February 2022
Near perfect weather today for a boat trip to Santa Cruz Island, calm water and sunny warm skies provided the perfect backdrop for our pre valentine/birthday excursion.
As you will see from the photos, we were blessed by dolphins, whales, and birds along with the scenic beauty of the islands and painted cave
Our trip began with a 9:30 departure from Ventura Harbor, landing at Prisoners Harbor landing around 11:30 where we dropped a few passengers and overnight campers. We continued west up the coastline to the Painted Cave on the island where the captain maneuvered the boat right into the opening allowing us a great view into the 1/4 mile deep cavern. The is a small sandy beach at the end of the cave that was not visible to us but is the apparent favorite spot for sea lions to hang out. You could hear their barking echo through the cavern. Heading back to Prisoners Harbor we hiked around the island toward the east side for a few hours taking in the great views. Hard to imagine what the Chumash Indians who inhabited the island thought when they looked across the 32-mile channel to the land on the other side. Boarding the boat at 4:30 for our return trip we were greeted by pods of Dolphin and a small group of Humpback Whales along the return route.