Today, Refresh Quest sets out on an epic adventure traveling with friends and family 20 miles off the Southern California coast to an island in the sea.

A quest full of adventure, exploration and discovery, half land and half sea.

This island is part of a unique archipelago, one that must be experienced to be believed.

The kelp forests is incredible, just swimming through it.

It's like a dream down there.

This is an amazing adventure that we've gone on today.

Nothing like it.

Oh there it is.

I see him.

I could be the only man on earth right now, and I wouldn't know it.

Join Refresh Quest as we adventure to make magical memories on Santa Cruz Island in the sea.

Refresh Quest is the search for refreshing travel experiences that aim to inspire and uplift the mind, body and human spirit with a team of like minded friends.

Refresh Quest invites you along the journey as we explore unique destinations, meet inspiring individuals and gain empowering knowledge that will help us to create new realities and refreshing possibilities.

Welcome to Refresh Quest.

(Singing in Chumash) You have to wake up pretty early in the morning when adventuring to the Channel Islands just off the Southern California coast.

This unique archipelago is made up of eight islands, five within the Channel Islands, National Park and National Marine Sanctuary.

Today, we are headed to the largest of the islands, Santa Cruz.

Traveling one hour north from Los Angeles County and arriving in the city of Ventura, where we followed the signs that led us to the Ventura Harbor.

Where here at the harbor, the Refresh Quest team was to catch a ferry ride via Island Packers, the official boat concessionaire for the Channel Islands National Park.

Family owned and in operation for over 50 years Island Packers has been taking island adventure seekers like us from here to there an hour ferry ride, give or take a possible dolphin or two.

Our weary eyed shipmates arrived a bit sleepy but fully excited as we began to pack all of the essential and necessary items for our day.

Eckasha are you looking forward to this buddy?

Yes, this is going to be so fun.

This is what I been doing in seventh grade.

Hey Kai!

Yeah.

Are you awake?

A little bit.

Today's excursion to Santa Cruz is a short, eight hour day trip.

So our time management had to be on point to make sure we accomplished all we had planned for the day.

Channel Islands, great!.

D, how are you feeling?

I'm feeling fantastic, bro.

We're here.

Once aboard this seaworthy vessel, there is no turning back as the adventure begins.

Rey, how are you feeling?

Man I think it's going to be a great day today.

Can't wait.

All right.

We are at Ventura Harbor, headed to Santa Cruz Island to a little area called Scorpion Cove.

We got the kids with us today and we are ready to roll.

One, two, three... Channel Islands!

Julie Tumamait-Stenslie is a Chumash elder, leader, and educator.

Her ancestry dates back thousands of years to the Channel Islands.

We are very happy and privileged to have Julie accompanying our journey today through a series of prerecorded songs.

These songs helped tell the story of the Chumash people and their homeland, where they live for thousands of years out on the Channel Islands.

(Singing in Chumash) (Singing in Chumash) This is a welcome song put together by my father.

Elder Vincent Tumumait to welcome people onto this land and into the Chumash culture.

It is a water song, and for like the rain, you are as welcome.

(Boat horn) Our trip today also marks a special underlining note.

Rey's children Adashi and Eckasha will be moving away from California with their mother within the following month, giving cause to even a greater reason to celebrate and enjoy our time together.

Now, with all hands on deck, we embarked out into the big blue Pacific Ocean, and it didn't take long for our excitement to kick into full throttle.

Big splashing waves created by a high and rocky swell rocked our catamaran like a rollercoaster ride from Splash Mountain, giving us a taste of the adventure that we were in store for.

I'm so scared for the kids are holding on for dear life up on the front.

Of course, the kids were not the only ones getting in on this action.

The waves are definitely fierce out there, but the kids are hanging on.

Everybody's having fun and nobody's sick yet.

How are you.

Feeling, Doan?

Fantastic, bro it's awesome!

Eric, how are you feeling?

I feel great.

Nice little trip.

Whoo.

No ocean voyage is complete without the bottlenose dolphin.

And right on cue, they arrived for their performance, delighting their fans and showing off with every breach of the water.

There are many explanations of why dolphins chase and follow boats, but from my observation, these curious creatures are doing exactly what I would do.

Surf the waves.

All right.

We're getting close.

Santa Cruz Island right there.

And right when you thought it couldn't get any better, you arrive at an island in the sea.

Santa Cruz Island is the largest island in the archipelago, making it far too big to cover in a single day trip.

So our decision to spend our day at one of the two primary landing sites came down to the flip of a coin.

Either way, we couldn't lose.

You can go ahead, go on forward on the lower deck and you're going to want to bring everything ashore with you that you brought on the boat with you today.

You may be going on a different boat this afternoon.

(Singing in Chumash) Coming ashore on this picture perfect day Scorpion Anchorage looked to be a fine destination for our day trip out on Santa Cruz Island.

Tails was a good call.

We've arrived at Scorpion Cove on Santa Cruz Island.

And although Scorpion Cove is only a small part of Santa Cruz Island, there's still so much to see and so much to do.

I just hope we can cover it all in the short amount of time that we have here on the island.

Let's go and explore.

(Singing in Chumash) That was a swordfish song.

The elye-wuns tossed a whale ashore for the people, and they, in gratitude, sang them the song.

Meeting us on the island were two national park rangers, Joshua Smith and Jasmine Reinehardt, both who know a lot about the Channel Islands.

We had the opportunity to talk with them about the island and some of the need to know tips before jumping in to our special island adventure.

Hi so my name is Joshua Smith.

I'm a protection park ranger here at Channel Islands National Park, and I spend about half of my time out here.

I live on the island about half uh half of my life really.

So remote island.

So there's not any conveniences.

Stores or restaurants or any place to get food.

So you have to bring everything you need for the week that you're staying out here and be prepared for whatever may arise during that week that you're out on the island.

To work out on the islands and to spend half your life on the island, you definitely have to love the island and the marine life and the ocean.

Just off the coast here within half a mile of the beach.

You can find a ton of sea caves.

The volcanic rock here creates these beautiful sea caves Some of them go back really deep inside in the island, so they're really beautiful to explore.

The Channel Islands is home to a giant kelp forest, which contains a whole lot of biodiversity with marine life, fish, snails, nudibranchs, marine mammals, all sorts of marine life that's the kelp forest is habitat too.

Getting out on the ocean kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving is really kind of my favorite activities out here.

Hi.

My name is Jasmine Reinhardt.

I am the Chief of Interpretation and Education at Channel Islands National Park.

I come from a background of tourism and public speaking, and I always loved nature and I always loved being outdoors.

And one day in my early twenties, I saw this documentary about national parks.

And I remember I got so excited and tears started running down my face and I realized that's what I meant to do.

In the archipelago, there are eight islands.

Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary makes up five islands.

And we today are on the largest one, and that is Santa Cruz Island.

And the Chumash word for this island is Limuw.

The island of Limuw is about 96 square miles.

So there is a lot to do here.

The islands have been inhabited for 9000 to 13000 years, starting with the Chumash people.

They still have very close ties to their ancestral homelands, is also very rich ranching history here.

You see a lot of physical examples of that as you explore Santa Cruz.

So yeah, it has thousands of years of human legacy, of human occupation and varying forms of different human use.

One of my favorite parts about Channel Islands is there are many different hikes that you can do.

Particularly favorite thing for me is going out to some of those lookout points and seeing the distance of the nearby islands.

They look like they're just hovering just above the ocean.

They are beautiful.

I have a very soft spot in my heart for islands and for the ocean and marine life and having the opportunity and just being so fortunate to work here at Channel Islands National Park is a dream come true for me that I'm very, very grateful for.

We have a huge lineup for today for the kids.

We're going to be kayaking, snorkeling, hiking.

Today Scorpion Cove is our playground Let's go have some fun.

Now it was our time to find out for ourselves what this cove had to offer.

Kayaking was the first activity in our lineup.

With ideal weather conditions, on a day like today, this should be a breeze.

You ever kayak before?

It's a lot of hard work.

Don't go forward.

We got to go backward.

We're going to ram into the island!

After a bit of navigational technicalities our vessels were back on course as we set sail, cruising on top of the kelp forest and traversing the island's rugged sea cliffs in search of a sea cave.

Lucky for us, Santa Cruz Island has hundreds of sea caves scattered around its 77 miles of shoreline.

So we were bound to find at least one.

Going in guys!

This looks like a Disney ride.

Come on Eric.

Almost there.

I didn't know kayaking was so, so much work.

Look at this.

This is crazy.

Oh, wow, look at this.

Now after a bit of hard work, we took in the reward of our bounty, and it was all that we had hoped it to be, amazing.

And now that we had seen a part of what was above the water, it was time to head back to the beach so that we could take the plunge and see what lies beneath.

The kelp forest was high on our list.

We were at Santa Cruz Island and we are about to explore the kelp forests of Scorpion Cove.

With a mask, snorkel and a set of fins, we enthusiastically dove in to examine our new aqueous environment.

Looking down through tempered glass, we were welcomed by an underwater world teeming with life.

The sway of the current created movement in every direction, making it sometimes difficult to identify what was a plant and what was an animal.

Octopus!

The California two spotted octopus was a special and rare treat to find on our first dive here at Scorpion Anchorage.

Doggy paddling around in amazement, we studied our newfound eight limbed friend as he effortlessly walked, no ran across the ocean floor.

Camouflaging colors, texture and the ability to blend in with rocks, coral and sea plants are creative strategies used to evade predators and live for another day.

Pushing further out into the water, we encountered one of the true superstars of the kelp forest, the giant kelp.

It is easy to understand why this algae is regarded as the undersea equivalent of a tropical rainforest when swimming above, around and in between this majestic canopy.

The marine life is just off the charts here.

The amount of fish that you can see, incredible.

It's like a dream down there.

It's swimming in a giant aquarium.

Absolutely amazing.

The kelp forests itself just swimming through it.

It's like a different world.

There were moments when I was going through the kelp.

I felt like I was no longer on planet Earth.

I felt like I was on a completely different planet, absolutely beautiful.

Kelp forests are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth, helping to provide oxygen and nutrient rich food, protection, and homes for a multitude of creatures and marine life.

We could have easily spent all day exploring and playing right here, but the Santa Cruz mountains were calling, so it was time to come up for air.

(Singing in Chumash) With only 2 hours left before departure, we left the beach for the mountains and quickly dispersed into the cove, searching for other spectacular island wonders, Rey and I decided to hike to the top of the cliff to get a bird's eye view of our coastal playground.

While the kids opted for an island fox expedition.

Good luck, boys.

And don't forget to look under the tractor.

Behold me I move walking in brilliance and feathers.

May I always endure in the future.

Just past the Scorpion Ranch house and to the left you'll see a windmill.

This is where the hiking trail split into two different directions.

Rey and I took a left onto smugglers road.

Smugglers Road is only a moderate climb to the top.

Along this route, you'll find all kinds of interesting rocks and geological formations, endemic plants, including a very interesting type of lichen.

Whoa.

I found some lichen.

This stuff is incredible.

This entire rock wall is covered with lichen.

Pretty amazing.

(Singing in Chumash) (Singing in Chumash) Suwasunaaitset for he was a very respected bear.

Back at the ranch, the boys were in hot pursuit of an island fox sighting.

I see him, I see him.

The Channel Island Fox is native to the Channel Islands and is found nowhere else in the world.

About the size of a housecat., this Island Fox, is the smallest in North America.

This last sighting for the kids really put the cherry on the top of an already amazing day.

(Singing in Chumash) Haku.

Haku.

Hello.

Hello.

Welcome, (speaking in Chumash).

How are you?

My name is Julie Tumamait-Stenslie.

I'm a Chumash elder, former chair of the Barbareño Ventureño Band.

And I'm one of many people who are embracing our native culture.

And I think that that's part of what's missing today in the world.

We forgot to recognize.

We are forgetting, and we have nearly severed that relationship with our natural world.

So some of us in our way are trying to bring it back in all indigenous world, stories were teachings.

We make stories to help people understand stages of life.

So they are they are so important in all worlds.

It connects you directly to your land, to this landscape that that for indigenous peoples around the world sustained you.

I am connected to these islands in such a amazing, gifted way that goes back thousands of years that I know I'm home.

Being in my homeland and knowing the importance of where I come from helps me to stay rooted.

I think when people move from their indigenous lands, they leave a lot behind.

When people ask, How does it feel to be in your homeland?

I say, go home.

To go back into those indigenous ways.

I really think fills a void that for some people that want to be Native American and do the things we do, that you were doing the same things in your homelands.

Go experiment, go explore.

When people go to the Channel Islands, each one of them, I want them to to know there's nothing else like them.

They are so unique and so individual.

Everything that grows out there, everything that flies across its sky, everything that walks its its earth, they're all had a purpose, all had a use, all had spiritual significance and is still valued today.

And so when you go there, you are transported to a place where hopefully you don't resist, but that you embrace the escape, enjoy yourself, be present, move about and take in all the sights and sounds here that you will never hear anywhere else.

Always treasure those memories of being there for, you know, as the world moves the way it does, we don't know where we'll be.

Share the beauty of what you saw and experience with others, and teach them how to visit the islands and and give gratitude as you're out there.

But come back.

Come back into this place that is so precious and unique to our world.

Kiwa'nan.

Kiwa'nan.

Is good bye for now.

Good bye for now.

Thank you, Julie.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Rey and I made our last push for the top where aquamarine vistas awaited our arrival.

From up here, it is clear to see where you were, where you are, and where you are going.

It's so peaceful here.

I could be the only man on earth right now and I wouldn't know it.

And even though the mainland looks like it's right there, you can see it's so clear from on top of the cliff.

Being here, it's like a different world.

This was our playground today and we've done so much and every bit of it, it's been a joy.

And having the kids with us today and all my friends and makes it so special.

Something that we could take back with us and remember for the rest of our lives.

This is truly an amazing place.

I can't wait to come back and do it all over again.

I'm feeling great.

This is an amazing adventure that we've gone on today.

Oh, man.

It's nothing.

Nothing like it.

Nothing like being on this island here.

Man, it is breathtaking out here.

You know what makes this trip so special is that I'm here with my kids, and not every day I get to spend time like this with my kids, my family and friends.

Some of my best friends.

And it's going to be an amazing, amazing memory for the kids, something that they'll never forget for the rest of their lives.

Just being here with them right now.

I'm so grateful to have this moment with them.

Just being able to be with my cousins.

You know, I don't have a lot of time with them because they're moving away.

So being able to enjoy this experience with them is truly special and just being able to remember when we're like 30 years old.

Oh, remember when we went to Santa Cruz Island with our uncles and just had a great time?

You know.

What makes this trip so special is that this now I get to hang out with you guys, which is one of my favorite things to do.

I'm going to miss my cousins when they actually moved to Texas.

This is why this trip is so special.

More than anything.

This is an awesome time before we leave because I might not see my cousins for a pretty long time and I might not see my uncles too and my dad.

But right now we're here all together, and that's the only thing that matters right now.

This was the perfect way to end a perfect day on top of the Scorpion Bluffs with family and friends looking out across the Pacific Ocean.

Adding one more to our many magical memories that will not be soon forgotten.

Made right here on Santa Cruz Island in the sea .