Anacapa 2006: The Return

Not long after returning from our momentous trip to the island the first time, did our friends reveal their jealousy and begin talking about plans for a trip the next year. In my mind it would be simple because we knew what to expect and could avoid all the mishaps of the first adventure. I knew about the currents, how to get up the dock, how much equipment and water to take, but the one thing that I failed to remember was all the pain. Our inaugural voyage involved a lot of pain and struggle, something the pleasant memories must have erased from my brain; however during the course of the second trip, it was déjà vu all over again.

As our launch date approached for the second trip, there were about sixteen guys who planned on going this time, but only thirteen of us actually went. Still, a much safer number than the three of us who went on the trip the previous year. This time eight of us paddled, two went on a power boat, and three guys sailed over on a 13ft sailboat. There was Greg the leader, who took care of all the planning and coordinated with me somewhat; however his attention to detail is along the lines of an eagle scout while mine is somewhere below that of a cub scout . For example, I gave everyone a half sheet of paper that basically told them what I thought they needed and to expect a lot of pain. Greg on the other hand, bought books, emailed weather reports, printed out stories of kayakers, and made multiple page lists of items to bring that included such things as bailing wire. He even recruited his friend to drive a powerboat as a “safety net” in case something should go wrong. To say he was prepared would be an understatement. Greg’s son “J” (short for Jameson) also went. He is a funny high school kid who knew better than to kayak over; he went in the power boat. Eric was the driver of the power boat and a friend of Greg. He had one of the least rewarding jobs of the whole trip, looking after us, but he didn’t complain. Doug is Larry, my father-in-law’s friend who wanted to go on the first trip and was jealous when we came back alive. He was very excited to go this year and brought along his son-in-law Jacob and his friend Danny. They are in their early twenties and were very impressive. They took the kayak we used on the first trip, the one I said was “ill-advised”, and had that thing going at top speed for miles (but they eventually regretted it). Next, are Chris and his friend Greg. They are both in their late thirties and were also very strong paddlers even though they didn’t have that much experience. Last but not least there was Jeff and me. Jeff is one of the pastors at my church who is a very tough man. He runs marathons, plays football with blood streaming down his head, and he even used to ride bulls, but he had never really kayaked before so I think he was a little nervous going into this. Before we left he told me of his fear of a white squall separating us and him not knowing what to do. I assured him that if a white squall separated us I’d see him in heaven. I’m not sure if that helped, but he went anyway.

The other three guys who sailed over were Larry (my father-in-law), and his friends Ken and Bob. For their story you will have to ask them about it, because we didn’t launch at the same time, but from what I understand there are two versions. If you ask Larry, you’ll hear about how easy the trip was despite the struggle of tacking the last few miles against the wind while frantically bailing water out of the boat from all the spray. But this is a guy who wouldn’t panic if he was in a single prop plane and the engine light came on. For the other side of their story you can ask Ken and you’ll hear about the frustration and perils they faced during their “almost” near death experience. But Ken is the type of guy that enjoys camping in a RV with full hookups. Therefore, the truth is probably somewhere in between Larry and Ken, perhaps Bob holds the key. All I know is when I first spotted a tiny white dot through my binoculars, I said, “That has to be them. Who else would be out here in a 13ft. sailboat?” Then I watched as they struggled to find the right angle against the wind, and I began to worry for their safety, but once they got on shore, they all seemed fine, soaked but fine. After their ordeal, they tied their boat to the dock, which isn’t really allowed, but they had nowhere else to put it. They stayed the night at the campground, but when the tide went out that night, the rope snapped. When they went down to check on it in the morning, it had drifted onto a bed of kelp, but miraculously, it was still safely within the cove (thanks God, we owe you one). The problem was a pulley or something on the top of the mast snapped disabling it for the trip back. Larry was ready to MacGyver it and make it work, but truth be told I think this was an answer to Ken’s prayers the night before, because they were able to talk Larry into towing it back with Eric’s power boat later that day. Larry was a bit disappointed, but he had fun.

As for the rest of us, our story had its own challenges and highlights. Several of the guys who went, heard about last year’s trip and wanted to see Anacapa for themselves. Like me, they thought the challenge of kayaking 12 miles across the ocean would be a cool adventure. I was happy to take them and wanted them to have the full experience, so, initially, when I heard we were going to have a “safety net” (the power boat) I was a little disappointed. In my mind, part of the reason for doing a trip like this is to take a risk. Although, technically, the riskiest part of the trip is on the freeway from Rancho to Oxnard (statistically speaking). Besides that, I knew if the option was there guys would be tempted to take it and possibly lose the sense of satisfaction that comes from accomplishing such a feat. What I didn’t realize is that not everyone is the same glutton for punishment that I am. After all, a little pain never hurt anyone, right?

By the time we left, I had made my peace with the “safety net” and was looking forward seeing the island once again. My first trip involved a lot of pain with very little reward because we did not get to do much kayaking or snorkeling on our one full day there due to the choppy water, but I saw the potential and had to go back. This time I was determined to see more of the island. When we got to the launch site a little after 9am I was a bit nervous because I had told the guys that we wouldn’t need any of that fancy GPS junk because we would be able to see the island from shore. I was wrong. Anacapa was hidden behind a dense layer of clouds, but I didn’t say anything because I was confident that as we got out there the island would break through the wall of clouds and give us an easy target. By about 10am we had packed up our kayaks and launched. As we paddled along the island still was not visible. I had told the guys to head for the oil derrick and was hoping we’d be able to see the island once we got there. It had been a year, so I was beginning to doubt whether or not I actually remembered the direction of the island. Using my compass to verify our course we proceeded on and eventually got to where we could see a faint shadow in the distance. At this point I was relieved because it meant we were headed in the right direction. Once we got about half way to the island, we got our first awesome experience; in the distance a large whale waved its tail two or three times before it disappeared. I wanted to paddle over to it, but it was just too far to even try. Our second awesome experience was even better. At the time it happened we were spread out, some of the stronger paddlers were in the front and I was in the very back (not because I was weaker of course, I had to tie my shoe) when I saw a large pod of dolphins on course to pass right by us. I paddled as hard as I could to try to get close to their path and I yelled out to the guys, but no one heard me. I was worried that they might miss it but then they stopped and turned around. I kept paddling until I was about 100ft short of the dolphins and I tried to take a picture, but it was hard. The dumb mammals never tell you when and where they’re going to pop up, and like big foot and the loch ness monster, the pictures never turn out well, “You see those gray smudges and white splashes, those are dolphins.” While I sat there in amazement, just trying to enjoy the moment while it lasted, I looked up to see Jeff, my pastor, was right in their path. I was very jealous as I watched them race and jump all around him. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s dolphin experience.”

As we got closer to the island it was obvious that the novelty of kayaking to the island had worn off (Jeff’s words). The guys were getting tired and none of them seemed to remember my first story in which I detail why the Chumash called the island “Anyapakh” or “Ennepah” (Anacapa), which means mirage or island of deception. In my opinion, it’s because it never gets any closer. When you think your close, you’re not close. When you think you know you’re close, you’re not as close as you think, and when you know you’re close, you better think again. You get the idea? They weren’t prepared for the frustration that sets in after a while. One thing that saved us some time was adjusting for the currents. I knew we would get swept southeast of the island, so instead of aiming for East Anacapa, we aimed for Middle Anacapa. The problem was when we got to the zone where we thought we knew we were close, I changed our direction and we still got swept southeast by the current. Fortunately it wasn’t as bad as last time and we all made it ok.

At this point I am going to skip to some other highlights of the trip, but just so you know, getting there is only half the fun. Some of the other challenges include the 12ft. raised dock upon which you have to lift your kayak and all your gear, the 154 stairs, and the ½ mile hike to the campground. Reading about these things will not really help you appreciate it. You have to do it for yourself. If you do, it is doubtful you ever feel manlier in your life because this island presents one challenge after another.

Moving on to the highlights, I have to say that I can’t speak for everyone. With thirteen people we all did different things. Greg, Eric, and Jameson snorkeled, something I have yet to do for any real length of time at Anacapa, but they saw all sorts of fish in the kelp beds and touched some large rays that were buried in the sand. The rest of us who went out on Saturday included me, Jeff, Danny, Jacob, Doug and Chris. Our main goal was to go see some sea caves and possibly make it to the big one on the west end of the island. The problem was that many of the guys were not looking forward to another long paddle, because we weren’t fully recovered from the day before, and we still had to paddle back on Sunday. So when we set out and didn’t find some easily accessible sea caves nearby, Doug, Chris, and Jacob decided to head back. I wish they would have stayed with us because Jeff, Danny, and I had an awesome experience, but I think they had fun too. They got to see some sea caves and go through arch rock. They even got approached by some aggressive sea lions that were guarding their pups in a cave.

As Jeff, Danny, and I went along, we eventually got close to Middle Anacapa and the ocean became like glass once again. In my mind, it was now or never for sea cave exploration. We were able to go along the cliffs and explore every nook and cranny of the island. Our first one was a sea cave or arch that opened up to a beach behind it. It was incredible. At first Jeff and Danny seemed a little hesitant, but eventually they were comfortable enough to go anywhere, even some places that I didn’t want to go, one of those being the narrow channel between Middle and West Anacapa. I watched Jeff go through this 20 ft gap between the islands and told Danny, “That’s not a very smart thing to do, the water gets really rough.” I knew because Dan and I had done the same thing at the crossing between East and Middle Anacapa the year before, but Danny didn’t seem to mind and he followed right after Jeff. I watched again as he got pushed up against the rocks and water poured into his kayak. Seeing this solidified the thoughts in my mind that this wasn’t a very smart thing to do, so I beached my kayak on the opposite side of the island and waved at them through the rocks. Jeff waved at me and yelled, “Go through!” Against my better judgment, I got in my kayak and paddled for the crossing. As I hit the first wave, my sit-on-top filled with water faster than it could empty itself and I was stuck in a suction zone. It was like walking on a really tough treadmill, you work really hard and go nowhere, but eventually I was able to gain some ground and paddle through without hitting too many rocks. When I made it, I pulled up next to Jeff and said, “Thanks for making me do the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my kayak,” which may or may not be true, but it was funny to me. Now we had to go back through the crossing with the waves coming from behind us. I gave the guys some tips about trying to avoid turning sideways because if you get turned sideways on a wave it’s pretty much over. Jeff was the first to go. As he neared the gap, the waves were very calm and he passed through with no problem. It was like God parting the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross. Then it was Danny’s turn with me following close behind. Suddenly the waves kicked up again and, like the Egyptians, we were fighting for our lives (well, fighting to avoid serious injury). Danny got turned sideways and water dumped into his kayak like a waterfall. I thought he was going over for sure. I saw he was in trouble but it was too late for me to pull out. A wave was hurling me passed Danny and it was all I could do to keep from going over. Danny eventually hit the rocks, twisted around, and started paddling backwards while I ended up on top of a bed of rocks off to the side. Meanwhile Jeff was watching, and as soon as it was over, he couldn’t stop laughing. Danny’s kayak was so full of water it became a lowrider, sitting just a few inches above the water line, so we had to pull up to the beach and dump out all the water. Jeff was still laughing the whole time (so much for the compassionate pastor). It was definitely the highlight of the trip for the three of us. It was also the best wave I have ridden to date, aside from the whole landing on rocks part.

In addition to our roaring rapids experience we also got to see so many more amazing sights that I didn’t get to see on my first trip. As we went along the shoreline between the island and various rock formations, we made our way through a number of sea caves and arches. We even saw two leopard sharks that were about 3-4ft long. They went right under my kayak, but they eluded me before I could take a picture. The mouth of one cave we went in was about fifty feet high and opened up into a huge oval shaped cathedral. Another cave we went in was about 300ft long, according to my book, but we only went about 80ft back before it became pitch black. My headlamp didn’t even put a dent in the darkness, so Jeff pulled out his flashlight and it barely lit some of the walls. The only thing we could tell is that it split in two directions like a “Y”. We both have plans to go back and bring a bigger flashlight next time. All of the things we saw were too amazing for me to explain or for pictures from a cheap disposable camera to capture. You have to see it for yourself.

The next day six of us made the paddle back. Although, none of us were looking forward to it; we all just wanted to get home. In spite of our lack of enthusiasm for the paddle home, there were some cool experiences along the way. Several dolphins made their way passing right between us and a huge cargo ship crossed right in front of us. It was great, but we just wanted to get home. At one point, Eric passed by us on the power boat and asked if we were ok, we all said yes and he went on his way back to wait for us at the landing site. About a half hour later it became grueling as the ocean grew choppier and a number of us wished that Eric would come back and take us to shore. Yes, even I, Mr. “We don’t need a power boat” was thinking the same thing. It became so bad for Danny and Jacob in the short, fat double kayak that Greg actually towed them for a couple of miles until we got closer to shore. This should not reflect badly on them, because it’s not an easy kayak to paddle for twelve miles. In fact, I assured them that they were two of only three people in the entire world who had ever paddled to Anacapa and back in a 12ft. long 36in. wide kayak (Larry, being the other from last year). I share this because it shows how incredible Greg was. He was a paddling machine the whole trip. Of all of us, I think he was the one who felt the least affects from the trip. When we eventually made it to shore we were surprised to find that we had shaved a whole 15 minutes off our time (4:45) because it felt like an eternity out there on the water. Our muscles ached, our backs hurt, and our butts were tired of sitting. On the shore, most of the guys said they were glad they went, but they would never do it again, at least not the paddling from Oxnard to Anacapa part. I know I will go back to Anacapa again. It has so much to offer that I haven’t fully experienced like snorkeling and finding out how deep that cave goes, but next time I plan on taking the charter boat. I even told Jane to remind me that I said I would never paddle over there again, but even now as I type this and remember all of the cool experiences, I could possibly see myself being talked into it at some point in the future. Next year however, the island we are planning to visit is Santa Cruz. We’ll take the charter boat, I promise, so who’s coming with me?