Few Tourists Ship Out for Islands Park : Nature: Channel attraction is full of life and beauty. But many people refuse to spend the money or energy to visit the five isles, located 20 miles off the Ventura County coast.

ANACAPA ISLAND — Within 70 miles of the smoggy, crowded Los Angeles Basin lies a rich, unspoiled national park nearly six times the size of Manhattan.

The air at Channel Islands National Park is clean, the land is covered with flowers and the water is full of life.

But few people ever go.

The reason, park officials say, is that most tourists refuse to spend the money or the energy needed to make the trip.

Either that or they have no idea what the five-island national park, 20 miles off the Ventura County coast, has to offer.

Visitors can watch sea lions on the cobblestone beaches of Santa Cruz Island, snorkel in lush kelp forests or hike through fields of exotic wildflowers. Or they can stand in a forest of ossified trees known as caliche on San Miguel and camp under the stars.

But despite its proximity to one of the world’s largest metropolitan hubs, fewer people visited Channel Islands National Park in all of 1992 than went to Joshua Tree National Monument in a single month--even though the desert preserve is nearly twice as far from Los Angeles.

“People aren’t used to going (to national parks) by boat,” said park Supt. C. Mack Shaver, glancing through his office window at the string of islands in the distant mist.

“They’re so used to driving their car or their Winnebago, and getting out, and there they are,” he said. “They get here to the Visitor Center (in Ventura), they find out it’s going to take a day and the boat’s already left and then they have to rewrite their vacation schedule--and maybe they don’t go.”

Although 3.8 million people visited Yosemite National Park last year, only about 55,500 visitors ventured into the Channel Islands National Park.

A far greater number of tourists--an estimated 166,800, stopped at the Channel Islands Visitor Center on the mainland, then went home without reaching the islands.

For the 90-minute boat ride from Ventura to Anacapa, the nearest island to shore, day trippers must pay $20 for children and $37 for adults. Camping overnight can cost $11 at Anacapa to $28 at Santa Rosa.

Fare for the four-hour trip to Santa Rosa is $52 for adults, $7 less for children. Fare for the 25-minute flight from Camarillo Airport to Santa Rosa is $75 for adults and $60 for children.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the islands of Santa Barbara and Anacapa a national monument in 1938. In 1980, Congress re-designated the monument as Channel Islands National Park, expanding it to include Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands and the water stretching a mile around their coasts.

The same year, then-President Ronald Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget decreed that “any (government) service that could be provided by private industry must be provided by private industry,” Shaver said.

As a result, Island Packers, which had carried visitors to the islands since 1968, made the sole bid and won the contract to transport visitors to the islands and levy camping fees.

Today’s fares may put some people off, but they cannot be made any cheaper, said Mark Connally, owner of Island Packers. “At 37 bucks a head, plus 20 bucks a kid, that’s a big chunk of money,” he said. “But that’s the minimum I can operate at.”

The company loses money to the weather. “This year was the worst we’ve had in ages,” Connally said, adding that 50% to 60% of the trips were canceled from the end of December to the end of February.

And even on the balmiest of days, Island Packers sometimes cannot muster enough customers to cover operating expenses.

The ride can be an obstacle, especially for those with delicate constitutions.

“Some people get seasick,” Fitzgerald said.

After the 90-minute cruise to Anacapa Island’s Landing Cove, visitors must climb from the boat’s heaving gunwale to a steel ladder leading to the dock, where they must climb more than 100 steel and concrete steps to reach the hiking trails.

After the two-hour trip to 96-square-mile Santa Cruz, the largest of the islands, visitors must step from the boat to an outboard-powered landing skiff piloted by Island Packers crewmen, who help them jump to the beach--usually without dampening the passengers’ shoes.

But none of this stopped a quartet of friends, ages 53 to 74, from recently boarding the Sunfish, an Island Packers boat, for what turned out to be an extremely choppy ride to East Santa Cruz Island.

Seasickness sent Norma Coony, 74, rushing to the rail. But once the Island Packers crew hustled to her aid and guided her and other visitors on a nature walk through the island’s verdant hills, her heart warmed to the experience.

“I’m not a good sailor, but I’m ready to try anything,” Coony said upon re-boarding the Sunfish. “I loved it. I was surprised. I didn’t know what to expect.”

In the future, the Park Service may allow the creation of a small-scale bed and breakfast hotel on Santa Rosa or Santa Cruz to attract more visitors, Shaver said.

But that sort of plan will have to wait until the Park Service gains full control of its share of the islands, he said.

After selling Santa Rosa to the Park Service, the island’s former owners--Vale and Vickers Cattle Co.--retained the right to use the land for another 25 years.

Ownership of Santa Cruz’s eastern end has not been resolved. Shaver said the Park Service has been working for nearly 15 years with Francis Gherini to acquire the last bit of island.

No matter who owns the park, it will always draw visitors, said Thomas Nathanson, one of the caretakers of Gherini’s property.

“It’s great out here,” he said. “It’s a pretty magical experience for people, being allowed to be in a place where there are no power lines, no cars and a lot of space.”

Channel Islands National Park (Southland Edition, A22)

Two companies have contracts with the National Park Service to carry passengers to Channel Islands National Park. Visitors to Santa Rosa Island have the option of a short flight or a longer, less costly boat ride. Frequency of the trips varies.

COST (Adult/child TRAVEL DESTINATION under 12) TIME* Island Packer Cruises East Anacapa Island $37/$20 1 1/2 hours West Anacapa Island $37/20 1 1/2 hours Anacapa cruise, round trip (no landing) $21/14 3 1/2 hours Santa Barbara Island $49/$35 3 hours East Santa Cruz Island $42/$32 1 1/2 hours West Santa Cruz Island $47** 2 hours Santa Cruz Island (main ranch) $49** 2 hours Santa Rosa Island $52/$45 3 1/2 hours San Miguel Island $62/$50 4 hours Channel Islands Aviation Santa Rosa Island $75/$50*** 25 minutes

* Approximate, one-way times, depending on weather and sea conditions.

** No children under 10.

*** Children’s rate ages 2-12; infants free.