Kayaking Channel Islands

When we decided to go camping at Channel Islands for the Memorial Day weekend I was a little intimidated. Not really because of the 12+ miles of ocean kayaking or dark scary sea caves or sleeping in tents next to foxes - these are ok! It was rather the fear of whether or not I would be able to empty bowels in mud pits. The islands were rumored to be devoid of electricity and other civilized facilities such as ceramic commodes. This fear did, however, help reduce a lot of load before heading out.

Ours was a 2 day visit with one night of camping. A fast stomach-swirling speed boat brought us to the island within an hour. Then on, it was just manual labour - right from the human conveyor belt that unloads luggage at the docks to hauling bags to campsite, to propping up the tents. But soon enough the 5 of us and our guide were all paddling away into the open ocean in our bright yellow sun-lit kayaks.

We got a really awesome guide - a chilled out kayaker who was thoroughly familiar not only with the sea caves and their safe entry-exit points but also with the flora and fauna around. Every location we would group up he would tell us a story. Hallmarks of a great guide is knowing how to transform a pelican poop covered rock into heroic remnants of an ecological bio-cycle drama. We did not explore just sea caves - but rather historic caverns that mother earth carved with molten hot lava, where the mighty sea goddess boomed though the crevices, where the surf sank many hapless vessels, where careless kayakers were meted severe punishments and where seals huddle for warmth. Entering and exiting some caves required abundance of courage coupled with kayaking expertise for safe navigation. Adrenaline seems to be such a good ink when it comes to etching long term memories.

Camping is a different experience all together. It did not take long for me to learn that voice travels far and loud across the campsite. So singing Aagaya vennilaave at night en-route to the restroom (the campground did have them, phew) can wake and irritate sleeping campers in their tents. Few other lessons learned were, island foxes are timid creatures and there is no need to run top speed from them, shaking tents are not to be investigated and fluid intake before bed time can result in long nocturnal hikes.