Natural Wonders of Channel Islands

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

California has eight Channel Islands off the coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego that are magical. Called “California’s Galapagos Islands” because of their ecological diversity, they have over 2,000 animal and plant species, 145 that are unique. With cute, tiny island foxes and screechy Scrub-Jays, many are rare or endangered.

Since 1980 the Northern five islands have been designated as Channel Islands National Park. These include San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara Island.

San Miguel. One-day trips, multi-day boat trips and overnight camping are all possible. The farthest West of the eight islands, it takes a 4-hour, 70-mile boat ride to reach it. The trip is worth it! Point Bennett, at the tip of the island, is a breeding ground for some 30,000 seals. You can also see numerous species of seabirds, dolphins, porpoises and whales, and island foxes that are smaller than a typical house cat.

Santa Rosa, the second largest of the islands, with two mountains and rolling hills, has 500 plant species, including pre-Ice age Torrey Pines that are only found in one other place in the world – San Diego. You can camp on the island and go on hikes surrounded by unique native bunchgrass and island bush monkeyflowers. There are over 100 bird species, mammals and amphibians and colonies of seabirds, seals and sea lions.

Santa Cruz is only an hour away and perfect for one-day trips or overnights, with the best weather and the most recreation activities. There are minimal services, though. There is a variety of seabirds to see, especially around Scorpion Rock.  Birdwatchers generally go to see the island Scrub-Jay, which is only found on Santa Cruz. The island also has some of the world’s largest sea caves that kayakers can explore.

Anacapa, also an hour away, is good for one-day or overnight camping trips. Its name comes from the Chumash Native Indian word Anypakh, which means mirage. Ancient shell sites show where the Chumash people lived thousands of years ago. The island’s a breeding ground for thousands of birds and California sea lions and harbor seals. A kelp forest and tide pools make it popular for kayaking, snorkeling, and diving. But, with little shade and no drinkable water, you need to bring your own provisions.

Santa Barbara, the smallest island, has impressive cliffs and one of the world’s largest colonies of rare Scripps’s Murrelets seabirds. There is an elephant seals rookery, blooming yellow flowers, and magnificent coastal views. The Horned Lark, Orange-crowned Warbler, and House Finch birds are only found on the island. One day trips and overnight camping are available, but Island Packers offers trips only from April through October.

The National Park islands are kept mostly in their natural states to preserve their ecosystems. So, it’s important to plan your visit – supplies, transportation, and lodging – because amenities vary and can be minimal. Companies providing access and tours include Island Packers, Channel Islands Expeditions, and Channel Islands Adventure Company.

Farther South are San Nicolas and San Clemente Islands (which are both used by the U.S. Navy and don’t allow visitors) and the most well-known of the islands Santa Catalina – of song and celebrity fame.

Santa Catalina Island is known for its two resort towns Avalon and Two Harbors, accessible by Catalina Express and Catalina Flyer boat service. You can also reach it by private boat, plane, or helicopter. Its charming coastal towns are perfect for relaxing getaways and the Art Deco casino in Avalon Harbor is a true showstopper, visible for miles. Nearby there’s wildlife, scuba diving, and Mt. Orizaba, the island’s highest peak.

Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. (here on Catalina with his wife Ada) bought the island in 1919 and the Wrigley family still owns and preserves it. Home to nine endemic plant species and a thriving population of island foxes, it also has a herd of buffaloes descended from buffaloes left by a movie crew in the 1920s.

SurfWriter Girl Sunny knows Santa Catalina Island well because she’s visited it many times. She even had a job with the Santa Catalina Island Company selling tickets for island attractions on the Catalina Express boats. “The bus trips around the island and the glass bottom boat rides were really popular,” says Sunny.

Whichever islands you visit, your trip is sure to be a magical experience and a step back in time.

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

The Beauty of Imperfection

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

The Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi celebrates the beauty of imperfection and of things that are impermanent and incomplete.

It is the beauty of things both humble and modest. It is the beauty of things that are raw, unrefined and unconventional.

Old Levi’s jeans, a comfortable chair, a weathered fence, a tree that’s been in your yard forever, your favorite surfboard, classic cars, watches that wind by hand, the neighborhood diner.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel have been learning about Wabi-Sabi, which dates back 5,000 years, and its emphasis on self-acceptance and finding joy in everyday things as they are.

We learned that in Japan cracked vases or bowls are often repaired with gold, highlighting the flaw and turning it into a mark of beauty that represents part of the object’s history.

Originally derived from Buddhist teachings, the word Wabi refers to rustic simplicity, freshness, and understated elegance – both in nature and in man-made works.

It can describe a uniqueness or elegance, too. Sabi represents the beauty and serenity that come from age…with visible flaws and worn patina adding to its charm.

Drawing from nature, Wabi-Sabi reminds us of the simple reality that things don’t stay the same, changing from day-to-day and season-to-season with different shapes and colors unfolding through the passing of time.

Putting aside the quest for air-brushed perfection in our lives, selves and surroundings, Wabi-Sabi is a way to de-stress. To relax and slow down, to embrace each moment, the people we love and the things we have.

Rather than searching for the next new thing to buy or do, we can find something much more valuable – an inner calm and the happiness that comes from being ourselves.

Wabi-Sabi is the perfect gift to give yourself – the gift to be imperfect.

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Penguins Chill Out at North Pole

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

The penguin characters in Alex Hallatt’s syndicated comic strip Arctic Circle aren’t surfers, but they share the same environmental interests and fears of global warming. After all, the ice cap is their home.

Hallatt’s strip, which King Features first syndicated in August 2007, is about three penguins who have migrated from the Antarctic to the small town of Snowpeak within the Arctic Circle. In their adopted home, the penguins’ neighbors include a polar bear, a snow bunny, a lemming and an Arctic tern.

Together, from their Northernmost vantage point, they make the best of all the modern day issues of the 21st Century from climate change, new technologies, relationships and ocean pollution to genetically modified organisms gone wild.

As for how she happened to put her penguins in the Arctic Circle, Hallatt explains in the book she co-authored, The Art of Cartooning, that when she first started the comic strip “I didn’t really enjoy drawing. I thought the Arctic would give me lots of lovely, white, blank space with no complicated backgrounds.”

Since then Hallatt says her attitude toward drawing has changed and “I’ve engineered my Arctic universe to include a lot more than snow, sea and ice.”

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel love Arctic Circle’s mix of humor and ecology, which reflects Hallatt’s background. The British-born cartoonist has a degree in biochemistry and she worked in the pharmaceutical industry before deciding she was destined to be a cartoonist.

An artist and adventurer, Hallatt currently resides in New Zealand and has also lived in England and Australia. So you never know what she will draw on for her daily comic strip.

Whatever it is, you can count on the penguins and their friends to put their own, slightly quirky spin on it.

Whether you read Arctic Circle online or in your morning newspaper, it’s definitely the way to jump start your day. Thought-provoking and laugh-evoking, it’s the perfect way to chill.

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Nature’s Builders Help Ranchers and Farmers

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Often viewed as pests by ranchers and farmers, nature’s dam builders, the beavers, are now being hailed by many as “ecopartners” whose dams are helping to provide water to parched lands.

The phrase “busy as a beaver” is well chosen given that beavers are non-stop workers who gnaw away trees and foliage in the blink of an eye and build dams overnight. But, when this happens in the wrong spot, flooding one field or drying another, landowners get fighting mad. By the late 1800s in the Northwest, trappers reduced much of the beaver population to get rid of them and make money from their fur.

Lately, though, landowners and the large rodents are forming alliances. Becoming “frenemies” of a sort. That’s because the beavers’ ponds are providing new water sources to augment scarce rainfall and snow runoff during the West’s drought periods.

SurfWriter Girls learned that the beavers’ ponds – created by damming rivers, streams, and lakes – are also improving water quality by helping to filter sediment and recycle nutrients. Fish and wildlife are benefiting, too, finding shelter and hydration in the cool, clear waters around the dams.

The beavers have useful skills to offer. The trick is finding how to work with them. Federal and state government agencies are helping landowners in western states, including California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Colorado, and Idaho, create environments that attract the beavers and to identify the best places for beaver colonies to do their work.

By moving beavers from one area to another and routing dam water runoff to maximize water storage and reduce flooding, beaver construction crews can be valuable allies. Rather than adversaries to get rid of. But, to maximize these alliances landowners and government agencies must be open to new ways of thinking about the beavers and existing laws and practices that affect them.

Now that’s something to build on!

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Nature Brought to Life in Black-and-White

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Fall – when tourist crowds are gone – is the perfect time to enjoy California’s natural beauty.

California’s raw coastlines and majestic forests are not only breathtaking to see, but through the lens of master photographer Ansel Adams, they are immortalized for all to enjoy.

Working primarily in black-and-white, Adams’ use of light and shadow and his fine eye for composition and detail turned nature’s landscapes into unsurpassed works of beauty.

Growing up, one of his favorite spots to wander was in San Francisco’s still-wild Golden Gate area and the nearby sand dunes along Lobos Creek. As a teenager, armed with a Kodak Brownie camera, he first discovered the wonders of Yosemite in 1916 and would spend a lifetime capturing all the facets of its beauty on photographic plates.

Starting in 1927, with his portfolio of photographs of the High Sierras, Adams launched a career that would encompass creating iconic images of Yosemite, San Francisco, Monterey, and other points throughout the Northwest, including Glacier National Park, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon.

Though he preferred black-and-white photography because it gave him more control over the finished picture than the limited options of the emerging color photography of his day, Adams did experiment with the new color medium – and got some amazing results.

A son of the West, who was born in San Francisco in 1902 and died in Monterey in 1984, Adams was an avid environmentalist and used his photographs to help build awareness and support for preserving natural landscapes. He also served as director of the Sierra Club from 1934 to 1971.

Once destroyed, nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.

– Ansel Adams.

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Eight Coastal Treasures to Discover!

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Thanks to the vision of nature lovers who saw the beauty in America’s undisturbed landscapes from Yellowstone and Yosemite to the Grand Canyon and the Everglades, many of these have been preserved as National Parks for all to enjoy.

Today there are 58 national parks throughout the country. What’s more, SurfWriter Girls found out that many of them are right on the beach! Each of the eight parks below offers a unique coastal experience that celebrates the world of nature.

Eight National Parks On the Coast

Redwood Forest National and State Park, North of San Francisco, combines the majesty of the giant Redwoods with 40 miles of pristine coastline.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, near Malibu, is a breathtaking ocean retreat just a short drive from Los Angeles.

Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA, encompasses five islands that are home to many rare species of plants and animals and archaeological and cultural sites.

Olympic National Park, in Washington, has close to a million acres of beautiful vistas from glacier-topped Mt. Olympus and old-growth rain forests to over 70 miles of raw coastline.

Cape Cod National Park, Massachusetts, has over 40 miles of beaches, marshes and ponds. Observing its tranquility, Henry David Thoreau said, “A man may stand there and put all America behind him.”

Acadia National Park, Maine, a 47,000-mile getaway on a rugged coast, offers the chance to see moose, whales, and bears against a backdrop of deserted beaches and granite mountain peaks.

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii, on Maui, is considered a sacred spot and offers the opportunity to see glorious sunsets over the Haleakala volcanic crater.

Biscayne National Park, Florida, is an ocean enthusiast’s dream with turquoise waters, barrier islands and vibrant coral reefs to explore.

These coastal treasures – and America’s 50 other national parks – would be standouts on any Bucket List!

Whether you want to swim, surf, hike, or just admire the view, there’s a National Park waiting for you to discover.

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Advertising Posters Lured Travelers to Adventure

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Now that spring’s balmy breezes are here, we’re reminded that there are adventures awaiting and a world to explore. For decades the legendary Matson Shipping Lines turned people’s travel dreams into reality.

From the early to mid-1900s, long before we lived in a 24/7 global, connected world, the Matson Shipping Lines sailed to exotic places that most people only dreamed about.

Its world-class luxury liners provided the fastest, finest and most elegant service available to the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia.

Offering the promise of South Seas adventures and tropical paradises, the cruise line commissioned top artists and photographers to create advertising posters that would lure travelers to book passage on its ships traversing the Pacific Ocean.

Artists Frank Macintosh, John Kelly, Eldridge Logan, Louis Macouillaird, Richard Moore and Eugene Savage all painted iconic island scenes for Matson.

Even famed photographers Edward Steichen and Anton Breuhl got on board to celebrate the Matson dream.

The advertising posters were showcased in adventure and travel magazines ranging from National Geographic to Holiday and in glossy fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.

That era of glamorous adventures on the high seas may have come to an end, but the posters and the dreams live on.

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Recovering After Hurricane Maria’s Devastation

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

When SurfWriter Girls first wrote about the parrots of Puerto Rico scientists were working hard to save the iconic Puerto Rican Parrots after Hurricane Maria decimated most of their jungle habitat in the tropical forest of El Yunque.

Only two out of 56 wild parrots survived the massive hurricane that struck the US island territory in September 2017.

In the 1800s there were more than 1 million wild parrots in Puerto Rico. But, over a century of forest clearing and development virtually extinguished them, leaving only 13 birds in the wild in the 1970s until a breeding program increased the population to 56. Then came the hurricane.

It became more important than ever for the island’s breeding program to save the bird population. Birds in captivity were waiting to be released into the wild in the El Yunque and Rio Abajo forests, but before that could happen scientists needed to make sure that there was sufficient habitat and food to support them.

With many of the tall trees where the parrots would nest gone and the protective forest canopy of leaves and branches still thinned, it was a challenge to find safe places for the parrots.

Marisel ­Lopez, who’s in charge of Puerto Rico’s parrot recovery program, said at the time that “the priority now is to start releasing them” and hoped that in 2019 the first group of 20 parrots would be able to venture out. The birds were released and since then, due to the success of the program, other groups have followed.

Now more than 200 parrots are in the wild and the jungle is alive with the unique sounds that they make.

Parrot Love Haiku

by SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti

Vibrant wild parrots

of Puerto Rico still sing.

Two against the storm.

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