adventure + idea

It's been quite a long time since I last posted on this blog. Life has fallen back into a routine and time seems to fly faster than ever. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I came to US. This whole year I can�t describe how beautiful it has been. Keeping busy and feeling really happy and content with myself!

This blog post is about the camping/hiking/kayaking trip during the Labour Day weekend in 2013!

I was invited by my friend Teju and couple of our common friends for a camping trip in Santa Cruz Island. The idea was to stay in the island for 2 nights and 3 days. I had camped before in India on quite a few occasions but this was my first camping experience in USofA.

We decided to Kayak the first day and hike the next day all in all it was an amazing experience, and I�d like to go back for more (especially for the night sky shots). Anyways I�ll let the images do the talking.

On a second thought, I�ll let the images do the talking in a bit.

We (me and P1) rented the cars on Friday - Aug 30th and finished the last bit of shopping in Wal-Mart. The next day we left early and reached our destination - Ventura, and ferried to the Santa Cruz Island.

Now, I'll let the images do the talking.

After nearly 1hr of ferry and some great views of flying dolphins, this was our first sight of the island!!

As we approached closer and closer to the island we got to see the brilliant sea caves.(photo credits: Anupama)

Finally, the ferry docked and as we were disembarking, we were told to form a human chain and unload the bags. It was a great team effort I say!

We met our kayaking guide (Amy), she asked us to suit up an get ready for an experience of a lifetime. Apparently she could not take all 10 of us at the same time, so we split up 6-4.

Ready-set-go. The first group (excluding P1 (2nd from left in the foreground))

In the meantime the rest of us snorkeled.

2nd group. Ready-set-go (Amy in the far left, me, p1, Shraddha and Manali)

Happy Kayaking.

After Kayaking and Snorkeling we camped in the upper loop of the santa cruz island.

The first night of camping was a great! We had a wonderful chat and got to know new people.
After dinner I was super tired and dozed off in a jiffy.

The next day, we had a bit of a late start. The first hike of the day was about 7.5 mile round-trip; I would label it moderate to easy hike. There is lot of flat portions(Plateau) except for the gradual ascent at the start and steep decent at the end of the hike. Apparently this is one of the best hikes in whole of Channel Islands National Park Reserve SMUGGLERS COVE HIKE

En-route to Smugglers cove

Finally we reached our destination and everybody were super exicted and Trigger-Happy

The whole group (L-R) Me, Pavan, Aravind, Anupama, Teju, Shraddha, Manali, Harika, Shikha and Ayas.

Trigger happy moments

Trigger happy moments

Under the temporary shade

The Second hike of the day was about 4.5 mile round-trip; I would label it as super easy hike.. Apparently this is second best hikes in whole of Channel Islands National Park Reserve with a great view - POTATO HARBOUR HIKE

Amazing sunset from potato harbor.

Photo-session at the potato harbor.

Cooking Maggi (after a long time) : Night-2

Next day we packed up and headed to the pier.

3rd day - at the pier.

3rd day - at the pier.

This was it, the ferry arrived and yet again we formed a human chain to pass on the bags into the ferry.

On our way back - SUN-WATER-FERRY-BOOK, What more can you ask for.