nel islands, and is often subject to severe weather, so not many people go out there very often. It is, of course, closest to Point Conception, so I went there first on my way towards the mainland. I then stopped at the other islands as I passed them, and will do a post about each in turn. On the way to San Miguel, the weather was dead calm, and I was motoring along and saw some Risso's Dolphins. They are really cool looking, with a high dorsal fin that looks sharky. When I anchored in this little bay surrounded by elephant seals (which, I have decided, sound a lot like wookies having sex) and paddled ashore and climbed a cliff of sand to visit the hilltop. The
vegetation is nothing like the other islands out here; it seems native, and there are no grasses anywhere that I saw, only sage-like things and succulents and funny palm trees that are about 2 ft tall. When I was climbing up the sandy cliff (super scary) I also got the feeling that the rocks were burned. Like the whole island was freshly volcanic or something. It reminded me of when I went out to Mt St Helens one time, and saw the scorched earth. I met a fisherman in the bay there and he invited me aboard his boat, and we got to talking, and...
It turns out that the island was firebombed a lot
back around WW2 for practice. I guess that's like volcanism...San Miguel has a wonderful harbor, but I didn't really need it, because despite the reputation for nasty weather, I had nothing of the kind while I was there. I really liked the plants though.
1 comment:
Christian,
Glad to see you made it around! I have been checking in every day for a week... what took you so long? I believe those plants are California buckwheat (the pink flowered one) and probably some kind of Yucca (both edible.)
-Rachel
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