You’re never really alone on Santa Barbara Island. I soon found that out while rounding the southern end of the one-square-mile islet in my kayak. From utter silence to a raucous cacophony of yelps and bellows, my solo journey around the smallest of California’s eight Channel Islands was interrupted by thousands of California sea lions — some just curious, others territorial.
The yearlings were sleek and playful bobbing next to my kayak, but it was the cantankerous bull sea lions with the knobby crests that were worrisome. They charged toward my boat, all 500 to 700 pounds each. A couple bumped my hull, others torpedoing at my kayak only to duck under it at the last second, the beach masters protecting their harems and precious territory on the loneliest island in Channel Islands National Park.
Santa Barbara Island is a mere blip on any map. Geographically, it lies 43 miles off the coast, right on the line between Los Angeles and Ventura counties, yet it’s part of Santa Barbara County, and clings to its southern fringe.
In 1914, Alvin Hyder won a five-year lease to live and work the windswept isle. He and his family raised rabbits, ducks, turkeys, geese, pigs, goats, sheep and chickens. During heavy northwest winds, some of the chickens were blown off the island.
I could attest to wind speed. Once I assisted two wildlife biologists on their annual surveys of island night lizards and deer mice, both natives to the island. It was to be a four-day trip, but when the northwesterly winds kicked up, the Island Packers and National Park Service boats couldn’t reach us, and we were stranded for 10 days.
My tent couldn’t withstand the persistent gale and began to tear. I had to break camp and head over to the ranger’s quarters to hide from the wind and sleep on a picnic table the rest of the time. In the meantime, we counted and measured night lizards. They are also found on San Clemente and San Nicholas islands, but those islands are owned by the military, so Santa Barbara Island is the only place in the world to see them. The deer mice and night lizard are the only terrestrial animals on this island. How they made it out there is up for debate.
In springtime, Santa Barbara Island’s landscape is a carpet of green and wildflowers, especially coreopsis. I take many walks/runs around the loop trail. Sutil Rock, just off the south side of the island, is, amazingly enough, home to night lizards. On that same side of the island, I literally walked right up to an American kestrel, normally one of the most skittish raptors on the mainland. It reminded me of my trip to the Galapagos Islands 10 years prior, and how easy it was to approach the wildlife. This is one reason the Channel Islands are often compared to those southern islands near the equator.
Circling the islet on foot got monotonous and I needed a diversion. One of the biologists knew of a kayak stored in the shed on the landing dock where the boat drops off visitors. I don’t know how many times I paddled around the island, but I did it early in the mornings before the winds came up. Santa Barbara Island has one of the largest sea lion rookeries in California, and were guaranteed entertainment every time I encountered the animals’ gregarious nature.
Eventually those howling northwest winds subsided enough for the NPS boat to retrieve us. I relaxed below the crow’s nest facing the island as we headed for the harbor. So much seen and experienced on an island that quickly vanished from sight on the placid southern horizon.
— Local freelance writer Chuck Graham is editor of Deep magazine.