Waypoint Vintage Trailers and the Channel Islands

Bonnie booked us for several days at Waypoint Vintage Trailer Hotel which provided an ocean view RV site. This open air hotel is very unique in that it consists of several vintage trailers that have been meticulously restored to their original condition or a modernized version. A prospective guest goes to the hotel website at https://waypointventura.com/ and selects a particular vintage trailer that he or she would like to reserve for an overnight stay. The hotel provided guests with complimentary use of fire pits, grills, and games along with fresh brewed coffee and tasty smores each evening. I believe this was the most modern and hippest RV resort place we had parked our Airstream at so far. Bonnie and I loved the ocean view from our dining room window but we had both gotten worse from severe head colds and slept in our trailer for the next two days.

The only other bummer (besides sinus infections) was site work had recently begun on a new apartment complex on the narrow strip of land right in front of the Waypoint resort property so there was some construction noise. After our third day, we decided that over the counter medicine wasn’t helping us feel any better so we found an urgent care clinic in Ventura and received proper medical treatment there. Here are some photos of Waypoint Vintage Trailer Hotel…

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The main reason we stopped at Ventura was a planned week long visit to the Channel Islands National Park. This national park consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of California and the surrounding waters. Although the islands are close to the shore of a densely populated area, their isolation has left them relatively undeveloped. We finally started to feel better so we scheduled a whale watching trip that departed from the marina at the nearby town of Oxnard to the Channel Islands NP waters.

The whale watching trip was well worth the reasonable amount charged because we saw gray whales, humpback whales, and two large basking sharks. I had hoped to see a pod of killer whales but none were to be found on that day. Mother whales and their young were migrating north from the warm waters of Mexico towards summer feeding grounds in the Arctic. Killer whales frequently try to separate a baby whale from the mother so they can drown it and eat a young whale for dinner. Nature can sometimes be brutal but there are predators and their prey that create a balance in the wild. Basking sharks cruise on the surface of the ocean while scooping up plankton with huge mouths open. Check out this one minute video of a large basking shark feeding right along side our boat….near the end of the video you will start to see the shark’s mouth.

We really enjoyed our whale watching adventure and had the pleasure of meeting a lovely woman, named Lotti, while on board the ship. Lotti is a teacher and part-time nature photographer who frequently cruises around the Channel Islands on tour boats. She snaps fantastic photos and provides them to the tour operator, Island Packers, in exchange for free passage on their weekly nature cruises. Check out the huge open mouth on this Basking Shark while it is feeding. Our new found friend, Lotti, captured a photo of it with her awesome camera and agreed to share it with us (thanks Lotti)…

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Again, we contacted Island Packers and scheduled another day trip to Santa Cruz Island for hiking and exploration. This island, located in the northern group of the Channel Islands, is 22 miles long and from 2 to 6 miles wide. It is the largest island off the coast of California and has a shoreline consisting of steep cliffs, sea caves, coves, and sandy beaches. This time our boat launched from the marina at Ventura and it took us about 1.5 hours to get to Santa Cruz Island. The captain of our boat spotted an enormous pod of dolphins jumping their way right towards us. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed when well over 100 dolphins jumped all around our boat while feeding on fish. Bonnie captured some really awesome videos that will give you an idea of what we saw in that moment….

Our boat landed at the welcome center at Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island where we were met by a park ranger. The ranger told us a little about the island and invited us to check out the small museum which had been converted from an old ranch house building. The island passed into private ownership when the Santa Cruz Island company was formed by American businessmen in 1869. Over the next four decades, a small community of ranches prospered in the central valley and built several workshops, barns, a blacksmith shop, a chapel, and a winery on the island. Descendants of majority owner, Justinian Caire, eventually agreed to preserve Santa Cruz Island and gave joint control to Nature Conservancy and the National Parks Service. Here are some pics which show our approach to the dock on Santa Cruz Island and the park welcome center…

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Historical evidence and records show that Santa Cruz was first inhabited by the Chumash Indians for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1769. Of course, Spain claimed possession of the island and the native Indian population declined due to disease and oppression. Spanish and Mexican ranchers raised sheep, pigs, and horses on the island and large herds of these animals resided there by 1853. If interested, you can read a detailed history of this fascinating island by clicking on this link below: http://santacruz.nrs.ucsb.edu/about/history

Bonnie and I spent the day hiking the Potato Harbor trail along the beautiful coastline of this remote island. We saw several seabirds, crows, small foxes, and lots of wild flowers in bloom. Two large ravens landed near a group of girls along the trail and they were doing their best to beg for food. We stopped at a very scenic spot along the coastal trail and ate our lunch there while on the lookout for migrating whales. Before the afternoon was over, we had hiked about 5 miles at a fairly good pace because Bonnie wanted to make sure we made the boat ride back to the mainland. Island Packers said we would you be stuck on the island for the night if we missed the boat back to Ventura and we didn’t bring any camping gear with us. Fortunately, we made it back to the dock with plenty of time to spare before boarding our boat for the return trip. It was a fantastic day and we thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Santa Cruz Island. Here are some more pics that capture the beauty of Santa Cruz Island (enjoy)…

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Our next stop will be Bakersfield, CA to visit family there and then on towards wine country in Paso Robles. Again, be aware that our blog posts lag where we are actually at by several weeks because of continued problems with reliable internet access.