EP 31: Sailing Channel Islands: Potato Harbor - Does it get better than THIS? We love sailing Channel Islands! When we began our trip to the Channel Islands and began exploring Santa Cruz Island, we had no idea what we would find. Well, we are happy to say that Potato Harbor was the most incredible island anchorage, leaving us asking ourselves: Does it get better than THIS? It seemed that every anchorage we went to was better than the next, leaving Yellowbanks anchorage and going to Potato Harbor, before we sailed back to Ventura for a couple of days on the dock. In this episode we spend our time at this remote island snorkeling, exploring and soaking up the amazing Channel Islands National Park. Cheers, Jack and Sonya, and boat cat Fathom Two the Horizon crew ❤️ Make sure to subscribe to our channel to follow along on our sailing adventures! Need gear for your own boat? We absolutely love all of our Mantus Marine products and they have the best customer service! They over engineer their products which range from waterproof headlamps to anchors and scuba gear! Shop using the link below, it's free to you and we receive a small kickback that goes straight into the cruising kitty! https://www.mantusmarine.com/?affiliates=111 Check out our official Merchandise and snag on of our original designs: https://my-store-11480708.creator-spring.com -- Thanks to our Patron crew for the endless support to continue making these videos! -- Support us FOR FREE by commenting & subscribing to our channel! I you want exclusive updates, early access to videos & Two the Horizon swag, then check out our Patreon & join in on the adventure! BECOME A PATRON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/twothehorizonsailing - #Channelislands #sailingchannelislands #sailchannelislands #pacificsailing #offshoresailing #visitchannelislands Ikson - Wander Jakob Ahlbom - Arise Tape Machines - From the Cliffside Luwaks - Timeless Clouds Barbatula - Night Drive Giants' Nest - Tiny Things

Closed Captions:

when we left off we had picked up anchor

at albert's anchorage to find a sneaky

stowaway on our stern hook

then we headed east towards yellowbanks

anchorage

we landed the dinghy not super

gracefully

at all my clothes are very wet after an

eventful dinghy landing we explore santa

cruz island by land

before heading to our next destination

right so we woke up this morning in

yellow banks

and we decided we were heading to little

scorpion anchorage just around the

corner

but we got here and there's about four

or five boats

anchored it is a sunday so

there's probably a lot more people out

than normal so now

we are headed west towards potato harbor

so that's called cavern point right

there

potato should be right over there

pretty sweet hopefully there's no one

else in there

fingers crossed

from afar the entrance to potato harbor

looked quite inconspicuous

but as we got closer the entire crew was

speechless

marveling at the dramatic bird-covered

rocks guarding each side of the entrance

wow this is beautiful

just amazing

we're just tucked into this tiny little

cove

only boat here clear blue waters

beautiful little rocky beach

does it get any better than this that's

my question

guys this is probably the best

one yet yeah right

wow as the crew settled in

jack hopped in the dinghy to explore and

get some shots of gemini

sitting in this beautiful stunning spot

[Music]

as we like to say where you anchor

others will

too as boats piled in it made for some

exciting

entertainment interesting maneuvering

here in potato anchorage

this guy's been trying to anchor for a

while now

as the day warmed up nikki and i paddled

to check out the beach and take a dip in

the clear waters

here do you want your hair rat's nest

video definitely

what like five days no showers four days

we took a shower at some point i don't

know when

oh that felt good

this is so cool definitely the coolest

anchorage we've been in

swell is still pretty good outside this

anchorage and then we come in here boom

quiet beautiful

see jim and i way over there but it's in

this crazy cavern

after lunch jack and i paddled to the

cave on the west side

to see what kind of wildlife we could

find underwater

we swam with bait fish and saw small sea

urchins scattered on the rocks below

but the most stunning creatures were the

garibaldi fish

with their bright orange colors

[Music]

daniel island we love you

the setting sun bounced off the

surrounding mountains

making a perfect end to an even more

perfect

day bye son

see you in the morning the next morning

we enjoyed a quiet breakfast in the

cockpit before

setting off once again we are picking up

anchor

and our stern hook got stuck in a rock

stuck on a rock

or something we used gemini to give the

anchor a good

tug to pull it loose got it

[Music]

all right goodbye channel islands we are

leaving potato harbor in our stern

and headed into the fog towards ventura

spend a couple days there and then we'll

head back

out nikki has to head back to real life

and we've got a couple more days of

vacation and then we'll be heading back

up the coast

it was foggy but extremely calm as we

crossed the santa barbara channel

the crew settled into the cockpit and

kept an eye out for wildlife

oh hi

coming for guys

[Music]

hi beautiful

[Music]

we always feel extremely grateful to

have dolphin visitors

and it's one of the many amazing perks

of the sailing lifestyle

really healthy breakfast this morning on

our way back to

land we've got cinnamon rolls with

oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies

kind of like plopped in between the

cinnamon rolls

definitely would never recommend it to

anyone it's definitely not

delicious and totally

gross terrible don't do it don't ever

try this at home

we are approaching ventura harbor and

spend a couple nights at ventura isle

which is a safe harbors marina

it's actually pretty cool since we live

in emeryville safe harbors

we actually get a couple nights of

reciprocity

in any of the other safe harbor marinas

so

we figured we might as well try that out

take advantage of that perk

[Music]

we arrived about two hours ago and we

sprayed off the boat cleaned up a little

bit and now we're ready to

go on a little dinghy exploration so

we're checking out the harbor see what

we'll find i was just telling nikki we

should try and

find a place we could dinghy to for

dinner yeah

that could be cool beyond the various

marinas in ventura harbor

we checked out the private homes with

docks in their backyards which made for

some great

boat watching

it's national teachers after daughter

dinner day

we've decided nikki's our adopted

daughter for the week

so we're treating her to a delicious

dinner tonight

sorry mom i found your parents we

already had a like adopted kid photo

shoot and everything so

we're set we are headed to dinner

in the dinghy tonight very early dinner

we're late

what is it early risers no early what

are you calling

birds early birds

we're all peeps we were in bed by 8 30

last night

you know

[Music]

we dinged over to the free dinghy dock

to enjoy

dinner on the waterfront after days at

anchor it felt extra special

to enjoy a meal together that we didn't

have to catch and cook

ourselves the time has come to say

goodbye to our adopted daughter

she's headed down to get some work done

see some friends down in

southern southern california and we are

headed

back out to the islands so i will miss

you to the horizon

it's been a great day

so bittersweet it's been

now it was time to get down and dirty

with some boat repairs before we could

head back out to the islands

so while we had the main up to the hole

two days on the way down we put the jib

up and down

quite a few times um and then also we

were in some rocky rolly swell

and when we brought the main down um

we found some chaff on the halyard

and you can see there

so we're gonna send sonia up the rig

and i think since we swapped

exits this is our main halyard when we

swapped exits when we did the mastery

fit

i think that i have my main halyard

and the jib howard

crossed somewhere up there

we see evidence of the chaff on the jib

halyard around the same length

i guess now i'm going to be investing in

another main halyard

so we've got a little fishing weight

and a piece of fishing line and

hopefully i can just drop that down

through the mast where the main halyard

would go and then we'll attach the main

halyard to that piece

and pull the main hallway through so

fingers crossed that works

all right i have successfully attached

the fishing line to

our main halyard and we're gonna try and

push it back through

hopefully it's not twisted in between

any of the other halyards we have them

all

a nice straight shot all the way down

and hopefully

we don't have any more chaffage in the

future okay honey i'm gonna try and pass

this blue

okay i got it right success

it's cool to see all of ventura harbor

all right honey i think i'm ready to

come down

gotta remember to close all the mass

steps on my way down

project number one done now on to the

second one

sometimes one tiny little piece of hose

like this could really cause a lot of

damage and a lot of heartache

we found this little piece of hose that

was cracked and leaking

it was leaking raw water from our

exhaust system

and if it got really bad it could have

either overheated our

engine or sunk our boat you know

salt water spewing into the boat is

never a good idea

i found some replacement hose at the

chandlery down the road called beacon

marine

and we're gonna give it a shot hopefully

that fixes our problem and we'll be

off to the islands shortly definitely

not

good what do you think about them

was that gonna fail on us last last

minute when we're out on the islands

yeah

definitely good thing we fixed it

all right we are ready to depart from

ventura isle

marina you've been great to us

we hope to come back next year

we are headed out back to the islands

for a couple more days of adventures and

then we will head back up the coast

and we are on our way to santa cruz

island here we go

all right goodbye ventura harbor

see you next time

halfway to the santa barbara channel

and it's gotten much freezer out here

got about 15 knots

right now got some nice little rolling

swell

we're chugging right along

catch us next time as we bash across the

santa barbara channel to arrive at

little scorpion

cut us some anchorage tonight

we explore our surroundings above and

below the water line

before pointing our bow towards fry's

harbor

where we encounter both challenging and

incredible

boat life moments

thanks for watching and don't forget to

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until next time

you