Anacapa and Santa Cruz Island Boating & Fishing Trip

I've been itching to head out to see Anacapa Island and some more sections of Santa Cruz Island off the Santa Barbara / Ventura Coast. My dad and I decided to head on down there with his 21 foot Parker 2110 boat.

We drove down to Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard on Saturday April 18th, 2015 and got setup in a guest slip. Nothing fancy but it got the job done.

We woke up Sunday morning around 5:15 AM. A quick check of the buoys showed some residual wind from the night so it would be a little lumpy out there, and messy it was.

Quite a few other boats were headed out about the same time.

We crossed the Santa Barbara Channel over to the east side of Anacapa Island.
We came across quite a few dolphins working some bait with some birds on top.

During the crossing we came across a section of Velella Jellyfish. I have seen these on the beaches recently too! Here is just a sample of what one looks like:

It was a great view once we reached Anacapa with the lighthouse perched atop the cliff (below)

This is the famous arch at Anacapa (below)

Coming up the back side of Anacapa Island (below)

Cat Rock at Anacapa (below)

A few boats anchored and fishing (below)

Fishin' at Cat Rock (below)

Nice full cabin to stay out of the weather, motorin along (below)

After exploring Anacapa, we crossed 'The Gap' over to Santa Cruz Island (below)

Water temp was about 61 degrees if I recall correctly. We dropped down and 'HOOK UP'. The line ended up breaking and we never saw the fish... (below)

What a great boat to enjoy at Smugglers Cove at Santa Cruz Island (below)

Lots of overnight sailboats here at Smugglers Cove at Santa Cruz Island (below)

Smugglers Cove signature Olive Orchard (below)

Full display of boats (below)

We headed back to Channel Islands Habor and then started the 6 hour cleaning / packing up / driving home process.  Of course, it was all worth it!