If you want to discover the pristine California that hardly anyone gets to see it should be done from the water looking back at the coast. That is the view that original European explorers and native American Channel Island dwellers had. Much of the coast and most of the Channel Islands remain unspoiled. However, relatively few California visitors or residents venture out by boat whether power or sail, charter or private because of perceived or actual discomfort. Such discomfort is minor compared to the experience of seeing large schools of dolphins playing, pelicans diving, whales breaching and seals sunning themselves on large buoys at harbor entrances greeting you with a yawn or a bark.
In sheltered coves of the Channel Islands some moorings and safe anchorages exist where, after arrival one can swim and snorkel an enjoy world class under water wild life with family and friends before preparing the evening meal. Cruisers are...
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Coastal Cruising In Southern California information round up
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. — A kayaker who said a shark thrashed his boat in waters off Santa Barbara County, Calif., on Friday said he walked away unscathed and described the impact as worse than a car crash.
"I was thrown 5 to 10 feet in the water in the kayak," Ryan Howell said. "I just remember my buddy yelling, 'That shark is huge,' and yelling my name over and over, but the kayak just kept getting thrashed."
The shark encounter was the second in two days in the same area, near the Vandenberg Air Force Base, after a surfer was attacked by a shark on Thursday.
