I was nervous as I boarded the boat taking us to Scorpion Cove on the Santa Cruz Island. I had never been on a boat for more than twenty minutes, I had never been camping in a place where a Vons wasn’t a short drive away, and I had never been camping with people I barely knew. It was the way the boat moved through the ocean that calmed me, the way the ocean rocked the boat softly that made me feel relaxed. They had said it would take an hour to get to the island and once I knew I wouldn’t get seasick I knew it would be a fun hour.
We got to Scorpion cove with no problems and even got to see some dolphins swimming with the boat. At once I was in awe of the towering cliffs that surrounded the beach, and how blue and clear the ocean was there. It wasn’t at all what I’m used to seeing in the Ventura beaches, and I was filled with the urge to go exploring and discover more breathtaking views. As soon as we had all settled down and set up their tents, we went out on a ling hike to potato cove. It took us about two hours to get to potato cove because we kept stopping to take pictures and take in the views on the way there. It was a truly awe inspiring view. And even the trail leading back to the campsite was picture worthy even if it didn’t overlook the ocean.
Because there are not very many artificial lights on the islands the stars at night looked much brighter than they do in Ventura. The starts were so pretty we even took the tarp off of our tent so we could see them while we lay in our sleeping bags. Unfortunately our only sighting of the island foxes happened at night when the lighting obviously wasn’t good, and we didn’t have a camera on us. We didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife but we did see a scorpion. The following morning while waiting for our boat we decided to do some research and looked into the visitors center. I learned so many things about the islands history and the things the ecosystem had gone through. I learned about the near extinction of the island fox and the complete elimination of the bald eagle on the islands due to DDT. I saw how settlers introducing non native livestock to a new environment can kill the environment.
Maybe it’s because we live, quite literally, right next to the beach that venturians tend to take the ocean for granted. We see the Channel Islands from a distance but never really bother to learn about them or visit them. We don’t realize what a beautiful, diverse and unique ecosystem lives just a few miles from our shore. I’ve lived in Ventura my whole life and had never once thought twice about the islands I saw at a distance. It had never occurred to me that those islands might have a long and colorful history.
One of the things I would like to accomplish with this project is to bring awareness to Ventura’s citizens and make them interested in what goes on in the islands. I want them all to know what’s out there and what they can do to help it stay as beautiful as it is now. I want more Venturian’s to go out the islands and experience the way it feels to stand over the cliffs of Santa Cruz and look at how blue the ocean is. I want them to know that their trash can end up in the ocean and ruin what is now a lovely and recovering ecosystem. They need to see for themselves the balloons that the crew on the boat pick up to save the playful dolphins that visit the boats passengers.
