Our visit to the Channel Islands was primarily a boat ride. On the way out of the harbor, we saw seals and numerous birds. We were suddenly out in the ocean with the mainland disappearing on the horizon.
Once we were out of the harbor, we saw some dolphins following the boat. They like to play in the wake of the boat.
We finally got a good look at Anacapa Island. Anacapa is one of the Channel Islands. Our tour will take us up close to the island.
We were not on a whale watching tour, but we got to see one. The captain slowed the boat so that we could watch the humpback whale for a short time. We got to see the humpback come up for air a few times. We did not see any breaches. When the humpback took a deep dive and waved his tail, we continued our tour.
One end of Anacapa island is an arch. Because the island has very few people on it, there are a lot of birds on the island. Some people on our boat were set to hike on the island for the day. While they were unloading, we got our picture of the Channel Island National Park sign.
After the hikers disembarked, we resumed our tour. We sailed around the arch to see a place where some seals like to catch some rays. We managed to see a seal climbing vertically up the rocks of the island.
After that, we returned to the west side of the Anacapa Island. Anacapa Island is actually several islands. We saw a few of the places where the ocean separates the islands. We also saw an opening in the rocks that formed a small cove. After we saw the cove, we began our return to the harbor. Part way back, we took a picture of all of Anacapa Island.
We went back through the pod of dolphins we saw on the way out.
We had two dolphins that were swimming close to the boat for a short period. Here is a series of photos that captures them enjoying chasing the boat.
We saw some other dolphins on the way back to the harbor. A seagull followed the boat for a time too. He was just floating on the air. When we got back to the harbor, we saw the seals again.
After the boat tour, it was time to start our return trip home. We headed for Death Valley. It was a nice drive across southern California. We saw some large solar panel farms along the way.
