Channel Islands National Park: San Miguel Island

We had planned to fuel up in Morro Bay--after all, we'd come all the way from Port Angeles--but their fuel pumps were out of service! Fuel gauges are notoriously unreliable, and though I keep accurate engine hour records and know our approximate fuel usage, it's not an exact prediction. Just in case, we decided to be purists and not motor at all, regardless of whatever wind came.

First nothing came. With no wind at all, we rolled in the ocean swells for a whole day and night, going nowhere. Then too much wind came; we blew past the island we were going to visit! We had timed our departure from Morro Bay to arrive at San Miguel Island (the westernmost of the Channel Islands) in daylight, assuming a probable speed of 4-6 knots/hour--but with no wind then too much wind, we arrived at the island at night. We believe it's unnecessarily risky to to enter an unknown anchorage in the dark, so we reduced our windage as much as possible, but we still got blown way past our target. At least there was enough wind the next day to tack 15+ miles back!

The next several days were quite windy, and the anchorages here are not what w're used to. Instead of cozy little secluded spots, where there are tide and current issues but no wind, even the "refuge anchorages" here feel large and exposed. We were grateful for all our anchor chain, ,two kellets (10-pound fishing weights Art attaches to the anchor chain), and the AIS anchor alarm feature that would beep if we if we got too far from our original anchoring position. We never dragged at all, but I can't say it was restful...

Nonetheless, San Miguel was a spectacular place, and we ended up staying four nights rather than two. We got to experience our first dinghy landing in surf (those of you who have done this may now laugh out loud) and our first sandy beach. We enjoyed the company of sea lions and the rugged scenery, and had a marvelous hike.

Nicole & Art on the San Miguel hike

The trace of our drift path on the chartplotter