Oxnard to Marina Del Rey and Onward to San Diego OR Bodybuilders, Sunsets and UFOs

There were no cruisers at Oxnard. In fact, there was only one other boat at the transient dock and we didn’t see anyone aboard. The whole place was very quiet. We left at first light without speaking to anyone. Yet there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of boats here and few people around them. Could the owners live somewhere else and just park their boats here? It’s a mystery.

We motored out of the breakwater into the sunshine, but no wind. As we followed the coastline to Point Dume, the fair skies began to deteriorate and the wind began to pick up.

Point Dume - an ominous name

We crossed the bay to Marina Del Rey at a beam reach at 5 to 6 knots. By the time we reached the breakwater the clouds were touching the water and there was a steady drizzle. The wet weather gear would not be put away yet!

Who is this gringo looking out at the entrance to Marina Del Rey?

Because we had been accepted as reciprocal guests at the Pacific Mariners Yacht Club we did not need to check in with the Harbour Master. We continued on to D lagoon and found ourselves tied to the dock directly in front of this club. As we turned into the finger, two men hurried down to the dock to grab our lines and welcome us to the club. They teased us about bringing the wet weather, which they said rarely happened, and invited us up to the club for a drink.

Ka'sala in front of the Pacific Mariners Club

What a wonderful experience we had as guests of this very friendly and welcoming club! From the first moment we stepped inside we were spoiled by their hospitality. Ellen and Bob, Mike and Candy, Don, Fred, and Pamela bought us drinks and showed us around their beautiful clubhouse, which included laundry, showers, huge bar area, large kitchen, a lounge with fireplace and two outdoor decks as well as a large games room. They told us about the area, recommended restaurants and places to provision. Candy volunteered her son, Dustin, to take us around by car so we could get supplies at the Costco and grocery store. As one would expect from LA, not much was within walking distance.

Ka'sala in front of the PMYC

We enjoyed Monday Night Football and got to meet a number of other members including Dennis and Rex and enjoyed hearing their stories and about their lives. Ellen made a huge batch of succulent ribs which we all feasted on. We took advantage of Candy’s offer and Dustin took us around the town. (Thank you Dustin and Candy!) We spent the rest of the time cleaning up Ka’sala inside and out, and took advantage of a well stocked and well priced chandlery close by.

We did spend a day on Venice Beach.  We had been there several times in the past and found it unchanged, except, perhaps, with fewer people.  We walked along the townhouses that line the beach, passed the famous outdoor gym at muscle beach, saw some of the interesting murals that line the buildings and found ourselves some lunch at an alehouse. 

Townhouse along the beach at Marina Del Rey

Outdoor gym at Venice Beach

Body building contest at Muscle Beach (this one's for you, Phil)

Jim Morrison mural

Aaaaah! Beer!  I haven't talked about that much!   We dined at the Venice Ale House (http://www.venicealehouse.com/)  and I enjoyed a Fat Tire Amber while Doug, appropriately, sipped a Green Flash "La Freak" Belgian Style IPA. Our "ale pairings" were Baja Shrimp Tacos and Wild Alaskan Halibut Ceviche.  Pretty nice.

Venice Ale House

Fat Tire Ale

"Le Freak"

The Beach is a parade.  It is lined with kiosks selling pipes, jewellry, tie-dye, tshirts, medicinal marijuana, hats, surfboards, henna tattoos, and peopled with fortune tellers and pychics, con artists, musicians, rowdies, eccentrics, you name it!  The funky 70's lives on in this neck of the woods!

Tamer side of Venice Beach - the paved bicycle path goes for miles

This roller blading Jimmi Hendricks look-a-like has been cruising the beach for decades

He really does play it!

Charles Atlas - no wait!!

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Now wait a minute!

Sigh! (This one's for you, Jan)

All good things have to come to an end, however, and after four nights in Marina Del Rey, we were anxious to catch up with Silas Crosby again. We had left them at Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands where they had endured some pretty high winds at anchor as a gale went through. They had continued on to Catalina Harbour on Catalina Island and were continuing on to San Diego. At first we thought we might go to the Catalina Island, but when we got the weather report and realized there was to be no wind for a few days, we decided to bite the bullet and just head directly for San Diego.

At 10 am, we left the breakwater at Marina Del Rey and motored all day and through the night. It was sunny and warm (summer at last!) and I was tempted to change into my bathing suit. The seas were flat, there was very little shipping and just enough wind to keep our mainsail engaged so Ka’sala was stable. We even opened up the table in the cockpit to have lunch – a far cry from some of our more northerly passages! I was able to make a hot dinner and we slept soundly when we were off watch that night.

Sunset over Catalina Island

I was entertained during my night watch by watching a very yellow moon rise over the mainland and countless stars filling the sky.  I also saw my first UFO - well, maybe my first several UFOs.  As I stood up in the cockpit to do my 360 degree boat check I noticed some stars very close to the water ahead of us.  Interesting, I thought.  Then, as I pivoted around again, the "star" was higher in the sky.  I thought I was imagining things -tired, the mist, didn't see it right the first time.....then I saw it again - now there were several "stars" moving up into the sky from the horizon and disappearing.  These fast moving "stars" continued on through my watch.  Can you guess what they really were?

Just after dawn, we arrived at Point Loma and entered San Diego in the growing light.  We moored at transient area at the Police dock at Shelter Island at 8am the next day. Silas Crosby was there, as well as a number of other cruisers getting ready to do the pilgrimage south.  There were even pirates!

Daybreak over San Diego

Point Loma

Pelican Bay, Santa Cruz Island and on to Oxnard, Channel Islands Harbour

The next day our plan was to head with Silas Crosby to Santa Cruz Island. We would pass by the famous Painted Cave, the largest and deepest sea cave in the world, which gets its name from the colourful lichens that line its walls.

Painted Cave

Inside Painted Cave

Steve and Meredith hoped to do some kayaking along this rugged and fascinating coastline.

Santa Cruz coastline 

We were to anchor together at nearby Fry’s Harbour but, unfortunately, there was a boat there already and Ka’sala continued on to Pelican Bay.

Fry's Harbour, Santa Cruz

Pelican Bay is one of the largest anchorages on Santa Cruz, but it is still quite small. We put out 50 meters of chain and employed our stern anchor to keep Ka’sala from swinging on the swell. By the time we had settled, it was dark, so we had a quick dinner and went to bed early.

Evening at Pelican Bay

We had really enjoyed an excellent day of sailing in the sunshine along these Channel Islands at 4 to 5 knots, full sails.

Leaving Pelican Bay

However, we weren’t very happy with this exposed anchorage and, with a change in the fair weather predicted, we decided to head over to Oxnard, at Channel Islands Harbour, just south of Santa Barbara and Ventura. It was another pleasant sail, mostly downwind, with main prevented and Yankee poled out. We could see the oil platforms which line the Santa Barbara Channel, but didn’t see any boats as we crossed the shipping lanes.

Oil Platform in Santa Barbara Channel

Playful sea lion in the Channel

We arrived late afternoon and, after checking in with the officious harbor master, were assigned a transient berth close to the end of starboard arm of this man-made harbour.

Entering Oxnard breakwater

Entering the Southern Arm

 We didn’t see any other cruisers and the whole place looked very quiet. Our berth was in front of a Fisherman’s Wharf development that was completely closed down. I fear that Oxnard may have fallen on hard times.

70’s apartment style condos with slips lined the sides as we coasted by.

Fisherman's Wharf in better days - we were moored right on the dock to the left

Next morning, right after breakfast we cast off and continued our journey to Marina Del Rey, 45 nautical miles down the coast.

Cuyler Harbour, San Miguel Island

We left Cojo under sunny skies with a delightful 10 knot wind – unfortunately not in the direction we wanted to go, but close enough. We set a broad reach across the Santa Barbara Channel and enjoyed a relaxing sail. After a while we had to head east to reach our destination, so did a power assist to arrive at the anchorage in Cuyler Harbour mid afternoon. As we approached the island, the sun disappeared behind the descending clouds, and it wasn’t until we were almost abeam Wilson Rock that we could distinguish the outline of Harris Point. Through the drizzle we saw the flukes of whales, seals, sea lions, pelicans and many other sea birds. The entire place was devoid of humans, but teaming with wildlife in a scene right out of a movie.

Approaching San Miguel Island in the drizzle

We threaded our way through kelp beds to drop our anchor in 10 meters on a sandy bottom. The water was crystal clear and a translucent green colour. It really felt like we were at the end of the earth – very, very hard to believe that less than 50 miles away millions of people went about their daily business.

Ka'sala and Silas Crosby at Cuyler Harbour

We tucked in behind the bluff which sheltered us from the prevailing westerly swell. On the other side a white sand beach stretched away into the distance and we could hear the perpetual barks and snorts of the sea lions that were sleeping just above the water line.

Beach looking toward where the boats are anchored, Harris Point in the distance

This time, however, we could hear a curious twittering sound emanating from them which we later discovered came from elephant seals.

Sea lions on the beach

Elephant Seals

Soon after we anchored, Silas Crosby joined us and, later, a lobster fishing boat dropped a hook at dusk and was gone by dawn the next day.

Beach, looking away from anchorage

The only fly in the ointment came when a very officious fully armed and uniformed fisheries officer came by to see who we were, why we were there, where we were going, if we had checked in with the Border Protection Agency (division of Homeland Security) and if we were aware of the marine reserves nearby, did we have a fishing license, etc., etc.. He asked the same questions of Silas Crosby, then returned to his high powered boat and roared off into the distance.

Doug at Cuyler Harbour

Next morning, Meredith, Steve, Doug and myself loaded up in Steve’s folding dinghy (I still can’t believe it floats or won’t suddenly tip us into the sea!) and we followed the surf into the shore.

Beach landing at Mutiny on the Bounty movie site - Silas Crosby and Ka'sala in distance

 Both Steve and Meredith are pros at landing dinghies in the surf so we arrived more or less dry. Our only concern was the two sea lion bulls who decided to get into a fight very near our planned landing site. It was pretty spectacular to see them throwing themselves at each other’s chests and making furious growls and grunts. I didn’t see it, but based on the scars I later saw on them, I don’t doubt they were biting each other as well.

We drew the dinghy high up on the pristine beach nearby several large palm trees that had apparently been planted when the harbor was used as a movie set for the 1935 Academy Best Picture production of Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton. The sea lions backed off, but watched our every move. When we returned to the dinghy several hours later we could see by the marks in the sand that one of the bulls had slithered over to check it out. We headed off along the shoreline until we came to the path leading to the ranger station high up on the hill.

Steve on the trail

We followed a narrow trail up through a garden of succulent plants, mostly dormant at this time of the year.  We later saw photographs of them in the spring - spectacular yellow blooms, though they look like a wasteland in this picture.

 Along the way we stopped at the monument to Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, the Portuguese/Spaniard who, in 1542, was the first European to land in the area.

Onward, we continued on to the ranger station, passing the remains of a ranch, with an interesting history, along the way. (If you want more information on San Miguel and any of the other Channel Islands, visit this site: http://www.scifoundation.org/homepage.html)

Isolated ranger station at San Miguel - Harris Point in background

We arrived at the seemingly deserted station perched on a plain high on the bluffs and next to a dirt airstrip. We knocked on doors and finally a young man came out to greet us. It turned out the rangers were away and James Howard, an environmental technician working on the repopulation of island foxes, was there in their stead.

Steve and Jim Howard with fox skull

We spent the next three hours with Jim as he explained for us the history of the island from the early Chumash inhabitants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumash_people for their fascinating history), to the Spanish (http://www.boemre.gov/omm/pacific/kids/cabrillo.htm), the ranchers, the US Navy and, finally, the careful environmental restoration of the island.   Thank you, Jim!

By the end of the second world war, San Miguel was devastated by over grazing and other activities. An ariel photo we saw in the ranger station that was taken at this time shows the island as a huge sand dune. Today, it is lush with succulents and other plants carefully reintroduced and cultivated, as well as the island fox breeding program by the Channel Island National Parks that Jim is involved in.  (http://www.iws.org/island_fox_studies_San_Miguel_Island.htm ). These ventures seem to be thriving as the windswept island is slowly coming back to life (people visiting must stick to the trails and be accompanied by a ranger or designate) and the fox population has increased to about 350 animals, close to the 500 the NPS believes is needed for perpetuation of the species.

Flora reclaiming on the spine of the island

Erosion is still a concern

We wandered over the spine of the island to view the caliche forest to view the calcified forest that once grew all over the island.

Caliche Forest

calcified tree trunk later sighted on the beach

On our way back we watched Jim monitor his foxes with an antennae and a VHF radio, then returned to the station, via the gully, before descending once more to the beach.

Steve at the gully, or was that the "billy"?

The tide was out and we couldn’t resist continuing along the sandy shores, beachcombing, looking in caves, watching the surf and listening to the surge of the waves. San Miguel is a place so special, so unique it is well worth making it a stop en route to San Diego if the weather cooperates.

Natural mosaics

Chillin" on the beach

Thank you Steve for inspiring us to go to this amazing place.