We decided to go for it. The hills are still green from rain, so we figured the Channel Islands would be too. Yet we see no more rain in the near term forecast, so in the next week or two things might start going brown again. But flying weather out there has been less than ideal, and one of our really clear days gives island vistas that linger in the mind’s eye for months. So we decided to go for it. By the time we were getting this look at San Miguel from the West, it was only providing hazy pix like this.
1027 W. San Miguel
I’ve tweaked it quite a bit trying to regain something like what we saw, but the camera we each carry in our heads does so much better than any camera I can afford. Still, at the bottom-right you can see the big rollers coming in from the open Pacific that were making all that white water. Moments earlier we’d seen big waves breaking above hidden reefs and surging over the rocks just NW of the island.
0911 Rollers
We’d already climbed high for the short crossing from SBA and descended along the island’s North shore looking at (and snapping) all the sea caves, pinnipeds on pristine beaches, and the striations of sand that set this low island apart from the others. Turning back toward the East and continuing our descent we saw the waves surging completely over these rocks normally covered with sea birds.
0923 Bird (Rock) Bath
After flying East along the South shore we looked back at this vista starting a gradual climb back toward home, our eyes and hearts overflowing with spectacles like this.
1116 Looking Back
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