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Painted Cave | Why You Should Visit

Home » Painted Cave | Why You Should Visit

The giant sea caves of Santa Cruz Island are a microcosm of what makes the Channel Islands special. Formed by millennia of erosion of the volcanic island rock, these sea caves offer a glimpse into the eons that have passed since the islands formed. Unique animal & plant life inhabits the caves. Perhaps the most majestic of all the island sea caves, Painted Cave (or hax̓inu mupʰ nuwaštipa, Chumash) is the largest. Our Painted Cave Trip gives you the chance to explore the depths of this cave by kayak. Read on to learn why a visit to Painted Cave is a bucket list California trip. 

Painted Cave has been described by CIEx guides as akin to what El Capitan is to Yosemite National Park. The largest sea cave in California and the 4th largest in the world by length, Painted Cave is a breathtaking natural wonder. As you paddle into Painted Cave, the reason for its name becomes apparent. A palate of color, ranging from rusty reds to lime greens adorns the walls of the cave. As you paddle into the cave, subsequent chambers reveal themselves, with less and less light penetrating each one. Oftentimes, sea lions inhabit the beaches concealed within the cave. Their loud barking punctuates the otherwise silent cave, save for the gentle lapping of waves against its walls. The sound of the sea lions and the fading light gives the interior of Painted Cave an otherworldly feel. Time seems to stop while you explore the depths of this awe-inspiring sea cave.

 Depending on the conditions, you will be able to paddle all the way to the back of the cave. We will spend plenty of time exploring Painted Cave and its various chambers before moving on to the next portion of the kayak adventure. We look forward to getting you out there soon!

A visit to Painted Cave is truly unforgettable: Book your Painted Cave trip here .

Painted cave fast facts.

• 1227 feet long (more than four football fields!)
• Maximum width: 100 feet
• Extends over a ¼ mile into Santa Cruz Island 
• Home to sea lions, harbor seals, sea birds, and other marine organisms
• Naturally occurring lichens & algae give Painted Cave its colorful appearance

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We are a local, family-owned company that employs professional crew with decades of experience. As owner/operators we are engaged in our daily operations. It takes a lot of human power, planning, and training to operate a safe and sound fleet and team, and we take pride in the expeditions we run.

Traveling to the Channel Islands from the mainland is a distance ranging from 11 to 45 miles (one way) depending on where we depart from and where we go. This journey consumes both time and fuel. Crew and fuel costs account for 50% of the cost of our operations. We operate in US Waters and our vessels are inspected semi-annually by the United States Coast Guard. 

In 2022 we underwent 3 USCG full-vessel inspections (top and bottom side) with ZERO MAJOR* deficiencies and one vessel with ZERO overall deficiencies (TRUTH). Our commitment to running the safest small boat expedition fleet in the world requires resources, and our safety record indicates our resources are going to the correct places. 

Here’s a simple breakdown of the costs per ticket:

The number of passengers on the vessel does affect this breakdown, and so if you’re choosing an expedition or a summer camp with a 24 passenger load, this is why your ticket cost is higher than a full capacity expedition.

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*Minor deficiencies must be corrected within 30 days, major deficiencies must be corrected before carrying passengers again. We correct minor deficiencies as soon as possible.

Expedition Blue Season Pass – 2023 Season

• 2 redemptions for any “Boat Trip Only” ticket per month
• 1 redemption for any “Kayak Expedition” ticket per month
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• 4 redemptions for “Santa Barbara Sunset Boat Cruise” per month
• 10% discount on the “Ultimate 5 Day”
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Value – over $3,000 for the season!

Cost – only $399/person/year.

Only Sold Through May 1, 2023

Cortes Bank

Cortes Bank is a chain of underwater pinnacles and plateaus located 137 nautical miles (nm) South by Southeast from Santa Barbara and about 40 nm Southwest of San Clemente Island. Bishop Rock is one of the peaks in the underwater mountain chain that rises to within 6 feet of the surface and is marked by a nearby warning buoy. It was named for the clipper ship Stillwell S. Bishop that struck the rock in 1855 and with a patched hull limped its way back to San Francisco. Nine Fathom spot is about 4.5 miles Northwest of Bishop Rock and rises to about 60 feet below the surface. Both are noted scuba diving locations featuring clear water and abundant sea life.

Scuba diving Cortes Bank with Channel Islands Expeditions is a truly unique experience. It is an open water seamount where currents sweep clean ocean water over the spot and invertebrates cling to the rocks. Sea palms ( Postelsia palmaeformis ) fixed to the rocks provides shelter for smaller fish and invertebrates that hide amongst its fronds. Large clusters of purple hydrocorals can be seen throughout the area as well as tuna, yellowtail, large schools of baitfish, sea lions, and occasional sharks. Large black and white sea bass are common sights as well California sheep head. Lobster divers continue to make this spot a top priority to visit during season and free divers frequent the area in the spring and summer for yellowtail, white sea bass, and tuna. Wreck diving can also be done at this location on the  Abalonia .

Diving at Cortes Bank can be spectacular but anyone who ventures out there needs to be mentally and physically prepared. On any open ocean dive location, one needs to understand that ocean swells and currents are normally present. A flat calm day is rare. When you get good conditions at “The Bank” it will be a dive you will not forget. Sometimes it can be frustrating to get to the bank, but when you do, it can be well worth the effort.

In 1969 a group of promoters bought the World War II surplus troop ship SS  Jalisco , renamed her USS  Abalonia , and sailed her to the bank intending to sink her in shallow water to form a tax-free island nation and shellfish processing plant. But during the sinking, rough seas broke a mooring line and pushed her into deeper water. Another company planned to build a platform on the bank and form a nation called ‘Taluga,’ but the US government declared that the bank was part of the continental shelf and was US territory. The wreck of the  Abalonia  today lies in three pieces in about 30 to 40 feet of water. Now, only scuba divers and the vibrant marine life are citizens of this almost-nation.

On November 2, 1985, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS  Enterprise  struck Cortes Bank about one mile east of Bishop Rock during exercises, putting a 40-foot gash in her outer hull and damaging a propeller. She continued operations then went into dry dock at Hunter’s Point Shipyard in San Francisco for repairs.

Tanner Bank

Tanner Bank is a chain of underwater pinnacles and plateaus located 120 nautical miles (nm) south by southeast of Santa Barbara, California, and 35 miles West by Southwest of San Clemente Island This bank rises within 80 feet of the surface and is considered one of the best advanced open water dive locations on the California coast. Like Cortes Banks, this seamount is open ocean with exposure to wind, current, and swell. Timing is everything when it comes to a successful day of diving this spot.

Scuba diving with Channel Islands Expeditions at Tanner Bank offers no protection from the weather so anchoring overnight is truly rare. Diving the bank is generally done on a multiple day liveaboard trip when you can take advantage of a weather window and dash out for a day. This dive location is so far offshore and exposed to the elements, so a diver can get a true feeling of open ocean diving that you cannot get next to land.

Under most circumstances this is considered advanced diving. It is deep and there can be current and surge, but the payoff can be huge. Like any other open ocean dive spot, you must be willing to roll the dice and see what Mother Nature will dish out.

This is an open water seamount, so currents sweep clean ocean water over the spot. You’ll find that everything that lives here clings tightly to the rocks. Palm kelp fixed to the rocks provides shelter for smaller fish and sea life that hide amongst its fronds. Large clusters of purple hydrocorals can be seen throughout the area as well as tuna, yellowtail, large schools of baitfish, sea lions, and occasional sharks. Lobster divers have scored well in this location at times and many a sea story have been written once aboard the Truth and Vision.

Santa Catalina Island

After Alcatraz, Santa Catalina Island is probably the best known of any of California’s islands. This island’s proximity to Los Angeles transformed it into a popular tourist destination, evidenced by its one million visitors each year. The island is 22 miles long and eight miles across at its greatest width. The highest point on the island is Mt. Orizaba 2,126 feet. The island was widely developed as a resort by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. Now, ninety percent of the island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy, with the remainder of the island under the ownership of private entities.

The island is a rugged terrain of ridges and canyons with a few valleys inland and on its coastal fringes. The island is a semi-arid with only 12 inches of rainfall each year, though the marine climate does moderate temperatures during the summer and winter. The majority of the terrain here is characterized by chapparal vegetation with pine forest interspersed in canyons and at higher elevations.

Catalina Island is well known for its calm, clear, and warm waters. Even though Catalina is the most populated dive site of any other Channel Island, it is still sought out by scuba divers around the globe. Any trip with Channel Islands Expeditions is sure to encounter verdant kelp forest full of garibaldi, yellowtail, kelp bass, white seabass, giant black sea bass, and leopard sharks, as well as many other intriguing species. Photography and sightseeing are especially good in these clear waters, though free divers enjoy the possibility of spearing yellowtail and white seabass. Channel Islands Expeditions makes this destination part of its itinerary on the southern islands multi-day dive excursions, mostly during the summer months.

Scenic coastlines and warm waters make for the perfect opportunity to paddle, swim, and snorkel away an afternoon in beautiful surroundings. Your expedition leader will choose amongst the variety of sheltered coastal paddling opportunities that may present themselves on an adventure to Catalina Island with Channel Islands Expeditions.

There are many hiking trails along Catalina Island. Beach walking is allowed for anyone, but a permit is required for any back country travel. Permits can be acquired through the Catalina Island Conservancy. A point of pride for the island is the Trans-Catalina Trail, a recently finished 37.2-mile track that spans from Avalon on the east end of the island, past the isthmus, and ending at Starlight Beach on the west end.

Human History

Archaeological evidence shows Catalina was occupied by ancient cultures at least as far back as 6,800 years ago. The most recent native peoples to occupy the island were of the Tongva culture, whose languages and traditions were distinct from the Chumash of the northern Channel Islands. The Tongva referred to the island as “ pimu ” and to those that lived there as “ pimuvit .” Large settlements dotted the coastline of  pimu , and the pimuvit were renowned for the quarrying and trading of soapstone, which they excelled in carving.

The island would be discovered on Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s foundational voyage of exploration in 1542. The colonization of California by the Spanish brought about the swift disintegration of the Tongva people, including those that resided on Santa Catalina Island. Over the years, the island would change hands and small ranchos were established, but it was not until the turn of the 20th century that anyone would have designs on turning Catalina Island into a tourist destination. A real estate developer from Michigan named George Shatto created the settlement that would become Avalon and built its first hotel and pier.

William Wrigley Jr. acquired the majority of the Catalina Island Company in 1919, when he bought the island as an investment, but was so enamored by it he decided to keep it and develop the island so as to make it accessible to anyone that might like to visit. Wrigley subsequently, invested millions of dollars in the island, building and modernizing utilities and buildings in and around the now famous city of Avalon. He made it the spring training location for the Chicago Cubs built the iconic Catalina Casino building in 1929. The Wrigleys later donated 42,000 acres of land to the Catalina Island Conservancy for preservation.

Natural History

Santa Catalina Island’s diversity in flora and fauna is second to only Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands chain. Its proximity to the outflows of the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana river basins opens the island up to a higher probability of species “rafting” over to the beaches of Catalina. This naturally leads to isolation and speciation, and as a result, Catalina is home to five native land mammals: the Santa Catalina Island Fox ( Urocyon littoralis catalinae ) being the most well-known among them. It is home to a diverse array of endemic birds, reptiles, insects, and plants. Interestingly, it is the only Channel Island to have a native rattlesnake population.

DDT, a pesticide that was outlawed in 1972 wreaked havoc on California’s marine ecosystem and was especially consequential for the island’s native population of Bald eagles. DDT was absorbed by the birds’ major prey, fish, and then ingested by the eagles. It caused the eagles to lay eggs with weakened shells that cracked under the adults’ weight during incubation. DDT poisoning eventually extirpated the Bald eagle from California’s Channel Islands. The Catalina Island Conservancy and the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS) have been working in a long-standing relationship to restore Bald eagles to the island for decades. To assist the eagles, IWS biologists began retrieving the fragile eggs, hatching them off-site in incubators and returning healthy chicks to the nests, where the parents accepted them back and raised them. In 2007, DDT levels had finally decreased enough to allow bald eagles to successfully hatch eggs in the wild, when five eagle chicks hatched naturally – the first time an eagle had successfully hatched in over 50 years! By 2009, all nests on Catalina were left to natural hatching and incubation, and in 2014 and 2020 four more Bald eagle chicks hatched and fledged in nests around the island.

A herd of American Bison were supposedly first imported in 1924 for the silent film version of Catalina Island resident Zane Grey’s western novella, “The Vanishing American,” still roam the island. Over the decades, the bison herd grew to as many as 600 individuals, though the Catalina Island Conservancy concluded that a population of 150-200 individuals would reduce the impact of these non-native animals on the native flora and fauna to a sufficient degree. The herd was managed to the point where only 100 animals remained in 2020. To bolster the herd’s genetics, the Catalina Island Conservancy introduced two pregnant females in 2020.

SANTA BARBARA ISLAND

Santa Barbara Island (639 acres) is 1.67 miles across at its longest point and lies 73 nautical miles (nm) Southeast of Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara Island is the smallest of all of California’s Channel Islands and the southern-most member of the Channel Islands National Park. Like most of the Channel Islands, it can be seen from the mainland on exceptionally clear days usually in winter, though the island’s profile is markedly lower than those of its bigger counterparts. The highest peak on the Santa Barbara Island is Signal Hill, at 634 feet. Despite its volcanic composure of Miocene basalts, Santa Barbara Island is not a volcano. The steep wave-cut cliffs of its shoreline indicate that erosion is still in its formative processes; this is one of the younger Channel Islands. Signs of a rising and falling ocean are marked into the basalt cliffs. Six wave-cut marine terraces can be found, an indication of both changes in sea level as well as tectonic uplift and subsidence (called porpoising). A 130 ft. arch dominates the aptly named Arch Point on the northeast corner of the island. Extensive colonies of birds reside on the volcanic cliffs of Santa Barbara Island as well as the two nearby offshore rocks: Shag Rock off the northerly shore (1 acre), and Sutil Island off the southwest end (12 acres). The steep cliffs and isolation from mainland predators provide safe breeding sites for thousands of sea birds. Santa Barbara Island, although small by any standard, boasts an impressive diversity in its habitats, with a few narrow rocky beaches, six canyons, and a badlands area.

Santa Barbara Island is known for its large rookery where you can spend hours diving with sea lions. Photographers get more opportunities to photograph these animals up close here than any Channel Island. The playful, curious pups will pose and frolic in front of a diver’s lens as long as one can stay in the water.

Diving Santa Barbara Island with Channel Islands Expeditions will take you to a host of incredible sites around the island, including the famous undersea “Arch.” The top of the reef just breaks the surface at low tide and the bottom of the arch lies in 40 feet of water. One of the more unique underwater arches in the world it makes the perfect backdrop for photographers. In addition to the “Arch,” there are many offshore pinnacles that are home to shear walls along with some of the largest clusters of purple hydrocoral found anywhere.

Santa Barbara has long been a prime destination for spearfishing. Warm southern currents coupled with lush kelp beds make this island attract a wealth of game fish. Calico bass, white sea bass, yellowtail, and an occasional tuna are among the species that can be found in the waters surrounding this island. As with all Channel Islands, a healthy spiny lobster population makes this a favorite destination during season.

Santa Barbara Island can offer some of the best scuba diving found in Southern California but if conditions are rough there are not many places to go.

Similar in many ways to Anacapa Island, kayaking Santa Barbara Island offers the perfect setting for this water sport. Weather permitting, your expedition leader may decide to attempt a complete circumnavigation of Santa Barbara Island. Wind and swell can be a factor, so attempting this trip is best done on one of Channel Islands Expeditions multi-day adventures. Kayaking long distances with a support vessel offers an added layer of safety for an unforgettable journey around this hidden gem of the Pacific.

Hiking on Santa Barbara Island will provide you with one of the most remote island hiking experiences of any of the Channel Islands. Don’t be fooled, the steep incline of this island can offer a challenge to just about anyone, but just beyond that you will find five miles of hiking trails with gentle rolling hills and breathtaking panoramic ocean views.

Though is thought to have never been permanently inhabited, Santa Barbara Island may have played a crucial role in the lives of the island peoples who occupied the surrounding Channel Islands for well over 10,000 years. Archeological evidence suggests that Santa Barbara Island may have been a convenient stopover on inter-island trade routes, a testament to its central location in the Channel Islands chain. The rich marine life found here may have drawn people to seasonally harvest the shores of this island for shellfish, seals, and fish. Recent studies indicate this may have begun about 4,000 years ago.

The first European visitor to the Channel Islands in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer, made no mention of this island. Sixty years later, the island was named by Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, who visited the island on December 4, 1602, the feast day dedicated to Santa Barbara. The island was infrequently visited in subsequent years, owning largely to its sparse vegetation and lack of a reliable water source. Santa Barbara Island did play host to an assemblage of seal hunters, squatters, fishermen, and the occasional whaling ship off its shores.

A few notable individuals eked out a living here, chief among them the family of Alvin Hyder. After a winning bid of $250 in 1916, Hyder and his family assumed ownership of the island and were the first to establish a residence of any permanence there. Hard work and a constant struggle to maintain a supply of fresh water were trademark features of a tough existence on this island. Santa Barbara Island would become a part of the Channel Islands National Monument in 1938 and was utilized as Coastal Lookout Station during WWII. Santa Barbara Island became part of the Channel Islands National Park upon its establishment in 1980.

Santa Barbara Island is home to a large sea lion rookery and seabird nesting colonies, including three species of storm-petrel, three species of cormorant, and the once-endangered California brown pelican. It is also home to the largest breeding colony for the Scripps’s Murrelet, a threatened seabird species. Scripps’s murrelet is listed as vulnerable, and is mainly threatened by oil spills, as the population exists in such a small area and is adjacent to the heavily trafficked shipping lanes that connect to the Port of Los Angeles. Spring rains bring out the flowering plants, such as the Giant coreopsis, the endemic Santa Barbara Island live-forever (Dudleya traskiae), shrubby buckwheat, sea blite, and an annual poppy. There is a visitor contact station and museum on the island with exhibits, dioramas, and murals of the natural and cultural resources.

San Nicholas Island

San Nicolas Island is the most remote of California’s Channel Islands lying 78 nautical miles (nm) south by southeast from Santa Barbara and 53 miles from the nearest coastline. Rising out of the rolling Pacific swells, the 14,500 acre (23 square miles) island is defined by wave cut terraces and windswept, grassy hills. It is currently controlled and operated as a weapons testing and training facility by the United States Navy. The island has a small airport and the several buildings supporting the naval operation are affectionately referred to as ‘Nictown.’ Landing on the island is strictly prohibited and one of the offshore water areas is restricted from transiting or anchoring.

Channel Islands Expeditions travels out to San Nicolas Island during the summer and early fall to dive the iconic Begg Rock and some of the island’s nearshore reefs. Begg Rock is a small rock lying almost 8 miles to the west from the island and it is one of California’s most pristine dive locations. This is open ocean diving so wind, swell, and currents can make this a difficult area to scuba dive. When the conditions are right, this dive will not be forgotten. Shear walls covered in corynactis anemones paint this dive in a rainbow of colors. In the fall, the island itself is a popular lobster diving area when they are in season. Its remote location means that a trip to San Nicolas implies a chance of encountering unstable weather. A day of unfavorable conditions can result in tough diving in this open ocean environment. However, or those up for the adventure, a good day of weather will result in one of the most unique and unforgettable dive experiences you can have at the Channel Islands.

No kayaking is available due to a mandatory 300-yard distance from shore regulation.

No island hiking available as landing is prohibited.

San Nicolas Island shows signs of habitation that date back over 10,000 years. The native peoples that most recently occupied the island are referred to as “Nicholeños,” who had their own distinctive language and culture, though they were probably related to the Tongva people who lived on Santa Catalina Island. The name the Tongva have for San Nicholas is ‘Haraashngna.’ We do not know much of the language or history of the Nicholeños, as the large majority of their population was evacuated and assimilated into the California mission system. Their language became extinct soon after.

The person who would become the most famous resident of San Nicholas Island was left behind by the Franciscan padres who took the rest of the Nicholeños to the California missions. Juana Maria, as she would be known (though her real name was never found out), was the last surviving member of the Nicholeños. She lived alone on the island for 18 years, subsisting on shellfish and seal fat from the Northern elephant seals. Captain George Nidever found Juana Maria on the island in 1853, living in a crude whalebone hut. She was brought back to Santa Barbara, and was the object of much curiosity, becoming well-known for the beautiful songs she would sing. This would be short-lived though, as she died only seven weeks after her arrival to the mainland. Her story was the basis for Scott O’Dell’s Newbery Medal-winning 1961 novel Island of the Blue Dolphins. Academic curiosity about the “Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island” still persists, and after a 20-year search, archaeologists may have uncovered the cave she lived in in 2012.

The ecological diversity of San Nicholas was heavily impacted by sheep ranching for a period of over 80 years. The sheep removed much of the native ground cover until their removal in 1943. This in turn increased the rates of erosion and promoted non-native plant species to spread. Despite the degradation, three endemic plants are found on the island:  Astragalus traskiae ,  Eriogonum grande tamorum , and  Lomatium insulare .

The isolated beaches of San Nicholas are anything but lonely during the breeding season of one of the world’s largest seals. The Northern elephant seal ( Mirounga angustirostris ) hauls out here to breed each season, with an estimated 23,000 individuals occupying the beachfront to mate and give birth to pups. A bull elephant seal can weigh in at over 8,000 pounds and measure at up to 16 feet from nose to tail. The female is distinctively smaller, “only” weighing in at 2,000 pounds and measuring 12 feet in length. The island is home to about 30 percent of the wide-ranging California population

The dominant plant community on the island is coastal bluff scrubland, with giant coreopsis ( Coreopsis gigantea ) and coyote brush ( Baccharis pilularis ) the most visible components. The few trees present today, including California fan palms ( Washingtonia filifera ) were introduced in modern times. However, early written accounts and the remains of ancient plants in the form of calcareous root casts, known as ‘caliche,’ indicate that, prior to 1860, brush covered a portion of the island.

There are only three species of endemic land vertebrates on the island; the Island night lizard ( Xantusia riversiana ), deer mouse ( Peromyscus maniculatus exterus ), and island fox ( Urocyon littoralis dickey ). Two other reptiles, the common side-blotched lizard ( Uta stansburiana ), and the southern alligator lizard ( Elgaria multicarinatus ) were at one time thought to be endemic, but an analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that both species were most likely introduced in recent times.

San Nicolas Island is home to large populations of nesting birds. The two largest nesting populations are the Western gull ( Larus occidentalis ) and Brandt’s cormorant ( Phalacrocorax penicillatus ). These birds, along with the Island night lizard were threatened by a large population of feral cats, but after extensive eradication efforts by the US Navy and other organizations, the island was declared free of cats in 2012. The birds and once endangered Island night lizard populations immediately rebounded, and the night lizard was consequently taken off the endangered species list in 2014.

San Clemente Island

San Clemente Island is the southernmost of all eight of the Channel Islands and is located 113 nautical miles (nm) from Santa Barbara. It is 21 nm long and is 4-1/2 nm across at its widest point, with a total area of 57 square miles. The U.S. Navy acquired the island in 1934 and it has been owned and operated by various naval commands. San Clemente is also home to an auxiliary naval airfield, United States Navy SEALs training facilities, and the southern end of the island is the Navy’s only remaining ship-to-shore live firing range.

San Clemente Island is made of up of volcanic materials dating back to 5 million years ago. The terrain varies between exposed marine terraces and steep canyons dotted sparsely with freshwater springs. The island can be described as being on a ‘tilt;’ the north side rises dramatically out of the ocean (the highest point, Mt. Thirst, is 1,965 ft), while the south side has a much gentler slope to its rocky shores. With a frost-free, semi-arid climate, the island typically gets less than 6 inches of rain in a year.

Diving conditions at San Clemente Island are known for the clearest, warmest waters of all eight Channel Islands. Located in the southernmost region of California this island receives the warmest waters from the tropical currents from the south. Giant kelp beds, schools of fish, coral banks, and shear walls make this a diver’s paradise. Waters in the summer can reach over 70 degrees Fahrenheit and photographers flock to this island for some of the best wide-angle photography available in California.

Most of the prime scuba diving is located at each end of the island. The east end of the island is more protected and offers pinnacles, shear walls, and protected shallow kelp covered coves. San Clemente’s west end is more exposed to the westerly winds and swells but has some of the more prolific areas found off California. Nine Fathom Reef (it rises to 6 ½ fathoms) is a rocky structure with shear walls covered in purple hydrocoral. This is an open ocean diving location and is swept by currents and swells so diving this area can be tricky. Once dove, it is never forgotten.

Because of the military presence at the island, kayaking can be enjoyed near the boat only. As any on any of the Channel Islands, lush kelp beds, volcanic rock formations, and sea lions make kayaking well worth the effort. Generally, kayaking is done during one of Channel Islands Expeditions regularly scheduled liveaboard dive trips.

San Clemente Island is one of the best documented archeological settings in California. Archeologists have found traces of human occupation on the San Clemente Island dating back 10,000 years, a remarkable figure for an island 55 nautical miles out to sea, but consistent with results on other Channel Islands. The native inhabitants here called the island ‘ Kinipar ,’ and bore many cultural similarities to the nearby Nicholenos on San Nicolas Island. Travel between the islands was facilitated by the ‘ ti’at, ’ a plank canoe that enabled the islanders to cross wide channels and open ocean. Inhabitants here left trade materials from the northern islands and from the mainland, including Coso obsidian from the Mohave high desert. It has not been established what tribe the recent inhabitants belonged to, although the Tongva, from Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles Basin, are the most likely candidates. The Chumash who occupied the northern Channel Islands may have influenced the inhabitants.

The island was named by the mapping expedition Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, who spotted it on November 23, 1602; known as Saint Clement’s feast day in the Catholic tradition. The first actual visit happened much later in 1769, when the  San Antonio  of the Portola expedition anchored in Pyramid Cove on the south end of the island. Natives rowed out in ti’ats and exchanged gifts with the expedition, including two otter-fur robes. It was later used by ranchers, fishermen, and smugglers during the 19th century and into the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s the factory ships Lansing and California anchored off San Clemente Island, processing blue and fin whales, among other species, caught by their own fleets of steam-driven whale catchers.

In recent years effort has been made by several conservation organizations, including Channel Islands Restoration, to remove invasive species from San Clemente Island and promote the re-emergence of native and endemic flora and fauna. The removal of invasive ice plant has encouraged native plants, like the boxthorn ( Lycium spp .) to flourish. This is especially important as many endemic species of birds and reptiles use this native plant as cover and nesting habitat.

The San Clemente Island Loggerhead Shrike ( Lanius ludovicianus mearnsi ) is an endangered species that the Navy is taking steps to protect. The Island fox ( Urocyon littoralis ) and San Clemente Island brodiaea ( Brodiaea kinkiensis ) are notable examples of endemic species on the island. Feral goats roamed the island for centuries, reaching a population of 11,000 in 1972 when their effect on indigenous species was realized. By 1980 the population had been reduced to 4,000 and a plan for shooting remaining goats was blocked in court by the Fund for Animals, so the goats were removed with nets and helicopters.

Anacapa Island

Anacapa is a small volcanic island located 28 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. The smallest of the northern Channel Islands, Anacapa was discovered by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. Later, in 1793, Captain George Vancouver christened the island Anacapa, a name derived from the Chumash Indian word, “’anyapax,” which means translates to ‘illusion’ or ‘mirage.’ The island’s name, the only one of the Channel Islands chain to maintain its original etymology, suits the place very well. The low rises of the sea cliffs can often be shrouded by marine haze or fog giving the island an air of mystery.

Anacapa is composed of three islets: East Island, Middle Island and West Island. Altogether, the islets make up a narrow island that is 5 miles long and only a ¼ mile wide. Ocean waves have eroded the perimeter of the island, creating steep sea cliffs towering hundreds of feet in height and exposing the volcanic origins of air pockets, lava tubes, and sea caves. At the east end of the island a natural bridge has formed in the ocean. The forty-foot-high Cabrillo Arch is a trademark of Anacapa and the Channel Islands National Park. The highest peak is Summit Peak 2 on West Island at 930 feet.

ATTRACTIONS

Lurking serpent.

• Anacapa is the only island to retain its Chumash nomenclature, “Eenapah” meant “island of illusion”. This was due to the inversion layer of the atmosphere that sits near the horizon some days and makes the island look much larger than it is. To us it looks more like a lurking serpent out on the Channel on clear days. Either way, the island is mysterious and has an interesting history.

Chumash Camp

• Anacapa doesn’t have fresh water and therefor the Chumash didn’t make permanent settlements there. However, there are very large “middens” or trash piles of shells and such that suggest that the Chumash did in fact camp there when making their trade journeys to the mainland.

Navigation Hazard

• The Chumash most likely used Anacapa as a navigational aid and resting point while traveling, however, the mysterious rock has met it’s share of unintended visitors, including the 300+ people aboard the  Winfield Scott in 1853 when it went aground at Middle Anacapa .

USCG Lighthouse

• In 1932 the Anacapa lighthouse was completed on the Eastern island, almost 20 years after it was begun. This light has been keeping sailors from meeting similar fates of the Winfield Scott since that time.

National Park And Marine Sanctuary

• In 1980 congress signed into law the Channel Islands National Park which included Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands. It also established Marine Sanctuaries around both islands. 23 years later, in 2003, 13 marines protected areas were established, including the Anacapa Marine Reserve with more protection and enforcement.This protection has allowed fish species to rebound in diversity and density. Kayaking and snorkeling in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is a profound example of how this protection has been effective and is important for overall ocean health.All of the kayaking and snorkeling on our tours take place in MPAs so you’ll get to see for yourself!

Diving at Anacapa Island is known for warmer waters as it is at the southern edge of the Northern chain of Channel Islands that receive tropical currents from the south. Many species that are found at the Southern chain of Channel Islands can be found at Anacapa. Lush kelp beds, Garibaldi’s, brittle stars, giant black sea bass, leopard sharks, and sea lions are common sights while scuba diving.

Photographers enjoy the clear waters and many student divers get their first island dive in its temperate conditions. Anacapa Island generally has calmer conditions as it is further to the east of the prevailing Northwest winds generated off Point Conception. Because of its proximity to the mainland, Anacapa is visited by more divers than any other island in the Northern chain of Channel Islands.

Kayaking at Anacapa is often the exclamation point at the end of a trip with Channel Islands Expeditions. Steep cliff faces, secluded coves, inlets packed with marine life, and beautiful sea caves are among just some of the sights you can explore with our expert guides. Kelp forests and sea grass flourish along this rocky coast, which serve as home and feeding ground for an abundance of wildlife. Though small in stature, Anacapa provides perhaps the most diverse sea cave experience of any of the Channel Islands. The basalt cliffs of the island are easily eroded over time by the sea, leaving spectacular geological formations that you’ll have to see to believe.

Landings are done at a pier in the landing cove at East Island. There is a staircase leading out of the cove up a steep cliff side that brings you to a figure eight-shaped trail system that is about 2 miles long. This trail will lead out to one of the most sought-after sea-scape overlooks in the national park, Inspiration Point. An interpretive trail guide is available on the island to interpret island resources. Middle and West Anacapa are not open to hiking as they are set aside for the island’s recovering sea bird populations.

Sea birds are the most conspicuous wildlife on the island. The largest breeding colony of the once-endangered California brown pelican ( Pelecanus occidentalis californicus ) is located on West Anacapa. Other sea birds include Western gulls ( Larus occidentalis ) and several species of cormorants. Scripps’s murrelets ( Synthliboramphus scrippsi ) and Cassin’s auklets ( Ptychoramphus aleuticus ) nest in sea caves and on isolated rocky shores. Anacapa’s rocky shores provide resting and breeding areas for both California sea lions and Harbor seals, two species you have a high likelihood of encountering while on the water with Channel Islands Expeditions. Springtime brings colorful flowers, including the strange tree sunflower called coreopsis ( Coreopsis gigantea ), a plant found only on the Channel Islands and a few isolated areas on the mainland.

On the night of December 2, 1853, the sidewheel steamer  Winfield Scott  running at full speed crashed into the rocks off Middle Anacapa in dense fog and sank. Invasive ship rats ( Rattus rattus ) are thought to have been introduced to the island from the wrecked ship. They had devastating consequences for the island’s seabirds and other native species, but were successfully eradicated in 2001–2002. With the rats gone, the number of nesting Scripps’s murrelets has increased by more than 80 percent in the last two decades. This is one of many recoveries following invasive species eradications from the Channel Islands.

A U.S. Coast Survey team visited the island in 1854 and concluded that although the island’s position at the eastern entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel was a natural choice for a lighthouse “it is inconceivable for a lighthouse to be constructed on this mass of volcanic rock – perpendicular on every face, with an ascent inaccessible by any natural means.”

As approximately nine-tenths of all vessels trading up and down the Pacific Coast passed inside the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel, the American Association of Masters, Mates and Pilots petitioned for a proper fog signal on the island. Funds for what would be the last major light station to be built on the west coast were finally allocated in the late 1920s.

The construction of the station was carried out in two phases and commenced in the spring of 1930. A landing dock, a hoisting crane and roads were added first, and then work began on the various station buildings. A thirty-nine-foot, cylindrical tower and a fog signal were built near the highest point on the eastern end of the island. Four Spanish-style, white stucco houses with red tile roofs were provided for the keepers and their families. Today, there is a museum on the island which houses the original crystal and brass Fresnel lens from the light beacon.

Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz Island is the largest island off the continental United States. Located 23 nautical miles (nm) off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, the island is 22 miles long, from 2 to 6 miles wide, and is 97 square miles in area. The Chumash that inhabited this island for well over 11,000 years call this island ‘limuw,’ meaning “in the ocean.” The island Chumash consider this island to be the cradle of their civilization; the birthplace of their people. The scenic beauty of Santa Cruz is reflected in its many landforms including its two rugged mountain ranges. The highest peak on the island is Devil’s Peak, at 2450 feet. Deep canyons, year-round springs and streams, plus 77 miles of craggy coastline cliffs, giant sea caves, pristine tide pools, expansive beaches, and a central valley are features of the unique island. The central valley splits the island along the Santa Cruz Island Fault with volcanic rock on the north and older sedimentary rock on the south. Lying directly on the boundary between cold northern and warm southern waters, this island hosts unique plant, animal, and marine communities representing nearly 1000 miles of marine diversity from California’s coastline.

Diving at Santa Cruz Island is probably the most diverse of all eight Channel Islands. Being on the break of the warm southerly and colder northern currents creates marine habitat for many different species. Being the largest of California’s Channel Islands, there is a wide variety of different dive spots to explore around Santa Cruz Island, each with its own unique characteristics.

The northwest section of the island is volcanic with steep faces and hosts some of the world’s largest sea caves. The southeast section is more sedimentary with large plateaus and thick kelp beds. Santa Cruz offers more places to find good diving during rough weather periods than any other island due to its size and many coves. Seals, sea lions, bat rays, and many schools of fish are common sights while scuba diving with Channel Islands Expeditions along this island’s shores.

Given it’s ample 77-mile coastline, Santa Cruz Island has vast number of kayaking destinations that you are able to visit with Channel Islands Expeditions. In fact, traveling with CIX is the only way to see a vast majority of the island’s scenic shoreline, as most of the island itself is closed to conventional tourism.

Santa Cruz Island has huge variety of flora and fauna that live on and around it’s craggy cliff lines and giant sea caves. The west end of Santa Cruz Island is where you’ll find one of the world’s biggest sea caves, Painted Cave – so named for the vibrant lichen growth on the cave walls. Measured at a towering 160 ft at its entrance, Painted Cave stretches back into the basalt cliff for over a quarter-mile before you reach its terminus. Expect to see plenty of playful sea lions and seals as well as a host of bird life here or anywhere else you paddle on Santa Cruz Island.

There are several hiking trails and roads that traverse the eastern portion of Santa Cruz Island that is part of the Channel Islands National Park. While visitors may explore this section, no hiking is allowed beyond the national park boundary onto The Nature Conservancy property to the west without first obtaining a permit. Landings onto Santa Cruz are either by pier or by skiff. Potential landing areas include Prisoners Harbor and Smugglers Cove.

Once on the Santa Cruz, a well-marked trail system will take you to several scenic overlooks of the island’s coastline, as well as to areas of natural and historical significance. Consult your Channel Islands Expeditions trip leaders as to what may be possible on your expedition, as there is such a vast array of options to explore on this island. Wherever you go, be sure to keep a sharp eye out for some of the island’s many endemic species found here and no where else in the world, including the Island scrub jay and the Island fox.

Archaeological investigations indicate that Santa Cruz Island has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years. Chumash of limuw had their largest village, swaxil, located near present day Scorpion Anchorage. The island had over 10 villages and was home to over 1,200 people. They developed a highly complex society dependent on marine harvest and craft specialization. The island Chumash produced shell-beads that they used for currency. This formed the backbone of an intricate inter-island and cross-channel trading system with the counterparts on the mainland. Their trade was made possible by  tomols , plank canoes constructed from driftwood and sealed with tar and pitch. In teams of as many as ten people, the Chumash would paddle across the channel and trade shell-bead money and island goods for food staples and other goods from the mainland.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his men made first contact with the Chumash of limuw in 1542. The journey would eventually be Cabrillo’s demise, as he is rumored to have died in the winter of 1543 on San Miguel Island, though some postulate we very well could have died on Santa Cruz. The explorers and missionaries that visited after him discovered the complex aboriginal society of the Chumash. Legend has it that on one such visit during a gift exchange, a staff with an iron cross atop of it was forgotten. The next day, the Chumash paddled in a tomol to the expedition’s ship and return it. From that day, the island was called “La Isla de la Santa Cruz,” meaning “the island of the sacred cross.”

By the early 1800’s the Chumash were said to have ‘voluntarily’ moved to the Santa Barbara and Santa Buenaventura missions. Thus ended 10,000 years of habitation by the Chumash on Santa Cruz Island. The Mexican government claimed the island as its own territory in 1821 before California’s independence movement began in 1838. Santa Cruz Island was gifted to Andres Castillero for his role in brokering a shaky peace in California. He would be the first of many private owners who would shape the island into what it is today.

The ranching period on Santa Cruz began with a small sheep ranching operation managed by James Barron Shaw and grew to be one a well-recognized operation by the 1860’s. Ownership of the ranch passed on to the businessman Justinian Caire in 1886, who had a vision to establish both sheep and cattle ranching on Santa Cruz Island as well as one of California’s first commercial vineyards. Caire’s legacy of ranching and land husbandry would remain until the National Park Service bought the east end of Santa Cruz Island from Caire’s descendants in 1980 and the last of the flocks of sheep were taken off the island in 1999. The Nature Conservancy came into full ownership of the west end of the island, including Main Ranch in the central valley in 1987.

Today, Santa Cruz Island is divided between The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service. The Nature Conservancy owns and manages the western 76% of the island; the eastern 24% is owned and managed by the National Park Service.

Permanent and seasonal water sources, plus a number of microclimates, support over 650 species of plants and trees in ten different plant communities, from marshes and grasslands to chaparral and pine forests. Owing to millions of years of isolation, eight of these plants are “endemic”-they grow nowhere else in the world. Springtime is a patchwork of blooming annuals, sometimes seen from the mainland as bright splashes of color. Over 140 land bird species have been identified here. The Island scrub jay ( Aphelocoma insularis ), a Santa Cruz Island endemic, is a living example of “gigantism,” whereby some island animals evolve to a larger form. This bird is one-third bigger and much bluer than the mainland scrub jay. Other animals, like the Island fox ( Urocyon littoralis ) and Island spotted skunk ( Spilogale gracilis amphialus ), tend toward “dwarfism,” growing smaller over the ages. Eleven other mammal species including nine bats, deer and harvest mouse, three kinds of amphibians including the Channel Islands slender salamander ( Batrachoseps pacificus ), five reptiles including the Side-blotched lizard, Southern alligator lizard, Western fence lizard, Western yellow belly racer, and Gopher snake, might be seen by visitors.

Bald eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) were once numerous on California’s Channel Islands, but because of eggshell thinning caused by the illegal dumping of the pesticide, “DDT,” and other factors, the last known successful Bald eagle nesting in the northern Channel Islands was in 1949. By the 1960’s, Bald eagles could no longer be found on any of the Channel Islands. Soon after, Golden eagles ( Aquila chrysaetos ) began nesting on the islands, and began hunting Island foxes until native fox populations declined to a threatened status. After successful trapping and relocating of the Golden eagles, the Institute for Wildlife Studies started a program in 2002 to reintroduce Bald eagles to the California’s Channel Islands funded by money from a $25 million fund to deal with the lingering effects of DDT dumped by the Montrose Chemical Corporation into the ocean near Los Angeles.

Between 2002 and 2006, 61 young bald eagles have been released on Santa Cruz Island. On March 17, 2006 wildlife biologists for the Institute announced that for the first time in over 50 years there has been a successful hatching on Santa Cruz Island. In April 2007, the Nature Conservancy announced another successful chick hatching. The chick broke free of its shell on April 13, 2007. The parents were one of the two nesting pairs who had returned to the island after making history the previous year. Both pairs were born in captivity. This second birth represented a turning point in the struggle to return the eagles to their former habitat on the island. Three nests have now been documented on Santa Cruz island as of the 2008 breeding season.

Painted Cave

Santa rosa island.

Santa Rosa Island is the second largest of the Channel Islands and lies about 26 nautical miles (nm) from Santa Barbara. The island is nearly 17 nm long, 10.75 nm wide at the widest point, and 53,000 acres or 83 square miles in total area. The island has a relatively low profile with the exception of a rugged central mountain range.

The highest peak in the range is Vail Peak, at 1589 feet.

It is a diverse island of grass-covered rolling hills, steep canyons, creeks, rocky inter-tidal areas and sandy beaches adorned with sand dunes and driftwood. The Chumash, the native peoples who inhabited the Channel Islands for well over twelve millennia called this island “wima,” the Chumash word for “driftwood.” It is thought that the island is so named for the driftwood (sometimes redwood) logs that would wash ashore here. They would use these logs to craft dugout canoes called “ tomols ” with which they would travel and trade from island to island and to the mainland.

In the 1970’s and 80’s scuba divers flocked to Santa Rosa to take advantage of the many species of game fish available. Talcott Shoals, which lies off the northwest section of the island, is a large plateau that offers various terrains for divers. The western section of Talcott becomes more dramatic in its topography and offers not only hunting opportunities for game-divers, but great underwater photography opportunities as well. The shipwreck of the Aggie , which lays in 25 to 50 feet of water along a ridge, is readily accessible to divers at Talcott. The east end of Santa Rosa has a wonderful assortment of pinnacles that are covered in corynactis (strawberry anemone) and large schools of fish. Santa Rosa Island lies at an intersection of warm-water and cold, nutrient-rich currents. A diverse web of marine life can be found and enjoyed in these pristine waters.

Kayaking at Santa Rosa Island is a fascinating way to experience a wild California seascape. The sandy beaches and cliffs are breeding and resting areas for sea birds and seals and sea lions. Kayaking will often give you views and access to wildlife that you might not get in any other way. However, being a wild place means that we are at the mercy of the wind and waves. There may be times when the conditions are not favorable for kayaking, or when kayaking at particular location may require you and your group to be experienced paddlers.

Hiking with Channel Islands Expeditions on Santa Rosa Island will lead you down some of the several trails and roads traverse the island, providing plenty of opportunities to enjoy the spectacular scenery Santa Rosa provides. These trails and roads range from the relatively flat route to Water Canyon Beach to the rugged, mountainous path to Black Mountain.

A variety of Torrey Pine ( Pinus torreyana var. insularis ) grows on the island. The population of this endangered species is estimated at approximately 1000 trees. This ancient grove is just a remnant of a much larger forest of Torrey pines that once existed in the Pleistocene era, some 12,000 years ago. A trail that leads to this exceedingly rare species of pine tree can be accessed from Becher’s Bay, the island’s main landing.

Keep a sharp eye out for the Island fox, Spotted skunk, and Munchkin dudleya ( Dudleya gnoma ); one of the six endemic plant species on the island. 

Archeological and paleontological sites are abundant on the island. In 1994, the world’s most complete skeleton of a pygmy mammoth ( Mammuthus exilis ) had been excavated; a dwarf species related to the Columbian mammoths. In 1960 archaeologists discovered humans remains dating back 13,000 years at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island. These remains are among the oldest human remains in the Americas and were discovered by Phil C. Orr, curator of anthropology and natural history at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Orr believed the remains were those of a 10,000-year old man and dubbed them the “Arlington Springs Man”.

Santa Rosa Island was originally part of a Spanish land grant. The island was used as a sheep ranch during the mid-1800s by the More family. Then during the cold war the United States Air Force maintained a radar base on the island. In the late 1970s Mobil Oil Corporation was granted exploration rights on the island. Both explosive and vibroseis exploration methods were used. Extensive surveys and geological maps were made at that time. Finally, in 1980, Santa Rosa Island was included within Channel Islands National Park.

San Miguel Island

Wind-battered San Miguel Island is the westernmost of California’s Channel Islands lying 45 nautical miles (nm) from Santa Barbara. San Miguel is the sixth largest of all eight offshore islands at 9,500 acres or 14 square miles, including offshore islands and rocks. The island at its furthest extent is 8 miles long and 3.7 miles wide. The highest peak is San Miguel Hill, at 831 feet. Its maritime location makes San Miguel subject to high winds and lots of fog. The cold, nutrient-rich water surrounding the island supports a diverse array of sea life that is not found on the southern or eastern counterparts.

Channel Islands Expeditions can take you to this windswept tableland of lush grasses and wildflowers, with 27 miles of jagged, rocky coastline dotted with sandy white beaches. An impressive Caliche forest (sand-castings of an ancient forest) near Cuyler’s Harbor reminds us that San Miguel once supported much more varied plant life than it does now. The westernmost beach, Point Bennett, is the only place in the world where up to five different species of pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) can be found. When the weather permits, scuba diving and kayaking with these creatures is a truly unique experience.

San Miguel has some of the most spectacular scuba diving found anywhere off the coast of California. On a given day the water can be 10 to 15 degrees colder at San Miguel so proper equipment (7 mm wetsuit minimum or drysuit) is needed to enjoy this remote dive location. The topography at its offshore pinnacles makes a diver feel small. Mountainous pinnacles can go from 20 feet of water to 200 on some walls. More varieties of seals and sea lions can be viewed here than any other Channel Island. Protected coves, banks, offshore rocks and pinnacles make this a sought-after destination for scuba divers. Weather protects this island from too much human visitation so patience is needed to dive here on a nice day. A nice day at San Miguel is about as good as it gets.

Weather, weather, weather. Anyone who sets out to enjoy a day of kayaking around San Miguel Island needs to understand that the weather at this remote island can change in a minute. Generally, it would be considered a more advanced area to kayak but good weather periods do happen. The remoteness and wildlife at this island make kayaking incredibly unique. Large seal and sea lion colonies are spread out along the shores. Many varieties seabirds call this home and dolphins and whales are commonly sighted near shore. Special arrangements can be made on private charters for island to island kayaking. Advanced kayakers have found the downhill run in a northwest wind to be invigorating. Attempting this should be done by only those who have the skill and endurance along with support vessel assistance supplied by Channel Islands Expeditions on its multi-day liveaboard excursions.

There are several trails that traverse San Miguel Island providing a variety of hikes. Many parts of the island are closed to protect wildlife, fragile plants, and geological features, so hikes outside of the Cuyler Harbor beach, Cabrillo Monument, and Lester Ranch site are done with a qualified naturalist or Park Ranger. Longer hikes are available on Channel Islands Expeditions multi-day liveaboard excursions to San Miguel. A vigorous 16-mile hike to Point Bennett will take you to see one of the most spectacular wildlife events on our planet. Over 30,000 seals and sea lions can be hauled out on the point at certain times of year.

There is no pier on San Miguel Island so all landings are done by inflatable skiff at Cuyler Harbor. Landing on the island can be an exciting experience as the surf can make the landing challenging. Channel Islands Expeditions has developed a “launch line” procedure that has made this operation much safer for our passengers.

Being the most westerly of the Channel Islands, San Miguel Island is more prone to receive the brunt of any weather systems that move through the area. Most of the time a strong northwest wind blows across the island and these winds typically exceed 25 mph and can surpass 50 mph. When strong high pressure is over the mainland, the winds often cease creating a surreal environment. On warmer days the fog will burn off only to have the strong northwest wind blow in additional fog from the open ocean. On foggy days the temperature will rarely exceed 55°F.

The National Park Service maintains two airstrips, a ranger station and a research station on the island. San Miguel is normally staffed by a ranger who enforces park laws, while also sometimes providing interpretive services for public visitors. The island also hosts scientists that study pinnipeds and manage the Island fox (Urocyon littoralis) captive breeding program that is conducted on the island. Volunteer interpretive rangers often fill in for regularly paid rangers due to budget deficits within the park. Park employees and researchers are flown to the island by Channel Islands Aviation. Public visitors are not permitted to fly in.

Archaeological research has uncovered over 600 fragile and relatively undisturbed sites belonging to the native peoples that once lived here. Some have been radio-carbon dated to 11,600 years ago. Because the northern Channel Islands have not been connected to the adjacent mainland in recent geological history, the paleoindians who first settled the island clearly had boats and other maritime technologies. Rough seas and risky landings did not daunt the Chumash who lived there in later times, nor did they deter the first European explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542, who first claimed the island for the Spanish crown, named it “La Posesion.” San Miguel is also rumored to be Cabrillo’s burial place (there is a monument there in his honor).

Ranchers raised sheep from 1850 to 1948. One of the longest homesteaded ranching families were the Lesters, a family of four that parted their way from the island during Pearl Harbor due to the dangers the war posed on them. The detailed information was written and published in a book called “The Legendary King of San Miguel Island,” by Elizabeth Sherman Lester. Later, the United States Navy used the island for a bombing range.

San Miguel is world famous for its pinniped viewing. In the winter, as many as 30,000 individual seals and sea lions of five different species can be seen at one time on Point Bennett, where they breed and birth their pups. Other wildlife includes the Island fox ( Urocyon littoralis ), a species that is found only on the Channel Islands. Over one third of the bird-life in the Channel Islands National Park lives here on San Miguel Island. Species like the California brown pelican ( Pelecanus occidentalis californicus),  cormorants, and Cassin’s auklets all breed on the island and its surrounding islets. Terrestrial birds include the Western meadowlark ( Sturnella neglecta ), Channel Islands song sparrow ( Melospiza melodia graminea ), and Peregrine falcons ( Falco peregrinus ).

A geologic feature called the caliche forest attracts many people. This ghost forest was formed by caliche sand castings of plant roots and trunks. Today the plants are long gone, leaving behind the eerie stone replicas. Come springtime, San Miguel’s wildflowers are spectacular due to the abundance of fog and moisture. Any one of these natural features is stunning in its own right. Together, they make for a photographer’s paradise.

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Painted Cave Kayaking Tour at Channel Islands National Park

• All taxes, fees and handling charges
• National Park fees
• Private charter transportation included
• Professional guide
• Use of Snorkelling equipment
• Single kayaks available for an additional $15 per person (optional)
• Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, California
• Location Name: Santa Barbara Harbor Location Address: Sea Landing Office 301 W Cabrillo Blvd, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Directions: From the South: Take Hwy 101 north of Montecito to the Garden Exit. Turn left at the stop light. Follow Garden to Cabrillo Blvd (on the water font). Turn Right on to Cabrillo Blvd (follow approximately 1 mile) past Stearn's Wharf to Harbor Way. Turn left into the Harbor. Then turn immediately Left to enter the harbor parking area, at the kiosk; Follow the signs to boat launch area. We will meet you at the “Sea Landing Building” at the end of the Harbor. Parking is $2.00 per hour, maximum $12.00 per car. Charter boat phone 805-962-1127. From the North: Take Hwy 101 South. As you enter the Santa Barbara area, take Castillo Exit. Turn right at the end of the off ramp. Follow Castillo Street towards the beach. Turn right onto Cabrillo Blvd. Follow Cabrillo Blvd (approximately .5 miles) to Harbor Way intersection. Turn left into at Harbor Way. Turn left again, enter the harbor at the kiosk. In the harbor, go back towards the pier. Follow the signs to boat launch area. We will meet you at the “Sea Landing Building” at the end of the Harbor. Parking is $2.00 per hour, maximum $12 per car. Charter boat phone 805-962-1127.
• Children must be accompanied by an adult
• Please dress in layers, wearing synthetic clothing (avoid cotton if possible) and bring a windbreaker for the boat ride
• Please plan on bringing water shoes (no flip flops), sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, water bottle, waterproof camera, towel, day pack, watch and seasickness medication (optional)
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.

• L5247UYmelissaf 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Adventure Sea Caves Kayak Tour on the Channel Islands Our family (kids age 8 & 11) camped for 3 nights on Santa Cruz Island in March 2024 as part of our spring break trip. The whole experience was amazing and we highly recommend the trip. The guided kayak tour was the highlight of our stay. I can't imagine if we had not done it. The tour expanded our understanding of the island, its history, the plants and wildlife, and the Chumash people. Our tour guide Alex was incredibly knowledgable, kind, fun, safe, and engaging. We got a whole new view of the island, saw harbor seals and sea lions, kelp forests, caves, fish, and sea urchins, plus lots of pelicans and other birds. We had the option to go into caves and kayak through some tight spaces that were really beautiful. Thole staff is helpful and laid back. We met with everyone who was kayaking that day, got divided into groups, fitted for wetsuits, and went through safety instruction. That process took a little longer than I expected. The whole tour experience took a lot of the day, so plan for that. We met at the kayak booth at 10:30am and were returning our gear around 3:00. Some people came over on the boat to the island just for the kayak tour, and it took their whole day. I'd highly recommend camping for a couple nights and giving yourself a lot of time for this trip, plus time to explore the island! Just make sure to book your camping spot, boat ticket through Island Packers, and the kayak tour all at the same time. Read more Written March 29, 2024
• 261mindym 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Coastal Kayak Tour I’ve done about ten experiences with Santa Barbara Adventure Co over the years, but this was the first time I took my family. My three teen daughters and I did the coastal kayak tour. We had yet another wonderful guide (Connor), who gave us a very informational, fun-packed, safe adventure. We saw lots of wildlife and learned a lot about the history and ecology of the ocean and coast. Would definitely recommend. Read more Written March 16, 2024
• DTLinSB 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Beautiful Sunset from a Unique Perspective We’re very familiar with kayaking and the ocean, but what a treat having a relaxing paddle with a nature guide who adapted her insights knowing we already knew the basics. Paddling out to the optimal site to view the sunset after getting a closeup inspection of the boats and the Wharf was the highlight. Read more Written February 4, 2024
• 968sindim 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Amazing experience My first time kayaking with a friend and we had a blast. Kyle , our guide was amazing! Very friendly,Professional and made us feel safe. Gave us a little back history of the wharf and Santa Barbara . We will definitely be booking with this company again, but this time for the sunset tour! Read more Written January 31, 2024
• 968sindim 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles An amazing experience Our kayak tour with this company was amazing. Our guide , Kyle was wonderful. He was very professional, friendly and made us feel safe. It was our first time and we can’t wait to go back. Read more Written January 29, 2024
• Ian H 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Wonderful tour Arthur took us on a nice kayak trip in the harbor. It was only two of us so it was very personalized. He was knowledgeable of the sea life and gave us great info. I highly recommend him. Read more Written January 20, 2024
• wendytravelblogger 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Great experience kayaking in Santa Barbara! This was our third time on a kayaking tour with this company and it won't be the last. We enjoyed the Sunset Kayak Tour in Santa Barbara Harbor and it was so lovely. Our guide, Kyle, was so much fun and shared loads of good information about the area. Read more Written January 10, 2024
• emim945 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles So much fun! Chany was the best guide! She was SO patient with our disorganized group and made our time on the water such a treat. Really easy process of just showing up, and the water was ultra calm and easy to navigate for our inexperienced group. Read more Written December 18, 2023
• karenjZ5635XX 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles A wonderful kayaking experience with SB Adventure Co. My 12 year old son and I had another wonderful kayak trip with SB Adventure Co! Our guide, Luke, was an excellent teacher and was so knowledgeable, fun and kind. It was a beautiful day on the Gaviota coast, and Luke coached us to successfully paddle in (and later out) through the surf to enjoy kayaking on the water. It is wonderful to have them supply the kayaks, paddles, pdf's, wetsuit, paddle jackets and dry bag, and to have a knowledgeable guide with us. Each time we go creates a memorable, special experience. Read more Written December 3, 2023
• louish398 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Harbor Wildlife Kayak Tour We had a great experience on this tour! Our tour guide Beau was so great, really knowledgeable about the local area and wildlife, providing us a really fun and chilled out experience. Definitely a highlight of our trip! Read more Written November 14, 2023
• W6455ZSlesliem 0 contributions 3.0 of 5 bubbles kayak adventure We booked a coastline kayak tour with Santa Barbara Adventure Company. Our guide was friendly and answered our questions. Unfortunately there was no provided lunch or "beach games" or swimming as the ad promised. In addition, the ad stated 3-4 hour excursion (ours was less than 3 hours). It was lovely to be on the water but we felt SBA didn't deliver as promised. Read more Written October 19, 2023
• Y5132UIdavidh 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles A must do experience!!! What a fantastic way to start the day. Our guide Nora was very thorough in explaining the basics and safety of operating the kayak. She lead us on history filled journey through Santa Barbara harbor and was very knowledgeable about the different birds, boats and animals in the area. A must do experience when visiting Santa Barbara!! Read more Written October 15, 2023
• karinemarc74 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles A kayak trip to be remembered Awesome trip with 2 very friendly and helpful guides. They paid attention to our needs and were knowledgeable about the marine environment. We felt confident and confortable with both of them during our trip. Since we don’t have a lot of kayak experience, we booked the Harbor tour, which is a great way to get started and acquainted with this sport in the Pacific Ocean. Next time, we will try a trip in the Channel Islands NP with Santa Barbara Adventure. They also accept people with mobility issues. Highly recommended. Read more Written October 6, 2023
• O5727WYtomh 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Fun paddle with a knowledgeable guide Friendly, knowledgeable guide. Competent and confident instructor made the trip relaxing and fun! Shared info on natural and human history of the area as well as fun bits about local culture and suggestions for spots to visit. Up close and personal with birds and sea lions too! Read more Written October 5, 2023
• John B 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Wow! Beautiful sunset. Katy was a super guide. The water was calm, the sunset was spectacular. We had a wonderful time. We would recommend this. Read more Written September 25, 2023

More to explore in Santa Ynez Valley

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Painted Cave Kayaking Tour at Channel Islands National Park provided by Santa Barbara Adventure Company

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Channel Islands Painted Cave Tour

Painted cave tour, channel islands national park, california.

If you’re planning a trip to visit the Channel Islands National Park, you may be interested in visiting Painted Cave via the Island Packers Cruise. In total, visiting Painted Cave will add about 4 – 4.5 hours to your trip due to it’s location on the north end of Santa Cruz Island by Prisoner’s Harbor. Painted Cave is a sea cave large enough to fit a large ferry boat inside for a certain distance. If you desire to go further into the cave and explore, a kayak or smaller vessel will be needed.

Painted Cave has several different colored layers of rock from the naturally occurring lichens & algae that give Painted Cave its colorful appearance. It’s a beautiful and unique sight to see!

How to get to the Channel Islands Painted Cave

The Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island, is only accessible via the water. A boat is needed to arrive at the island, which can then take you for a tour or you can book a kayak tour prior to your arrival.

Prior to our arrival in California, we booked our boat/tour tickets through Island Packers Cruises that runs out of Ventura. The cruise does fill up quickly, so be sure to book ahead of time!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.

Island Packers Cruise, Ventura, California

Location: 1691 Spinnaker Dr #105B, Ventura, CA 93001

Our booked tour left out of the harbor early in the morning. It is required that check in around 45 minutes before departure, to ensure that the crew has been able to go over all of the details with you, as there are no amenities on Santa Cruz Island, except for pit toilets.

When it’s time to board, everyone gets in line and goes for the best seats! Personally, we prefer the outside front or rear seats as these provide you with the best views – despite it being cold.

Update: We took our kids on a 10-day California Coast Road Trip and once again visited the Channel Islands via Island Packers Cruises. You can read all about hiking Santa Cruz and our whale spotting in this post .

On the way out to the island, we were in the back of the boat in the open-air seating.

While on our ride out to the island, there was a filming crew of some sort on our boat…I’m not sure what they were filming for, but they certainly looked legit!

Dolphin Sightings

The channel between the mainland of California and the Channel Islands is home to over 27 species of whales and dolphins. On both our way out to the island and back to mainland, we had a pod of dolphins follow us. It was magical!

Update: When we visited in March 2023 for our California Coast Road Trip with Kids we had a once in a lifetime sighting of a breeching whale! It was absolutely amazing and looked just like “Free Willy”! Check out day 5 of our trip to watch our whale spotting!

Santa Cruz Island at Channel Islands National Park

About and hour after departing the mainland in Ventura, we arrived at Santa Cruz Island. Here we dropped off passengers who were either booked for camping, hiking or kayaking for the day. Once they disembarked, we continued on to the Painted Cave, which was the tour we were on for the day.

Painted Cave Channel Islands

The Island Packers Cruise boat is able to enter the cave to give you the best possible glimpse of the naturally occurring lichens & algae that give Painted Cave its colorful appearance.

You can also enter the cave via kayak…but you would want to ensure you had waterproof flashlights to see around. In this photo below, you can see two brave kayakers exploring the cave much further in than we were able to on the large cruise boat.

The colorful rock walls ranged from red, orange, yellow to green. It truly was beautiful.

Towards the bottom of the rock, near the water level, the rock was actually bluish-purple in appearance. So pretty!

Looking back at the entrance of the cave!

Prisioner’s Harbor Hike on Santa Cruz Island

After completing the Painted Cave tour via boat, passengers are then taken to Prisoner’s Harbor, where you have around 3 hours to hike around and explore the island.

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Painted Cave

Just off the Central Coast, there’s a remarkable, record-holding natural cavern that almost no one sees. This enormous sea cave—the longest in North America and one of the lengthiest in the world—plunges a quarter-mile into the side of Santa Cruz Island, within Channel Islands National Park. “When the tide is right, the cave opening is big enough to drive a 60-foot boat almost halfway into the tunnel, and kayaks can slip in even deeper,” says Grant Cunningham of Santa Barbara Adventure Company, which along with other outfitters leads regular guided kayak trips into Painted Cave. “During the rainy season there’s a waterfall at the mouth of the cave too—it’s really amazing.”

“It’s hard to describe because it’s such a surreal thing: to be in a pitch-black chamber, with barking sea lions, under an island.”      —kayak tour guide Grant Cunningham

Cunningham’s favourite feature to share with guests lies deep within the cave. “When you get about two-thirds of the way back, the cave narrows,” he explains. “You paddle through and enter a huge, pitch-black chamber.” Back there, he notes, you’ll often find a dozen or more barking, bawling sea lions holed up in the darkness, resting on an invisible rocky beach.

“Sometimes people are freaked out, but most of the time they’re just speechless,” says Cunningham. “It’s hard to describe because it’s such a surreal thing: to be in a pitch-black chamber, with barking sea lions, under an island. Some people want to stay for a long, long time.”

Guided full-day trips include transport (via Island Packers boat service from Ventura) to the island and all paddling gear. You should have some paddling experience, and know how to swim. Cunningham says it’s usually a two-mile downwind paddle to reach the caves (you get a boat ride back), and there are plenty of other, smaller caves to explore, plus snorkelling in the surrounding Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

Central California

Spotlight: channel islands national park.

Five islands off the Southern California coast comprise one of America’s most remote—and utterly magical—national parks. Visitors arrive on the islands by boat (boats depart regularly from Ventura and Oxnard) or small plane, then use their hiking boots or kayaks to get around. Revered for its endemic plants and plentiful wildlife, the ‘Galapagos of North America’ has no hotels, shops, or restaurants—a place that draws you in without a lot of extra trappings. On this ocean sanctuary, it’s all about wrap-around beauty, solitude and the chance to totally and completely unplug.

How to Explore the Channel Islands

This chain of five islands—Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa Rosa, Santa Barbara, and San Miguel—is rich with untouched natural beauty and a California destination worthy of your consideration. Whether you have half a day or more than a week to experience  Channel Islands National Park , here are some of the best ways to explore the islands—by kayak, yacht, or just by foot.  

Embrace the Journey Itself

Just getting to the national park is a scenic experience—one to three hours by boat, or about half an hour by  plane . Most boat trips depart from Ventura Harbor (home to the national park’s  visitors center ) via operator  Island Packers , and the majority go to the two closest islands, Santa Cruz and Anacapa. You can also reach the islands from Santa Barbara, by way of a  Santa Barbara Sailing  yacht, helmed by a U.S. Coast Guard captain. On the way from either city, you might spot frolicking whales, dolphins, or even flying fish.

Paddle a Kayak     

Exploring the Channel Islands by kayak is the best way to see the islands’ wealth of sea caves and kelp forests up close. Book a kayaking trip with  Santa Barbara Adventure Company —the main outfitter for activities on the Channel Islands—which includes your ferry ride from Ventura, kayaking gear, and a guide. Paddling time lasts from 90 minutes to a full day, and tours focus on areas like the 100-foot-wide Painted Cave, one of the largest sea caves in the world. 

Hike and Look for Wildlife

Each island offers its own scenic hikes, with pristine views and opportunities to see wildlife and birds. Santa Cruz Island has some 15 trails, Anacapa has a nice hike to a lighthouse (one of the few structures you’ll see around here), and Santa Rosa Island has  Lobo Canyon , with sandstone formations, pygmy mammoth fossils, and a good chance of seeing local island foxes.

Go Whale-Watching

Depending on the time of year, several species of whales can be spotted diving, breaching, and spouting around the islands. Take a whale-watching tour with  Island Packers  between December and April to see grey whales on their annual migrations between the Bering Sea and Mexico, or come in summer to see humpbacks (and sometimes even giant blue whales) looking for a local buffet of krill. These tours don’t land on the islands, so they’re ideal if you only have part of a day.

Stay for Days

There’s nary a hotel on the Channel Islands, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay for a night or longer. Each island has a  campground : the biggest are  Scorpion Anchorage  on Santa Cruz and Water Canyon Camp on Santa Rosa Island. For a full-service expedition, book a one- to 10-night trip with  Santa Barbara Sailing , where you sleep on the boat and bring your own food (or let the crew cook for you) and spend your days stand-up paddleboarding, snorkeling, surfing, SCUBA diving, or just relaxing on a beach that you’ll have to yourself. 

Santa Cruz Island

Only a quarter of Santa Cruz Island is national park land; the rest belongs to the Nature Conservancy. But since Santa Cruz is the largest of all the Channel Islands, measuring 96 square miles by 20 miles, that park-protected 25 percent covers a whole lot of territory. The boat ride to the island is a quick and beautiful 1-hour cruise across turquoise sea—so you can get there and back and have plenty of time on the island all in one day. Trails take you to windy bluffs, wide vistas and secret coves. 

"Trails take you to windy bluffs, wide vistas, and secret coves."

From Scorpion Canyon Campground, walk the rewarding 1.2-mile round-trip to Cavern Point, a high promontory where you can scan the sea for passing whales. A 4.6-mile round-trip takes you to an overlook above Potato Harbor, a potato-shape cove edged by rugged cliffs. Look for sea lions frolicking in the kelp forests below. For an excellent 7-mile hike, set off for the shingle- and driftwood-covered beach at Smuggler’s Cove. While you’re hiking, keep an eye out for the Santa Cruz Island scrub jay, a bright blue bird that lives on this island and nowhere else in the world. For an unforgettable experience, consider staying overnight at Scorpion Canyon Campground, with 25 sites shaded by eucalyptus. It’s close to Scorpion Bay, a great put-in site for kayakers who want to explore this island’s remarkable cave-riddled shoreline. 

Anacapa Island

Closest to the mainland of all the Channel Islands, tiny Anacapa is only 12 miles out to sea, and therefore the most visited: the boat ride over takes about an hour, and you can explore the entire island in just a half a day. The boat anchors at the smallest of Anacapa’s three tiny islets, a mere third of a square mile in size. Keep your ears peeled for the mournful horn of the island’s lighthouse, which was built in 1932 to steer ships away from this treacherous shoreline. A 2-mile trail makes a figure of eight around the islet, passing dramatic overlooks at Inspiration Point and Cathedral Cove. From Inspiration Point, you can gaze at the two smaller Anacapa islets and (relatively) huge Santa Cruz Island beyond. Peer over the sea cliffs to look for seals and sea lions, as well as kayakers paddling to some of the island’s 30 sea caves. 

Beaches on East Anacapa are not accessible because the sea cliffs are hundreds of feet high, but on calm days, you can swim at the landing cove. Bring your snorkelling gear so you can look eye-to-eye with the garibaldis* and giant sea kelp. Also, don’t forget to bring a sun hat. Anacapa Island is completely treeless. 

Santa Rosa Island

California’s second largest isle, Santa Rosa Island measures a whopping 84 square miles—if you’re looking for isolation and adventure, this is the place. It’s a 3-hour boat ride each way from Ventura, so day trips are not practical. 

"If you’re looking for isolation and adventure, this is the place."

Your best bet for exploring this expansive wilderness is to pitch a tent and stay at least one night at Water Canyon Camp, located near a 3-mile-long beach, and conveniently outfitted with showers, flush toilets and wind shelters (a noted necessity in a place where strong winds are commonplace). So secure the tent stakes before you head off to explore. 

One must-do hike is Lobo Canyon, with its native flora, eroded sandstone formations and embedded pygmy mammoth fossils. Pygmy mammoth? It sounds like an oxymoron, but a miniaturised 5-foot-high mammoth once roamed here. Other ambles lead to sandy beaches and a rare stand of Torrey pines (this island and San Diego are the only two spots where these wind-sculpted conifers grow). 

Getting to Santa Rosa Island requires a 3-hour boat ride, or Channel Islands Aviation flies here in a mere 25-minute flight. It’s pricey, but if you’re prone to seasickness, it could be a worthy investment. 

Santa Barbara Island

Remote Santa Barbara Island is the loneliest island in Channel Islands National Park. Located far to the south, it’s a tiny, isolated bit of land poking from the wrap-around blue. Yet it touts a respectable 5.5 miles of hiking trails that travel through its gently rolling grasslands. The most popular is the 3.3-mile Signal Peak Trail, which loops over the island’s south half and visits the summit of Signal Peak, the highest point on the island at 634 feet. Since this island is so tiny, the peak’s view is dramatic—a full 360 degrees of blue Pacific as far as the eye can see. The path also offers fine views of Sutil Island, an even smaller island just offshore to the south-west. Both Santa Barbara and Sutil Island provide a nesting habitat for Scripps’s Murrelets, a rare seabird. 

Much like Anacapa Island, Santa Barbara Island is grass-covered and treeless. Be sure to bring a sun hat and lots of water with you. Getting to Santa Barbara Island requires a 2½- or 3-hour boat ride, and Island Packers runs only about a dozen trips each year (April to October). If you come here, you’re part of a very select club.  

Channel Islands Wildflowers

While the most spectacular views from the Channel Islands are of rugged landscapes and ocean vistas, there’s plenty of scenery that lies right at your feet—specifically, the colourful wild flowers that spring to life on the island chain. Blossoms range from showy California poppies and coral and ruby splashes of Indian pinks to butter-yellow clusters of soft-leaved paintbrush. The latter, endemic to the island chain, is now found only on Santa Rosa Island. 

Many of the plants that have adapted to the islands’ dry climate blossom later than typical mainland wild flowers. In June and July, you might find gum-plant, buckwheat, poppies and verbena in bloom. Earlier in the year, flower aficionados covet the giant coreopsis or ‘tree sunflower,’ which grows up to 6 feet tall on Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands. In exceptional years, the bushy yellow flowers bloom so prolifically on Anacapa that their glow can be seen from the mainland, 12 miles away. (Timing for the coreopsis bloom is typically January to April.) On the smaller islands, which are mostly grass-covered, finding flowers is easy. To hunt for botanical treasures on the larger islands like Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa, look for segments of trail that probe draws and canyons, where resident deer, elk and wild pigs can’t easily graze. 

Channel Islands Whale Watching

The whale watching tours that run between the Ventura coast and the Channel Islands are almost always eventful. Of the 78 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the world, 29 have been spotted near the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary . Even if a grey, blue or humpback whale does not make an appearance, the tour boat captains can usually find a pod of dolphins—Common, Bottlenose or Risso’s, as well as rafts of sea lions. Every now and then, a school of flying fish soars right over the boat.

The city of Oxnard , which is less than 10 miles from Channel Islands National Park , is a perfect home base for a whale watching excursion . Island Packers offers both winter and summer three to three and a half hour whale watching cruises along the Santa Barbara Channel, with the option of extending your trip to a full day to land on Anacapa or Santa Cruz Island . Channel Islands Sportfishing has tours that run from late December to April.

When is the best time to spot whales? Grey whale season typically runs from late December until mid-April, when these 15-metre leviathans are making their annual migration from the Bering Sea to Mexico and back again. The summer months are the best times to see humpback whales and blue whales, which are attracted by abundant krill. Humpbacks are more common, but seeing a blue whale—the largest animal ever recorded on earth—is an experience you never forget. Measuring up to 27 metres long (the length of three school buses), the blue whale can spray water from its blowhole nearly nine metres into the air.

Kayaking the Channel Islands

The kayaking opportunities at the Channel Islands are some of the best anywhere in California. Visitors can kayak on their own or go with a park-authorised outfitter.  Anacapa and Santa Cruz are the most popular islands for kayaking, with hundreds of sea caves to explore; at the top of most paddlers’ lists is a trip to Santa Cruz Island ’s Painted Cave, one of the largest sea caves in the world. It is almost 30 metres wide and extends 370 metres into the west end of Santa Cruz.

Santa Barbara Adventure Company offers a deluxe all-inclusive Painted Cave day trip that departs from Santa Barbara harbour on a charter vessel equipped with hot showers and all the gear you’ll need. You’ll enjoy breakfast and hopefully some whale-watching en route to Santa Cruz Island, where you’ll then hit the water in kayaks for a day of exploring.

Once you travel through Painted Cave’s yawning mouth, you’ll find it pitch black inside, but there’s life all around you. Seals and sea lions protest your arrival with a ruckus of barking. Hundreds of seabirds roost in the damp alcoves. Remember to pack a good headlamp to light up the multi-hues of the cave walls, with colours caused by lichen and minerals. 

Afterwards, go snorkelling before enjoying a hot lunch on the boat before the return trip. No experience is necessary; even paddling novices can make the trip (but expect to have sore triceps the next day).

A range of other kayaking excursions are offered as well, including the Ultimate Sea Cave Kayak tour for more experienced kayakers, combo kayaking and snorkelling trips, and the shorter, half-day Discovery Sea Cave trip that explores the caves around Scorpion Anchorage.

Island Fox Program

The cutest creature living on the Channel Islands is the island fox, found nowhere else on the planet. The grey- and rust-coloured creature, a much smaller descendent of the mainland grey fox, does not get much bigger than an average cat. Six of the eight Channel Islands have their own populations of island foxes, and each is recognised as a separate, unique subspecies. They’re all slightly different, each with its own evolutionary adaptations such as a shorter tail or a longer nose. 

In 2004, each of the island fox subspecies was federally listed as endangered, but a captive breeding programme combined with other measures saved this species from extinction, and populations are now more stable. In the national park, the foxes are found on San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. One of your best chances of seeing foxes is on Santa Cruz Island, home to about 1,000 individuals, often spotted near Scorpion Ranch Campground. Unlike the mainland grey fox, which hunts only at night, the island fox has no predators, so it cruises the island by daylight. 

Getting to the Islands

The only way to get to four of the five islands in  Channel Islands National Park  is by boat—either a privately owned vessel or on a trip run by the park-authorized concessionaire,  Island Packers . The locally-owned company, which is  celebrating  its 50th anniversary in 2018, runs charters to Santa Cruz Island daily year-round; charters to Anacapa run five days a week during summer (fewer trips in the off-season).

"The only way to get to four of the five islands in Channel Islands National Park is by boat"

Boats depart from  Ventura  or  Oxnard  ( Channel Islands Harbor ), and take about an hour to reach these two islands. Getting to Santa Rosa Island requires a much longer boat ride of about three hours, but it can also be reached by a 25-minute flight on a small plane out of Camarillo Airport ( Channel Islands Aviation  is the authorized concessionaire). Private airplanes may not land on the islands. There’s no shortcut for getting to Santa Barbara Island; it is only reachable via a three-hour boat ride.

Most trips run by Island Packers visit only one island at a time. Day-trips are common for Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands.  Campers  can sail to any of the islands and stay for multiple days. If you really want to get into the island mindset, consider a fascinating, multi-day trip available from the Santa Barbara-based  Truth Aquatics . Explore an island by day, then sleep aboard the boat as it travels to the next island by night.

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Authorized Concessionaire in Channel Islands National Park

Channel Islands Kayak Tours

Some of the most beautiful views in the world can be found in Channel Islands National Park. Let our experienced guides outfit you for a fun day of cave exploration. Rated Top 5 "Best Kayaking Tour" in the nation by USA Today!

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Channel Islands Snorkeling

Want to get a little closer to the marine life? Santa Cruz Island is surrounded by the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary, creating a protected environment offering some of the best snorkeling in America. Reserve your snorkel gear online and explore the waters.

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Travel Tips

Preparing for your trip, island wildlife, don’t feed the birds (or foxes), happy adventurers.

You have fun. We’ll handle the rest.

An Awesome Time!

Thanks for an incredible sea kayaking adventure on Santa Cruz in Channel Islands National Park! Well worth the money, especially with the wetsuits and extra outfitting that made paddling super comfy. "

One of the Best Family Days!

"Six of us went Kayaking in the Sea Caves and loved every minute. Our guide was fun and knowledgeable and was incredibly enthusiastic about the adventure. On the way home, we saw two whales and two pods of dolphins. Cannot imagine a better day!"

A Bucket List Adventure!

"An awesome adventure! While the Painted Cave is the highlight of the tour all of the caves are incredible. The wildlife is amazing along with the plants and everything else. The guides were super friendly and very informative."

Give the Gift of Adventure

Our gift certificates are perfect for anyone who loves kayaking, snorkeling, and wildlife.

What makes our gift certificates so amazing?

• Choose any dollar amount Valid on any open date They never expire Create lasting memories Reduce waste, stress, & clutter Valid on all of our tours Supports local business

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Come explore the Channel Islands with us — and create memories that will last a lifetime. #ciadventure

Posted: Tuesday, Oct 9th, 2018

By Visit Ventura

Paddle Painted Caves at Channel Islands National Park

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Top image by Doug Mangum

Kayaking inside the dripping sea caves of Santa Cruz Island is like entering the innards of some great sleeping beast. Half-light and near darkness, the serene lullaby of moving water. It’s an odd and bewitching feeling, floating half-weightless in a throaty, dripping chamber, perhaps a bit like drifting inside Nature’s consummate organ as it plays the song of the sea. Sea lions lay slick, splendid and loud on a carpet of rocks.

You flick your flashlight and take it all in.

image by Doug Mangum

Santa Cruz Island boasts 77 miles of craggy coastline and the highest density of sea caves in the world, including Painted Cave, one of the largest and deepest sea caves in the world.

The cave is 160 feet tall and 1,300 feet deep– that’s nearly four football fields long.

There are multiple chambers, each narrower with less light, like descending into a beautiful puzzle.

image by the Channel Islands Adventure Company

Whether you’re hiking , diving , camping , or kayaking , Channel Islands National Park never ceases to supply the perfect escape. Island Packers will take you there. And first-rate outfitter Channel Islands Adventure Company will guide you into some of Santa Cruz’s smaller, but no less magical, sea caves (as of September 2021 their kayak tours of Painted Cave are currently on hold indefinitely).

A memory that will stay with you forever.

But if you want a glimpse of Painted Cave, you still have an option. Conditions permitting, Island Packers nudges their boats into the opening of Painted Cave. For a cavernous view.

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How to plan a kayak trip to painted cave.

If you are trying to plan a trip to Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island, unfortunately due to transportation logistics, increased costs and guest interest we will not be scheduling regular tours to Painted Cave at this time.

However, you can book kayaking and snorkeling tours on Santa Cruz Island year around by taking the ferry to the island. These tours have the advantage of a “landing” meaning you can also hike and explore the island.

While on the ferry you can whale watching, witness mega dolphin pods and enjoy a quick right to the island. Come and see blue whales, bald eagles, mega pods of dolphins and beautiful sea life.

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How much is this trip

Hi Gicela – it is $299 for adults and $275 for children, all gear, guides, transportation, breakfast, lunch, snorkeling all included. You can view more here: https://www.sbadventureco.com/adventures/channel-islands/#Painted-Cave-Kayak

Can you tell me what dates are still open for August?

Hi Margo! August Dates: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 21st please let us know if you need help [email protected]

Any chance you’ll extend the 2019 season into September?

Hi Barbara, no we generally only run June-August 😉 You can visit the islands on our other trips in September!

How long is this trip?

Painted Cave is a full day trip. Generally you meet at 7:30am at the harbor and return around 5pm. Feel free to give us a call at 805-884-9283 with any other questions.

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What To Expect Kayaking In The Painted Sea Cave On Santa Cruz Island, California And How To Get There

There's no better way to see the Painted Sea Cave on Santa Cruz Island than to grab some paddles and kayak through, and this is what to expect.

It takes courage to enter any cave. But the Painted Sea Cave on Santa Cruz Island off the coast of California isn't one of the scary American caves that only the bravest people should enter, such as the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky . But the cave, which is accessible via boat or kayak, is truly jaw-dropping.

The Painted Cave doesn't rank among the largest caves in the world such as the Clearwater Cave in Malaysia or the Wind Cave in South Dakota , but it's the longest sea cave in all of North America. It plunges a quarter-mile into the side of Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park just off the coast of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

Without further ado, here's what to expect in the Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island In California and how to get there.

10 The Cave Itself Can Fit A Boat In Its Entrance And Kayakers Throughout The Narrower Chambers

Some caves around the world look nothing short of otherworldly in photos such as the Reed Flute Cave in China , but The Painted Cave simply looks stunning. The 100-foot wife and one-quarter-mile only sea cave is filled with colorful rocks, flowers, and algae that look the way they do after thousands of years of turbulent water smashing up against them. According to VisitCalifornia, in the spring, you can even experience a waterfall over the entrance which can allow a big boat inside. However, only kayaks can get through the smaller chambers to explore.

9 Santa Cruz Island Isn't THAT Far From L.A. But Here's How To Get There...

Directions to Santa Cruz Island and the rest of the islands in the National Park can be found through NPS.gov which reminds visitors that the islands can only be accessed by chartered boat or plane as well as private vessels . Advanced planning to get to the Painted Cave is recommended as public transports (I.E. ferries and barges) are limited via ports in Oxnard and Ventura which are just over an hour from the heart of downtown Los Angeles... with little traffic, that is.

8 Being Silent In The Caves Is Pretty Freaking Important For Environmental Reasons

Limiting the environmental impact on the protected national park that the Painted Sea Cave dwells in is essential and a law and policy that must be adhered too . It's only natural to want to hear your echo in a cave, but since Pelagic cormorants, bats, and pigeon guillemots nest on the ledges of the sea cliffs and inside the mouths, visitors are encouraged to be quiet. This is because nesting birds often get spooked and abandon their nests and the young inside them.

7 The Cave Can Be Dangerous So Guided Kayaking Trips Are The Best Way To See It

The light in the Painted Cave can play interesting tricks on people, especially when the water gets turbulent and starts causes odd reflections. For that reason and so much more, it's almost a must to be taken into the cave via a kayaking tour. According to VisitCalifornia , Channel Islands Adventure Company is the best option for booking both a private or group tour. A boat takes guests to a safe drop off point on the island where they get into a kayak and paddle from there as kayaking from the mainland is definitely not recommended due to it being a busy shipping lane.

6 Visitors Are NOT Alone When They Paddle Into The Dark Inner Chambers

When you paddle into the Painted Aave it's important to know that you're not alone. Aside from nesting birds, fish, and the occasional bat, sea lions can often be seen swimming around in there. Their barking noise or splashing can be startling in the darkness of the deeper chambers, but visitors are completely safe if they keep to themselves. Due to the lack of light in the inner chambers, SaliChannelIslands recommends bringing a flashlight on your trip.

5 Kayaking Around The Whole Island Is An Awesome Adventure

While the Painted Cave is certainly the highlight for kayakers touring Santa Cruz Island, it's not the only thing worth seeing. Thousands of seals gather on nearby islands so seeing them swimming around the array of coves and smaller caves nestled in the rock is pretty common. Kayakers can also paddle through the world-famous kelp forests and beside the Scorpion Bay and Scorpion Canyon Campground where some superb hiking trails can be found. This is a paradise worth seeing from all angles.

Related: Looking For Beautiful Beaches? These Islands Are Practically Un-Touched

4 Typical Kayaking Tours Are Pricey

Most kayaking tours to Santa Cruz Island include various points of interest such as Prisoners Harbor on the island's north coast where some of the best kelp forests can be found. But, of course, The Painted Cave is the main focus. Kayaking tours are typically start daily from 10:30 AM and last for 2 - 2.5 hours. According to TripAdvisor, they also tend to be a tad pricey, averaging at $149 per adult and $139 for kids. That also doesn't include ferry transportation to the island which is $46 through the sole transportation concessioner to the Channel Islands, Island Packers.

Related: Ben Affleck And 19 Other Celebs Spotted Kayaking All Over The World

3 Hiking And Camping Are Abundant On Santa Cruz Island... But Restaurants And Hotels Are Not

There are no restaurants or hotels of any kind in Channel Islands National Park including Santa Cruz Island where the Painted Cave rests. The ecologically rich islands off the coast of Southern California are abundant in caves and campgrounds, but nothing beyond that. So those planning to visit the Painted Sea Cave and stay overnight need to be prepared to stay in a tent and bring their own food. According to reviewers on TripAdvisor , there are also limited amounts of good and drink available on the concessionaire boats that take visitors to the islands.

2 Most Of Santa Cruz Island Forbids You From Camping, But There Is One Or Two Spots

While no camping is allowed on 76 percent of Santa Cruz Island due to it being a nature conservancy, there is a national park service-managed campground, Scorpion. Additionally, according to VisitCalifornia , some backcountry camping is available. There are several other campgrounds located on the other Channel Islands including Water Canyon on the stunning Santa Rosa and Cuyle Harbor on San Miguel. Staying at any of these destinations allows you fairly easy access to the Painted Cave.

Related: 10 Of The Best Camping Spots In America

1 Whale Watching Around The Painted Cave Is Common... Whether You Book A Tour Or Not

The summer months are the best times to see a ton of dolphins as well as both massive blue whales and humpbacks around the Channel Islands. According to channelislandswhalewatching.com , this is because the whales migrate up from Mexico to feed on the krill. Travelers to the Channel Islands can also book whale watching tours in the winter and early spring where grey whales are easily seen. In fact, of the 78 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, 29 have been spotted swimming around the Channel Islands. This means a visit to the Painted Cave tends to come with a whale or two, regardless of whether or not you go whale watching.

Next: 10 Photos Reveal The Highlights Of Exploring The Mendenhall Caves In Juneau, Alaska

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CHANNEL ISLANDS KAYAKING

KAYAKING AT SANTA CRUZ ISLAND

Santa Cruz Island, Scorpion Anchorage is the most popular destination for kayaking. The sand and cobblestone beach make it easy to get your kayak in the water and the many caves and coves make for great kayaking fun.

Santa Cruz Island, Prisoners Harbor has fewer visitors in general. Therefore, kayakers can enjoy a more personal exploration of the caves and coves found in this area of the island. The sand and cobblestone beach allows for easy entry into the water. At times, the ocean water at Prisoners Harbor can be cloudy. However the coves around this area usually have clear water for wildlife viewing.

KAYAKING AT ANACAPA ISLAND

Anacapa Island is a cliff island and has no beach in the landing area. Kayaks are offloaded from the boat to the landing dock. Kayaks are then lowered to the water by rope and you must go down a ladder to get into the kayak. When you are finished kayaking, you must pull the kayak back up to the landing dock before the Island Packers boat returns for pick up of passengers and kayaks.

The waters at Anacapa Island are usually crystal clear and you can see down many feet to the ocean life below. The shoreline is pocketed with many sea caves and small secluded beaches. Anacapa Island can have stronger current along it’s shore so kayakers should be moderately experienced at ocean kayaking.

Guided Kayaking

Guided kayaking tours are available by contacting Channel Islands Adventure Company , 805- 884-9283. Touring kayaks are kept on Santa Cruz Island at Scorpion Anchorage. You do not need to reserve transport for kayaks when taking a guided tour. At other island locations, the outfitter will make all the arrangements for kayak transport.

Kayak Rentals

Kayak rentals are available from Channel Island Kayak Center (805) 984-5995. Rental kayaks must be arranged at least a day ahead of your departure date. Kayaks rented from this company will comply with all Island Packers guidelines. There are no kayaks for rent at the island. You must reserve transport space with Island Packers for rental kayaks. Space is limited to 18 kayaks a day at Scorpion Anchorage by the National Park. Be sure you have transport space reserved before reserving the actual kayak.

Bring Your Kayak

Personal kayaks may also be transported to the island. All kayaks must meet Island Packers transport guidelines. Personal and rental kayaks must have space reserved for kayak transport. Boat space for kayaks is limited both on the boat and on the island and is first come, first served. The summer and fall often see many days where all kayak space has been reserved. You must plan ahead when taking kayaks to the island. Personal kayaks must comply with the guidelines below.

• Chevron down Personal Kayak Requirements
• Must arrive one hour before your departure time.
• Must have transport space reserved.
• Must have a 6-8’ bowline with a strong, spring-loaded clip (Carabiner style) attached to the free end. Bowlines should NOT use para-cord. We recommend webbing material for bowlines.
• Should be plastic Sit on Top type (special approval at time of reservation required for all other types -wood, composite, peddle etc.).
• Must be under 75 pounds.
• Must be empty of all gear.
• Island Packers reserves the right to refuse transport of late arriving kayaks or kayaks misrepresented at the time the reservation was made.
• Should be less than 16 Feet in length (special approval at time of reservation needed for over-sized kayaks).

KAYAK TRANSPORT FARES

Be sure to consult with the on-island National Park staff upon arrival to the islands. Review the kayak guidelines and regulations posted on the park bulletin boards. You should preview this important information on the Kayaking page of the Channel Islands National Park (CINP) website before taking a kayak out to the islands.

OUTER ISLAND KAYAKING

Santa rosa & san miguel islands.

Outer Island Kayaking at Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands require expert ocean knowledge and experience at open ocean kayaking. Weather conditions can change rapidly in this area and kayakers should be able to spot changes in swell and wind conditions. Strong wind can prevent you from returning to your original departure beach.

You must reserve kayak transport space when booking your Island Packers transportation.

Channel Island Kayak Center does not rent kayaks for these islands.

Santa Barbara Island

Outer Island Kayaking at Santa Barbara Island offers beautiful clear water and a warmer water temperature than the northern islands. There is no beach at the launch area so kayakers must carry the kayak down to the launch platform located under the pier. Sea Lions and Seals make their home on this island, so wildlife viewing is always fun.

Kayaking north towards Arch Point or south towards the Sea Lion Rookery provides great wildlife viewing, sea caves, and arches. Experienced kayakers can circumnavigate the island’s five-mile coastline. You must reserve kayak transport space when booking your Island Packers transportation.

Channel Island Kayak Center does not rent kayaks for this island.

ADDITIONAL KAYAKING INFORMATION

Check out videos on hundreds of California adventures

Kayaking Sea Caves on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park

Disclosure: Channel Island Adventure Company provided the guided tour for me, all opinions are my own.

Santa Cruz Island is one of the many Channel Islands , which are located off the coast of Southern California. The island is home to stunning coastal hikes, thousands of years of history, and many great kayaking opportunities. We got a chance to do a kayaking trip with Channel Islands Adventure Company in May 2023 and had a blast exploring the island’s coast and going into sea caves. Here is all the information if you want to have this experience yourself.

Getting to Santa Cruz Island

The easiest way to get to Santa Cruz Island is by ferry. There is only one ferry option, and that is Island Packers. These ferries run daily trips from Ventura Harbor.

How much does the kayak trip cost?

To kayak on the island, you must book both a guided kayaking tour and a ferry ticket. You can do both on Channel Islands Adventure Company’s website or add on the tour after booking your ferry ticket. You can also rent kayaks in Ventura and have them put on the boat for you, but this is only recommended if you have a lot of sea kayaking experience. As of 2023, a kayaking trip costs around $200 a person. You can get more cost information here .

Kayaking on Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz Island is the largest of the eight Channel Islands, and it’s home to various kayaking opportunities. We opted for the Adventure Tour, and it was about 4 hours long, with an hour for getting all your gear on and getting instruction and then 3 hours on the water kayaking. 

Our guide met us right when we got off the boat and ushered us over to where we could check in and get our gear. They provide wet suits, helmets, and paddle jackets.  After getting our gear, we walked down to the beach to meet our official guide and get an orientation for how to have the best possible experience.

After that, we were on the water and encountering the stunning coast of Santa Cruz Island from an angle I had never experienced before.

Our guide led us to 7 different caves throughout our tour. Each of the caves was optional, but we did all of them.

The caves ranged from small openings that you could only go a little way into to a massive 300-foot cave with a section entirely in the dark at the end of the tour.

It was exhilarating to experience these unique caves from the water, and it is an adventure I will never forget. 

We also saw a bald eagle and tons of shorebirds while we were on the water.

Here is a video I made on my experience kayaking at Channel Islands.

If you’re looking for a unique and memorable experience, kayaking on Santa Cruz Island is the way to go. The waters are often calm (in the summer, at least), the weather is beautiful, and there are plenty of things to see along the way. Kayaking at Channel Islands National Park is an experience unlike any other in Southern California–and it shouldn’t be missed! Let me know what you think in the comments.

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