Well, crud.

I had a feeling this would happen. I called Island Packers y-day to reserve my tickets for the Santa Cruz Island ferry for the 23rd. Well they sold out. ugh. So unless I wanna be bent over and pay to charter a boat for myself, I'm not gonna be able to go to that one. There are still seats available for the Anacapa ferry (and all the campsites too) but its not nearly as appealing. As basically, that island is a small windswept rock of an island w/ no beach access (huge cliffs surround the island, no trees, and no water. As romantic as the idea of being on a deserted island sounds, it less appealing when you can't hardly get to the water, and a possibility of a storm trapping you there w/out fresh water for an extra day. (maybe as a day-trip though). I did asked to be put on the waiting list, but I'm not optomistic about getting a call back on that.

Well w/ the one in the dumpster, what now? I still wanna camp and have 2 nights to do that before flying back Friday. So I ask DW what she wants, she wants a beach. So I look for beach parks to stay at and find a Two Harbors website for a great hike-in site on Catalina Island, but again the ferry is the problem, The return trip is way to late to get back to fly home Friday, crap.  So I start searching Reserve Amaerica's site and Gorp.com for ideas. And I find a single campsite at a SP north of Santa Monica, and while I'm googling to be sure this is a good place, someone snatches it up. So the 4th option at this point is McGrath State Beach south of Ventura (see we're getting further from OC each time) I read a quick trip report, sounds good. So that's it. McGrath SB for 2 nights.