One of the few national parks that is only accessible by boat or a long swim is Channel Islands National Park. Like most insular parks, the islands are wonders of nature that include just as much of their valuable setting beneath the waves as above. Likewise, the islands are home to things that are otherwise rare or non-existent in the rest of North America, though some plants and animals can be found in nearby coastline areas of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The islands, you see, were pretty much isolated from the mainland since the last ice age, which cut off a lot of migration and ground dispersal of species. Still, the islands are not too far away:
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| Taken from a small mainland part of Channel Islands National Park in Ventura, California. The island with the higher mountains is Santa Cruz, whereas the more faintly visible island on the left low horizon is Anacapa. The dunes are natural, the breakwater is obviously artificial, serving to protect Ventura Harbor. |
The Chumash people consider the islands to be their ancient homeland, and like some of the island life, they also have lived on the nearby mainland coast areas for centuries. The Channel Islands were also a place of both sanctuary and downfall for the expedition of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the first European to explore the northern direction of the western coast of North America, back in the early 1540's. The Ventura area has a lovely climate typical of coastal southern California, with little temperature variation during the daytime beyond winter days in the lower sixties to summer days in the lower seventies. The ocean here is quite cool most of the time, and gets colder even by the mile the further north one progresses. Apparently there are usually a lot of sea lions around here, crowding every bit of land, wharf, or buoy they can take over, but I did not encounter any.
Breaking my usual rule of only sharing posts about what I have seen, I have to say, the whole affair seems too comical not to pass along anyway:
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