St. Nick Always Skips His Island : Small Staff Mans Navy Base on Lonely San Nicolas for Holiday

This Christmas, as always, St. Nick has bypassed the island off the California coast that bears his name.

San Nicolas Island is a bleak, lonely, wind-swept pile of sand and rock 9 1/2 miles long and 3 miles wide. Its highest point is 905 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Huge billboards dot its rugged coastline warning all but authorized personnel to keep away.

That’s because the Navy, which owns the island, has dotted it with $30 million worth of sophisticated communications and missile-tracking towers, making it an adjunct to Point Mugu Naval Weapons Station and a vital link in the Pacific Missile Test Center’s Sea Test Range.

Old St. Nick’s namesake is a place to escape from on Christmas Day. All but 30 of the 205 Navy personnel and civilians stationed here bail out to spend Christmas with their families and friends on the mainland. The island is 75 miles off Los Angeles.

“Somebody has to watch the store. The 30 of us stuck here Christmas have no choice. We have the duty,” Ens. Gary Mecham, 24, sighed

For two of the youngest sailors on the island, Stacey Smith, 19, an air traffic controller apprentice from Philadelphia, and Brian Scott, 18, an aviation ordnance apprentice from Daytona Beach, Fla., this is their first Christmas away from home. Like Meacham they have duty today.

“I’ll be thinking about my mother and all my friends and relatives back home this Christmas while I’m out here at this remote place,” Smith said. “You know, this is the first island I have ever been on in my life.”

Bosun Mate Cheryl Carter, 21, one of nine military and two civilian women who live and work on the island, will be in uniform Christmas as she stands duty as officer of the day.

Her husband, Ken, 22, flew in from his home in Mechanicsburg, Va., to spend a week on the island with his wife. The two met and were married while stationed on a submarine tender. Carter left the Navy last September after four years and is now a plumber.

A few trailers are available at $5-a-day or $20-a-week for married couples when spouses visit the island. There are no regular accommodations for families on San Nicolas. A tiny Christmas tree with a string of lights surrounded by gifts adorns the Carters’ trailer. They are the only couple on the island for the holiday.

Civilians and sailors live in barracks clumped together in a small cluster of buildings called San Nicolas Island City. All but a handful of those who live on the island fly here every Monday morning and return to the mainland by plane Friday afternoons.

The island boasts a four-lane bowling alley, movie theater, library, miniature golf course, sauna, tennis court, pool hall and hobby shop. There are bicycles available to ride over the 22 miles of paved roads. Fishing is excellent.

San Nicolas is ringed by long stretches of sand, but swimming, scuba diving and all water sports are forbidden because of the treacherous currents and huge waves.

In recent years the Navy has seeded the island and the huge sand dune in the sea is now covered with grass. There are no trees, plants or shrubs, however, except for those planted around the barracks.

Planted Trees

For years there was only one tree on the island. In 1967 Navy barber Felix Fernandez, who lived on San Nicolas 30 years, planted 250 pine trees across from the island theater and library. The Christmas trees flourished and are now known as the Felix Fernandez Forest.

No dogs or cats are allowed on San Nicolas in order to protect the rare native island fox and other wildlife. Animals native to the island include white-footed deer mice, island night lizards, chuckers, sea gulls, cormorants, song birds, elephant seals and sea lions.

“Leave a door open and it isn’t unusual at all to have a fox wander into your office or living quarters,” noted Fay Bruns, 40, a civilian secretary and island librarian. “The birds and animals are really tame. You can walk up to the birds and they don’t fly away.”

Bruns said all her life she’s enjoyed living alone and keeping to herself.

“But the solitude on San Nicolas is really different. Even for me it was difficult the first couple of months. It’s a real culture shock to come here, I’ll tell you.”

No Children

With no children on the island, no one ever dresses up to play Santa Claus.

“It’s ironic, since the name Santa Claus is a corruption of San Nicolas,” said Lt. Cmdr. Roy Nitschke, 36, commanding officer of the Navy base.