Channel Islands and Ventura

National Park Road Trip – Day 6-7

Ventura – Channel Islands

*This post contains light profanity.

**As of today (February 17), California is preparing for some of the largest storms in it's history.  We hope our family & friends, fellow travelers, and those in the impact zone remain safe.

When we pulled into the Ventura Beach RV resort, we noticed that our battery wasn’t charging.  We had noticed that something was going on, but hadn’t had the time or opportunity to really check out what was causing the problem.  G discovered that all the fuses to the inverter had blown.  Sounds scary, but quite honestly if we had been at a place without an electrical hookup we wouldn’t have been able to lower the roof of the trailer and, in turn, wouldn’t have been able to tow it.  This would have necessitated a new battery, even though ours was brand new. 

Before we even arrived in Ventura, we had made reservations for a day trip to Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park for the following morning.  We even arranged for the dogs to hang out at Doggin’ Around Daycare while we were on the island.  However, the issues with the trailer precipitated us to rethink our plans for the day.  You know when you’re tired, you are trying to put a square peg into a round hole, you forget to close something in the back of your car so it makes an annoying sound while you’re driving, you make a few wrong turns and end up going way out of the way, and you just can’t get anything to align?  Call it exhaustion, call it insanity, but I literally could not stop laughing.  I was laughing so hard on the way to the marina that I was crying.  G looked at me like I was a complete head case.  I just told him that we needed to take a break, see if we could cancel our trip and turn around to get our trailer fixed and get that damn thing closed in the back of the car so the noises stopped!!!  A tense call to the folks who had done repair work on the trailer in Abbotsford, Canada, a trip to Lowe’s, and two hours of fiddling with the fuses and we were back in business.  We were refreshed, got a few projects done inside the trailer, and were able to get a little more organized. 

Island Packers, a Channel Islands National Park concessionaire, easily changed our day trip to a 4.5 hour Whale Watching tour and even refunded the difference in ticket cost.  We were really bummed that we didn’t get to go to an island, but we didn’t really have a choice.  As it turns out the weather was horrendous and pouring down rain until the afternoon so our 1:30 pm departure worked in our favor.  We saw ZERO whales, but were rewarded with about 1,000 dolphins and hundreds of pelicans.  We also got some fantastic, up close views of a few of the Channel Islands.  I know I’ve mentioned this, but California has seen some crazy rain storms in recent weeks so the islands were as green as can be.  I told the volunteer naturalist that was on the boat that it looked like a different country.  Honestly, you’d have to look close to determine if you were in Ireland or California.  The boat ride was a little choppy for the boat averse G, but he was a trooper and we safely made it back to shore just in time to get an Uber to meet up with our Costa Rica travel buddies at Ventiki Polynesian Dining & Cocktails.

Ireland or California?  You decide.

Starfish eating a mussel in the Channel Islands Visitor Center.

Almost 10 years ago G and I met a newlywed couple from Ventura in Nosara, Costa Rica.  For ease of recognition, I’m going to refer to them as “The Bums”.  We stayed in side-by-side studio condos on the first floor of a subdivided vacation home.  It was amazing.  We clicked right away, and because The Bums didn’t have a rental car (and we did) we ended up going to a bunch of places together, i.e. ziplining in the rainforest, watching turtles hatch on the beach, drinking copious amounts of Bavaria Lights, and just all around enjoying our time together.  We haven’t seen them since, although have kept in touch through social media.

When planning this trip we knew we wanted to see our vacation buddies while in Ventura.  It just so happens that Channel Islands National Park is just off the coast from Ventura and we were going there anyway.  As mentioned in the previous post, the Ventura Beach RV Resort was nearly extortion, but it put us in a convenient spot close to downtown so we could meet up with our friends.  A raucous night ensued and a good time was had by all, as if no time had passed.  We reminisced about the Costa Rica vacation and got caught up on the last 10 years.  One of the enduring stories The Bums reminded us about (that we had long forgotten) was when we left the Nosara Beach House to go explore another area of the Nicoya Peninsula for the rest of our trip.  We hadn’t made any reservations, but were just going to explore the coastline and see if we could find another cool place to stay.  We exchanged email addresses and said our goodbyes.  G and I went to a bunch of other small little towns, but just couldn’t find another spot that was even remotely as quaint and fun as where we were at…so we drove back to Nosara and got to the Beach House just before the sun went down.  Thankfully they weren’t full and we went right back into the little studio condo on the first floor.  The Bums weren’t around so we got into the pool and cracked a beer.  This next part we are told has been shared a hundred times to The Bums’ friends and family.  They were walking back from surfing on the beach into the pool area and G raises his arms in the air and yells, “Hola Bitches!”  Needless to say, we had a great end to our trip with more stories and good times and are so grateful that we got to spend time with them 10 years later in their hometown.   Hey Bums, next time we’re staying in your driveway like the Beverly Hillbillies we are!  There goes your neighborhood!

Highlights:

Island Packers

Common Dolphin Pods around the Channel Islands

Ventiki Polynesian Dining & Cocktails