. But none of them were a prize catch like the bass Jake (aka Lunker) caught. All of my fish were caught on barbless hooks, and all were released, except for one bass I filleted and fried up for lunch. Yummy! I'm going to have to do more kayaking fishing locally this summer.
I do have to say Catalina is my favorite Channel Island. It really has some of the most beautiful coastline and the best weather of all the Channel Islands. It's by no means remote, but it's nice to be able to drop in at Two Harbors and Avalon for lunch and more alcohol, and if needed, help is never very far away.
Of course, the best part of any trip is the people you do the trip with. Dublin, Hull Cracker, and Lunker were great camp buddies and group effort paddlers. I have to thank them for putting up with my idiosyncrasies.
Now that I see it in use on a trip report, the "Lunker" nick name still works. I'm only grateful that I didn't end up with a moniker stemming from the pelican bombardment.
We could almost apply that nick name to the load I was carrying in my boat. Out of curiosity I weighed all my stuff before putting it away today and was startled by how much weight I was hauling around. I weigh 160 lbs. the boat 70 lbs. and all of my combined paddling, camping, and accessory gear tips the scales at 95 pounds. It all adds up to 325 pounds not including the weight of the food I ate or water I carried. I'm actually surprised at how well my boat performed with that kind of load. Never mind that, at well over 165 pounds, it's no wonder we could hardly move my boat on the beach. I learned a lot seeing how you guys keep your loads light (even ridiculously light) and my future kayak camping trips will be better for that knowledge.
Everyone should know that I really didn't wade chest deep in the chilly morning water only to catch a fish. My main concern was the threat of loosing my favorite fishing lure; those things aren't easy to come by in California after all. I'll never forget the Safari Bus driver's expression when I mentioned the lures name. Apparently (like you guys) he had never heard of a Swedish Pimple before either. I don't know which startled the poor guy worse, Duane's Snake or that lure's name. It's remarkable how flustered a grown man can become during a five minute visit to our camp.
Thank you Duane, Dave, and Steve for having me along for such a great trip, every day out there was so great that I didn't want it to end. I'm looking forward to the next island outing.