- Channel Islands Harbor
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Channel Islands Harbor Location Country United States Location Oxnard, California Coordinates 34°10′12″N 119°13′30″W / 34.17°N 119.225°WCoordinates: 34°10′12″N 119°13′30″W / 34.17°N 119.225°W Details Opened 1960 Type of harbor Artificial Size of harbor 166 acres Available berths 2,150 Statistics Website channelislandsharbor.org Channel Islands Harbor is a combined shore-protection project and small craft harbor located at the southern end of the Santa Barbara Channel[1] in the town of Oxnard, California. The US Army Corps of Engineers formed the harbor in 1960 by scooping out sand dunes and wetlands and depositing the surplus sand at the nearby beaches of Port Hueneme.[2] The horse-shoe shaped harbor contains 166 acres (0.67 km2) of water surrounded by 126 acres (0.51 km2) of land[3] and supports more than 2,500 vessels,[2] four yacht clubs, and nine full-service marinas.[4] It is a frequent point of departure for all five of the nearby Channel Islands, the closest of which is Anacapa Island. It has become the fifth largest harbor for small-craft recreation in the state of California[5] and is a waterfront resort, recreation, and dining marketplace. Recreational activities include diving, boat charters, sea kayaking, sportfishing, and whale watching (gray whales January through early April; blue and humpback whales July to September). The Ventura County Maritime Museum is located within the harbor and offers a regularly rotating exhibit, maritime-themed art, and model ships. Every three years it is host to the Channel Islands Tall Ships Festival which includes between two and five large sailing vessels as well as thousands of visitors.
The harbor waters connect to the north with Mandalay Bay, a residential 129-unit waterfront development built by a company called Shamrock/ Voss, a joint venture of Shamrock Holdings Inc. of Burbank and Voss Construction Co. Inc. of Oxnard in 1987. The development is arranged in six tracts of single-family homes and townhouses standing on reinforced concrete bulkheads along a series of short navigable canal-like waterways.[6] Between 1950 and 1981 Mandalay Bay was a permitted oil field waste disposal site which caused the release of numerous hazardous chemicals.[7] The records of what was dumped were subsequently lost, resulting in calls for an investigation and millions of dollars in lawsuits from home buyers who were told the area was safe for habitation.[8]
References
- ^ United States Army Corps of Engineers, South Pacific Division (1973). Water resources development by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in California. University of California Libraries. p. 89. ISBN 978-1125524992.
- ^ a b McKinney, John (2005). California's coastal parks: a day hiker's guide (1st ed.). Berkeley, CA: Wilderness press. p. 78. ISBN 0-89997-388-4.
- ^ Smith, Patricia (1998). "Channel Islands Harbor Master Plan". http://portal.countyofventura.org/portal/page/portal/harbor/harbor_reports/1998DraftHarborMasterPlan_0.pdf. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
- ^ Harris, Elanor; Lichtig, Claudia Harris (2006). Quick escapes Los Angeles: 20 weekend getaways from the metro area (7th ed.). Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. pp. 124. ISBN 978-0-7627-4219-6.
- ^ Fodor's Southern California (Second ed.). New York: Random House. 2006. p. 385. ISBN 978-1-4000-1603-7.
- ^ "Oxnard Condo Development to Get Start", The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California): Section 8 p.14, 29 March 1987
- ^ Public Consultation on Bay Cleanup Area, Google Docs. Retrieved June 2011
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-10/local/me-1999_1_mandalay-bay-area
Categories:- Ports and harbors of California
- Transportation in Ventura County, California
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