Lady's Harbor, Santa Cruz Island

Loc: north coast Santa Cruz Lat: N34-03.3 Long: W119-46.1 Last visit: April 08

Tide/Sun/Moon/WX Dist: 9 Prisoner's Harbor, Santa Cruz WX

Chart 18728 Santa Cruz Channel 1:40000

Skipper: Capt. Dan Boat: S/V Sancerre Capt. Dan Port: Channel Islands

Landing Permit Required Nature Conservancy permit app

Lady's Harbor

This Harbor is quite beautiful, but it is quite tricky. Though Fagan says you can get a couple of yachts in here, we figured if it was to be the Yacht Sancerre, she'd need the anchorage to herself.

Hazards

Nothing that's not on the chart. The tricky part is that you need to anchor bow and stern. With our transom in 18 feet of water, our bow anchor ended up in 35. It's tricky to get out enough scope. The (sort of) simple answer is to deploy the stern anchor by dinghy.

We didn't do that and didn't have enough scope astern. A fairly gentle wind moved us quite close to the rocks and even after resetting (twice!) we were still uneasy.

The narrow entrance looks like it would provide a scary, maybe dangerous, passage with any sort of swell running from the NW. Baby's, also known as Little Lady's, is the anchorage to the east. It would be insane to take a yacht of even modest size into that patch unless it is absolutely glassy. And then, what would be the point?

The next time I go to Lady's, I'll try to get a bit closer to the beach or - more likely - will drop the bow hook in 35 feet of water and row the stern hook to the beach in my dinghy. I'll tighten up between my anchors with at least 5:1 on the bow anchor and my stern anchor on the beach or the rode tied to a rock.

I dodged a bullet - actually a grounding - last time. I think I've used up my luck in this anchorage. I can't afford to skimp on scope the next time out.

Approach

Giant Coreopsis cling to walls of Lady's Harbor

The harbor lies about 6 miles east of West End. Proceeding from the west, the harbor does not open up until well past Arch Rock. From the east, if you get to Arch Rock, you've passed it by a half mile or so.

Going Ashore

If you intend to go ashore, you'll need a landing permit from the Nature Conservancy. go to permit for a pdf form, mailing and e-mailing instructions.

Early spring is a great time to be here. Giant Coreopsis (right) cover many slopes and even cling to rock faces. The harbor teems with harbor seals with pups. One mother and pup swam to within 10' of the transom and took a good look at us. After a few seconds of staring mom pointedly warned junior that we were a species to be avoided.

Updates

If you have new or amplifying information concerning this Harbor or the surrounding area, please contact Capt. Dan. His e-mail link and phone are below.