Tag archives: San Miguel Island
They behaved like rambunctious children – playful, and inquisitive. They’d also never seen a kayaker before. Three-month-old northern fur seal pups were almost knocking me out of my kayak while paddling around Point Bennett on San Miguel Island. May and June are an exciting time to be on the Channel Islands National Park. There’s anticipation […]
We hugged the crumbly west cliff face of Cuyler Harbor on San Miguel Island with no expectations from the seat of our kayaks. From afar, we couldn’t see any wildlife, but we could clearly hear first-year northern elephant seals snorting and bellowing on distant pocket beaches concealed along the rocky shoreline. I was paddling with […]
The weather window was tight. It was one day, and we took advantage of it, circumnavigating the 27 coastal miles of San Miguel Island, the most northwesterly isle in the Channel Islands National Park. After several solo circumnavigations of this wave-battered, teeming islet, I was gratefully joined by four kayak guides who I work with […]
They were a long way from home – a long way from the “Great North” – those distant, pelagic habitats northern fur seals thrive in. Strong ocean currents had firmly gripped these three beleaguered pups that were now seven months old. Malnourished and fatigued, they were discovered by beachgoers on Los Angeles County beaches. Now […]
I was sitting patiently on a hillside within Scorpion Canyon on Santa Cruz Island, the most biodiverse isle in the Channel Islands National Park. It was mid-morning, and all was quiet in early November 2021. It was dry and warm, and the deer flies were having their way with me, as I overlooked a fruitful […]
I’d never been so popular before, as dozens of northern fur seal pups surrounded me while mugging my kayak with demonstrative splashes and harmless bumps into my boat in the dense kelp forests of Adams Cove on the western fringe of San Miguel Island. It was quite possible that these raucous eared fur seals – […]
In keeping with not forgetting, the Santa Cruz Island Foundation (SCIF) presented a 75th Anniversary Salute to San Miguel Island’s Lost Liberator in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) and the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation. It was held outside on the terrace by the SBMM. The heavy bomber, a B24 Liberator, was lost […]
