Planning a trip to Channel Islands National Park
Information
Contact Channel Islands National Park, 1901 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura, CA 93001 (tel. 805/658-5730; www.nps.gov/chis).
For information on Ventura, try the Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau, 101 S. California St., Ventura, CA 93001 (tel. 800/483-6214 or 805/648-2075; www.ventura-usa.com).
Visitor Centers
The main visitor center for the islands is on the mainland, in Ventura Harbor, where you'll also find the park headquarters. Visit the Robert J. Lagomarsino Channel Islands Visitor Center, 1901 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura, CA 93001 (tel. 805/658-5730), to get acquainted with the various programs and individual personalities of the islands through maps and displays. A wide variety of publications are available; among the most helpful are the free handouts focusing on the individual islands. The center is open daily from 8:30am to 5pm (closed Thanksgiving and Dec 25). The visitor center on the mainland in Santa Barbara at the Outdoors Santa Barbara Visitor Center, 113 Harbor Way, 4th floor, Santa Barbara, CA 93109 (tel. 805/884-1475), is open daily from 10am to 5pm.
Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara islands also have smaller visitor centers with exhibits and other information. Rangers and volunteers run interpretive programs on the islands and the mainland year-round.
Fees
The park does not charge entrance fees, but you should consider the cost of getting to the islands when planning your budget. There is a nightly $15-per-site charge for camping on all five islands; you must make reservations.
Special Regulations & Warnings
The islands' relative inaccessibility makes preplanning a must. The boat concessionaires are often booked a month or so in advance, so be sure to make reservations. Also remember to bring anything you might need (including water, food, and equipment if you're camping). If you're camping, bring a good tent. If you don't know the difference between a good and a bad tent, the island wind will gladly demonstrate.
Getting There
Most people travel to the islands by boat from Ventura. Although there are no park fees, getting there is expensive -- anywhere from $56 to $160 per person, the higher price being for a trip by air to Santa Rosa. If you fly, you may leave from the Camarillo airport. Anacapa, 14 miles out, is closest to the mainland, about a 1-hour boat ride.
The Nearest Airport -- The closest major airport to the Channel Islands is Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX (tel. 310/646-5252; www.lawa.org/welcomeLAX.aspx). It's served by all major airlines, with connections to almost anywhere you want to go. Los Angeles is 66 miles southeast of Ventura and 96 miles southeast of Santa Barbara. All major car-rental companies have vehicles at LAX.
By Boat
Island Packers, at Ventura Harbor at 1691 Spinnaker Dr. (tel. 805/642-1393; www.islandpackers.com), is one of the park's two concessionaires for boat transportation to and from the islands. They will take you on a range of scheduled excursions, from 3 1/2-hour nonlanding tours of the islands to full-day excursions, and will transport you to and from the islands for overnight trips. Prices start at $32 per person for nonlanding tours and run $56 to $100 for full-day excursions or $75 to $140 for campers. Island Packers also arranges specialty trips, primarily sea kayaking and snorkeling. Private yachts and commercial dive and tour boats also visit the park on a regular basis. Specializing in dive trips, the second boat concessionaire is Truth Aquatics (tel. 805/962-1127; www.truthaquatics.com). It leaves from Santa Barbara Harbor and charges $90 for a nonlanding round-trip to Santa Cruz; overnight live-aboard trips are also available. The trips take about 3 hours each way.
If You Have Your Own Boat -- If you want to take your own boat, check with the mainland visitor center. Access to the islands is prohibited in some places and difficult in others -- going ashore often requires a skiff, raft, or small boat. More details:
- You may land without a permit on East Anacapa, Santa Barbara, and east Santa Cruz, between Prisoner's Harbor and Valley Anchorage.
- West Anacapa, except the beach at Frenchy's Cove, is closed to the public to protect nesting brown pelicans.
- Access to middle Anacapa requires a ranger escort.
- At San Miguel, landings at Cuyler Harbor are allowed, and hiking access is limited without a permit and ranger escort.
- Landings and beach use on Santa Rosa do not require a permit; inland hiking excursions are also allowed. Special closures may exist; contact the park for up-to-date information.
- To land on the private western portion of Santa Cruz, boaters must obtain a permit from the Nature Conservancy, Attn.: Santa Cruz Landing Permit Program, 3639 Harbor Blvd., Ste. 201, Ventura, CA 93001 (tel. 805/642-0345; www.nature.org/cruzpermit). A fee is charged, no overnight stays are permitted, and processing the request may take 2 weeks. Applications are available from the mainland visitor center or by contacting the Nature Conservancy directly.
Getting to the Islands by Air
If you want to get to Santa Rosa in a hurry, Channel Islands Aviation, 305 Durley Ave., Camarillo, CA 93010 (tel. 805/987-1301, ext. 0; www.flycia.com), will fly you there from Camarillo or Santa Barbara in one of its small, fixed-wing aircraft (around $160 per adult round-trip, $300 if you're camping).
When to Go
Although the climate is mild, upper 40s to high 60s (about 8-20°C), with little variation in temperature year-round, the weather on the islands is always unpredictable. Winds of 30 mph can blow for days, or sometimes a fog bank will settle in and smother the islands for weeks at a time. Winter rains can turn island trails into mud baths. In general, plan on wind, lots of sun (bring sunscreen), cool nights, and the possibility of hot days. Water temperatures are in the 50s and 60s (teens Celsius) year-round. Also be aware that inclement weather or sea conditions can cause concessionaires to cancel trips on the day of the excursion, so it's a good idea to have a plan B just in case.
Avoiding the Crowds
Unlike many of the more popular (and more easily accessible) national parks, the Channel Islands rarely have a crowding problem. In a given year, about 300,000 people stop in at the park visitor center, but less than 100,000 set foot on the islands. Although visitors to any given island rarely number more than a few hundred a day, the open section of Anacapa (the closest and most popular day-trip destination) is so small that it may be difficult to completely separate yourself from the flock. As for the other four islands in the park, you should have no trouble finding a secluded picnic spot or overlook. Santa Barbara Island is the least crowded, Santa Rosa allows for backcountry beach camping, and San Miguel is the most remote (the boat trip takes 3-4 hr.) and the wildest.
Seasonal Events
January through March, gray whales can be viewed from the islands as they pass by on their annual 10,000-mile migration from their warmer breeding grounds off the coast of Baja California to their cold-water feeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean. Blue and humpback whales can be seen in the waters off the islands between June and October.
