animals, Beach, beer, National Parks, Nature, road trip, trails, traveling, wine

A heavenly place: Channel Islands National Park

Posted by akvenable on

At this point I can hardly imagine what we are getting ready to see today!  I have been wanting to visit Channel Islands for a many years now, and I am finally making it happen.  IMG_1738IMG_1743

The day started out with a foggy mist but turned out to be beautiful weather for exploring Channel Islands National Park for about 5 hours.IMG_1746

I felt obliged  to take a picture of this off shore rig, since I work in the oil industry as I have never been this close up to one.IMG_1749

James!  Thanks so much for making this happen for me.  If you could have only protected me from the seagull poop bomb I would be more thankful;)IMG_1820

We had a nice surprise visit from a huge pod of short-finned pilot whales.  They were surrounding us for a while, so the captain made a long courtesy stop for us to gawk and snap some great photos.  Don’t let the name fool you as they are actually a member of the dolphin family but they have commonalities with the whale.IMG_1818IMG_1812IMG_1800IMG_1780IMG_1773IMG_1774IMG_0578IMG_0583IMG_0584IMG_1824IMG_1827IMG_1828IMG_1833 IMG_1837 IMG_1839IMG_1844IMG_1843IMG_1846IMG_1849IMG_1850IMG_1852IMG_1855IMG_1856IMG_1858IMG_1862IMG_1864IMG_1821

Right around here is where we set up our picnic overlooking the sea lions.  This is also where I got showered with seagull poop right after our picnic.  We were sitting there enjoying the view and our wine when a flock of seagulls started to fly overhead.  James warned me to take cover: obviously I tried to play it too cool–TRIED and FAILED.  I really got hit badly and had hardly anything to remove this smelly waste from my face, hair, arms, shirt, pants, and shoes.  Suffice it to say, it didn’t ruin our time on the island.  It still turned out to be a great experience.  You must visit if you are out in SoCal!  Don’t let the seagulls turn you off from making this awesome day trip.IMG_1866IMG_1870IMG_1874IMG_1877IMG_1891

Viewer discretion advised:  looks like this poor lil guy didn’t make it.  I think the others were mourning the young fella’s death and maybe they were singing “Amazing Grace” in this sad moment.  This article could have something to do with the baby sea lion’s death.IMG_1902IMG_1905

The cavesIMG_1907IMG_0575IMG_0573IMG_0586IMG_0593IMG_1910IMG_1915IMG_0606IMG_0603IMG_0626

Heading back from our awesome day journeyIMG_0632IMG_1917IMG_1921

Pictured below are some brown pelicans I spotted on our return boat ride.  Here is a good random story about a baby brown pelican.IMG_1928IMG_1931IMG_1940IMG_0640

2 Comments

  1. venable05 says:
    April 9, 2015 at 10:53 pm

    Loved all your pictures! Area was beautiful. Fun to take a short trip wo leaving my bed! Lol

    Like

  2. akvenable says:
    April 10, 2015 at 7:37 am

    Glad you enjoyed your trip through my eyes Momma! A little tip: click on the picture to see the picture on a full sized scale if you didn’t figure that out already:)

    Like

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