The eastern portion of the Anacapa Island is twelve miles away from the coasts of Oxnard, CA accross Santa Barbara Channel. Along with Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa , San Miguel and Santa Barbara, Anacapa Island is among the five of the eight islands under the jurisdiction of the Channel Islands National Park system. The island features a lighthouse that was initially unmanned using acetylene beacon placed atop a fifty foot tall metal tower. On December 2, 1853, the captain of a steamer crashed into rocks off the middle part of the island confusing the island for an optical illusion caused by the refraction of light from the sky. East Anacapa Island, to this day, features the light beacon initially built by the Coast Guard in 1912 and a light station built in 1932.
The sinking of a steamer however did not spare the Chumash from being colonized and displaced. The Chumash, who were the first inhabitants of the island referred to their home as Anyapakh or mirage. The Chumash tribe of Native Americans lived along the coast of California and consider the Pacific Ocean as their first home.
The Chumash lived off the coast in abundance as hunters, gatherers and fishermen until the Spanish land expedition led by Gaspar de Portola reached what became the Santa Barbara Channel established the Spanish Missions and displaced them.
To get to Anacapa Island, reserve a trip online at islandpackers.com. Island Packers operate the ferry that ply Channel Island visitors for day trips for hiking, whale watching, island wildlife cruises, or for harbor cruises. Enjoy the harbor seals while you can but be ready to lose your breakfast while en route to the islands.
The Channel Island National Parks visitor center is in Ventura close to the Island Packers harbor. The visitor center runs the customary documentary film about the park. It is best to return to the visitor center after your trip to buy your refrigerator magnets. The visitor center is open from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm. daily.
East Anacapa is a plateau above sea level with more or less 300 feet elevation. The ferry manages to disembark visitors into a one-person landing dock. From the concrete platform or landing cove, visitors are briefed by the National Park Service (NPS) volunteer assigned for the day. Che counted 152 steps into the upper landing.
Kathryn, our NPS volunteer, used to concrete the stairwell as her platform to brief us regarding our safety in exploring the island. She emphasized the staying a safe distance from the cliff edges because the soil on the cliffs unstable. She also emphasized why it is important to stay on the marked trails. The island is a safe haven for seabirds and off trail travel is likely to disrupt nesting and roosting seabirds.
These California Brown Pelicans were captured by Che on a previous visit to the islands. Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands are breeding colonies of these wonderful birds that were memorialized by Dixon Lanier Merritt in a poem.
"A wonderful bird is the pelican
His bill can hold more than his belican
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I'm damned if I see how the helican."
The Channel Island National Park Brochure describes Anacapa as among the "islands on the edge. The islands miraculously rose from the oceans while God was creating the world. When He said "Let there be light!", there was this heavenly fault that created plate tectonics, volcanic activity and rising ocean levels. These islands must were intended for Adam and Eve when God vanished them from the mainland after they each took a bite on the apple. The Noah's ark was not available to transport them to the islands at the time so they stayed in the mainland.
Island Morning Glory bushes are endemic to the islands. Plants, seeds, and spores were believed to be carried from the mainland by ocean currents, wind, birds, or in the feather birds that reach the islands. The Chumash are believed to have used these native plants as primary source of food or medicine and provide important construction materials for canoes. houses, bows, nets, ornaments, and other ingenious purposes.
There are eight islands along Santa Barbara Channel across the shores of Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara. These are San Clemente, Santa Catalina, San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel. The protection of the five northern islands was said to have begun in 1938 when Channel Islands were designated as a national monument during the second term of President Franklin Roosevelt. The five northern islands that include Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel were designated as Channel Islands National Park in 1980.
Hikers and visitors are off-limits past markers placed within unsafe distance from the cliffs. Kathryn was explaining about how the tectonic plates would one submerge the islands . Presented with a scenario from the San Andreas movie, she assured everyone that the islands would not disappear anytime soon.
“Not in our lifetime!”
Che stands out at the Inspiration Point. The 360-degree viewpoint is unobscured from past the Santa Barbara Channel past the marine layers, into the mountain ranges near the Ventura county. To the north, past the lighthouse, across the Anacapa Passage, is the Santa Cruz Islands. To the west is the Pacific Ocean and to the south past a couple of islets and rock formations, are the shores of Los Angeles. With some inspiration, I’d like to hike back to the landing dock and walk on water...
I was seeing a church. I asked Che to stand by the church like she is watching a procession or waiting for Jesus to walk by. Kathryn later explained that the church-like structure is a water catchment and reservoir. It was built like a church to make vandals religious and leave the church alone.
It took shipwrecks for US government to realize that the Chumash were not just inspired to name the island as Anyapakh which is translated as mirage. Between 1850 and 1900, at least 33 shipwrecks happened in the channel, according to NPS. The Anacapa Lighthouse station that was completed 1932 had since guided drunken sailors navigate to wherever they were going.
The Arch Rock of Anacapa Island is the trademark symbol for the Channel Island National Park.
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