Download If you enjoy being on or in the water, California`s Channel Islands

If you enjoy being on or in the water, California's Channel Islands offers some of the best
natural beauty the world has to offer. Its life source?...cool Pacific Ocean water.
Sunlight filtered by the canopy becomes an array of thin green-yellow splinters
illuminating kelp fronds and fish immediately below. Juvenile calico bass and small
kelpfish are well-camouflaged between brown kelp stipes and tangled blades. Small
groups of sardines, almost invisible against the blue sky above, dart inches beneath the
surface where the canopy clears
Dominating the scene are columns of giant kelp and rocky reefs and walls carpeted in
short palm frond kelp and clusters of red algae and speckled with sponges, anemones,
gorgonian and deep-water hydrocoral.
Bright orange garibaldi and schools of blacksmith, perch and bass swim busily over the
reefs while a few nocturnal lobster and horn sharks are still seeking shelter for the day in
the form of holes and ledges.
Sound good? This describes some of the finest diving in the world! The California kelp
beds, vibrant with life, offer a multitude of water based opportunity.
The Humboldt and Davidson currents that parallel the California coast transport cool
water from the north into our southern California waters. The cooler water stimulates the
kelp forests in a cycle of regrowth at a rate of up to two feet per day.
Pelagic birding in the inshore waters between California's coast and these islands along
with the "deep blue sea" offshore areas past the edge of the Continental Shelf abound
with nomadic seasonal bird species. Albatross, shearwaters, terns, gulls, tropicbirds,
kittiwakes, jaegers, boobies and petrels are just a few species encountered.
Marine mammals abound in the waters around the Channel Islands. The once
endangered California Gray whale passes close by headed north or south on its 12,000
mile migration. Seals, sea lions and elephant seals also cruise the waters and haul out
on the shores of these islands.
Spring's arrival warms the water and the hearts of the ocean's inhabitants. Seals and
sea lions give birth to pups, sea bass and bat rays display dramatic mating rituals and
garibaldi fish guard their nests. Massive schools of sardines and mackerel form huge
biomasses and are a prelude to summer. Blue whales migrate through our waters and
pods of common dolphins stretching as far as the eye can see often surround the boat.