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Photos: Anacapa Island Abloom with Wildflowers, but it Won't Last Long
The large Dr. Seuss-looking Giant Coreopsis plants only bloom a couple months of the year. That part of the year is now, but these rare plants are not exactly local to everywhere in Southern California. In fact, there are only a handful of places where you can find them in big numbers. One such place is in Malibu at the Point Dume State Preserve, which we showed you last week. But one of the most popular places to view these flowers is on Anacapa Island, one of the five islands within Channel Islands National Park.
A visit to the island last October showed a gloomy dead-looking (in that beautiful, peaceful way) island. A visit last Saturday proved that with the Spring-season conditions, the island is a different world. It's green, it's alive with birds and the Giant Coreopsis and other wildflowers are in bloom. But don't take the latter for granted, the Coreopsis could be gone after this weekend and start looking like this again until next year.
Anacapa is the second smallest island in the eight-Channel Island chain, coming in at 1.1 square miles (Santa Barbara Island off the coast of San Pedro is 1 square mile). A boat ride from Oxnard is about one hour and costs $45 for a day trip. The island is nice for a quick getaway, picturesque lunches, easy hiking and some solitude away from the city.
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