California's secret outliers

The Channel Islands are home to rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, wildlife and very few visitors, discovers Ellie Seymour

- Ellie Seymour

"Out front, to the left!" the captain announces over the radio, as we cut through the inky-blue Santa Barbara Channel back to the California mainland. Slowing down, we all jump up as a humpback whale pops like a cork out of the deep, as if to say: "Surprise! Here I am!"

We let out a collective cheer of joy, as the mighty creature pauses, rolls over and gracefully sinks back down. Minutes later, a couple of metres away, we watch as another shoots a jet of water from its blowhole into the air, while a flock of noisy seabirds flap and squawk overhead. And to think that earlier I was chuffed to have seen hundreds of pelicans perched on a harbour wall and a solo manta ray gliding through a kelp forest under a jetty.

Before visiting the Channel Islands - situated an hour off the California coast at its nearest part - I hadn't realised just how abundant in life they, and the waters around them, would be.

"There must be three whales out there," says the captain, pointing out a small pod of dolphins nearby. It was a feeding frenzy in action. Beneath the surface, I imagine thousands of shoal fish being whipped up by predators into what they call a "bait ball". I feel like I'm watching a dramatic scene from David Attenborough's Blue Planet, only in real life. In this world of environmental doom and catastrophe, to witness nature in abundance doing what it's supposed to do is pure joy.