Channel Islands / Painted Cave
Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands National Park) · near Ventura · Central Coast
Caving
At a glance
- Depth
- 30
- Season
- April–October · Summer best · Ocean swells determine cave access daily
- Cost
- Guide-organized day trip: ~$150/person including Island Packers ferry + kayak gear · Island Packers ferry from Ventura: $70+/person
- Difficulty
- Advanced · Open ocean kayaking required · Swell surges inside cave are real hazard · Guided only
Permits and booking
- Permit
- National Park entry included with guided tour. Independent kayakers need NPS permit and significant open-water kayaking experience. Island Packers provides ferry from Ventura Harbor.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Gear
- Full sea kayaking gear (provided by guide service) · Wetsuit (water 60–68°F in summer) · Headlamp for back of cave · Life jacket (required) · NOT self-guided — only guided tours permitted for cave entry
Caving detail
- Nickname
- One of the World's Largest Sea Caves
- Cave type
- sea-cave
- Tour length
- Full day: 3-hour ferry each way + 3–4 hours on island
- Formations
- Sea-carved walls up to 100ft high · 1,215ft cave length (one of world's longest) · Sea lion colonies · Garibaldi in clear water · Cathedral acoustics
- Featured caves
- Painted Cave (Santa Cruz Island) · Scorpion Cove Sea Caves
- Intl tip
- The Channel Islands crossing (Island Packers departs from Ventura Harbor) takes 3 hours to Santa Cruz Island. Arrive the night before in Ventura — the harbor area has hotels and seafood. The 7am departure means a very early morning from LA. The Channel Islands themselves are California before development: endemic species, no cars, no restaurants, just the national park and the Pacific.
The guide
Painted Cave is one of those places where 'largest in the world' is actually true and actually means something. At 1,215 feet l…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Channel Islands / Painted Cave — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.0523, -119.915