North American Galapagos

Approaching Cuyler Harbor on San Miguel Island

Sand Dunes on San Miguel Island

Rugged Landscape on San Miguel Island

Elephant Seals Barking

Pinnipeds on the Beach

After a night’s anchorage in the Bay of San Luis Obispo, we left at 7am the next morning to round Point Conception, referred to as the Cape Horn of the Pacific. The Point serves as a natural division between central and southern California and heavy northwest gales often occur off the Point, however many boaters have found flat calm seas rounding Conception. As forecasted, we too experienced calm seas; and after passing Point Conception, decided to head west toward the Channel Islands. Turning west by southwest, we passed four oil rigs before arriving at beautiful Cuyler Harbor on San Miguel Island, the northern most island of the archipelago. This uninhabited island is one of five islands that make up the “Channel Islands National Park,” home to over 2,000 species of animals and plants - 145 are found nowhere else on earth. We were the only boat anchored in the harbor that day but we weren't alone. San Miguel Island has one of the largest congregations of Pinnipeds in the world. Visitors may go ashore on San Miguel only at Cuyler Harbor so we approached the beach by dinghy, choosing a clear landing spot so as not to disturb a group of Pinnipeds. The wild flowers growing in the sand dunes added to the beauty of the diverse landscape and we saw evidence of erosion on the sandstone cliffs above us. It is reported that more than 500 relatively undisturbed archaeological sites, some dating back as far as 11,000 years, exist on San Miguel Island. This region was the ancestral home of the Chumash or “Island People,” known for their fast, seaworthy canoes, called tomols, that impressed Juan Cabrillo when he first encountered them in October 1542 west of Santa Barbara. Cabrillo, European explorer of California, is believed to have died at Cuyler Harbor in 1543, reportedly from an accidental fall. A monument commemorating his exploration stands on one of the mountain tops. We decided not to hike to the monument as the trail looked to be in poor condition and we could see that part of the trail had broken away, crashing to the valley below; we didn’t want to repeat Cabrillo’s fate. The fate of the animals however seem to be in good hands; the National Park Service monitors and protects threatened and endangered species, restores ecosystems, and preserves the natural resources. One might wonder how such unique species came to be on the Channel Islands. Lower ocean levels during the ice ages narrowed the distance across the Santa Barbara Channel, exposing some of the seafloor, which allowed some species to venture into this new territory. Later, water from melting glaciers raised the sea level, which widened the channel again and increased the isolation of animals and plants from the mainland. Many species evolved over time and adapted to their isolated environment. The mammoth evolved to become a new species of pygmy mammoths, and gray foxes shrank to the size of house cats, becoming today's island fox. Species of mice, scrub jays, and many plants grew larger. Because of the unique species found today on these islands, it's not surprising that the Channel Islands are often called the “North American Galapagos.”