Anacapa Island

You have to know that you will sleep into a bird loft. There is thousand of bird everywhere, you are into their habitat. They crie all the day and night. It smells a lot.
Very hot and there is no shade. Of course no water !
The ferry (168$ !) will drop you off at 11am, and take you up the next day at 3:30 pm. Thus you will spend like two days here. Fog on the morning, perhaps in the afternoon.
The sunset is amazing.
Just ask yourself whether all of this worth it for the sunset.

We had the entire island to ourselves! (if you don't count the 100,000 nesting seagulls)... A totally unique experience with great views and beautiful kelp forest snorkeling in the cove. Highly recommend for a 1-night trip (not really enough to do/see to justify a longer stay), and don't bring too much crap with you (campsite is a good schlep from the dock).

What an experience!
We’ve camped on the island for 1 night in the beginning of April and it was amazing!
The island is tiny, so don’t expect a lot of hiking but it looks like this island has the most beautiful views among Channel Islands. And with camping you get to see the epic sunset at Inspiration point.
April seems like a good month to camp here. The island is all green and blooming and seagulls are just staring to arrive, so it’s not too many. If you hate seagulls and have trouble sleeping, you may consider a day trip though or camping not during April-August(seagulls breeding season) since the birds a are loud and that stay loud 24/7.

You can also bring kayak here like we did, but you will have to lower it from the deck using ropes and must be very careful with the cliffs. Read instructions carefully and make sure you know what you are doing!

The hardest thing is that you also have to make sure there is a ferry to bring you to and from the island for the night you decide to camp.

Overall, we enjoyed our trip and I would say this is a beginner camper friendly experience, since you don’t have to carry your gear too far from, just need to make sure you have everything with you since you are to be all alone on the island with no water.

Great views, lots of birds and seals, nice fellow campers, helpful ranger orientation. A fun time! The trails are pretty limited, but I revisited the cool spots many times. The fog horn was broken, so I got lots of sleep. I highly recommend the experience. I wouldn't go for more than one night because I need more space to roam. A more meditative soul, however, might really enjoy the solitude and views for longer.

Loved my trip, was very peaceful.

nice clean quiet a unique experience I recommend

It was definitely a memorable experience! There was a hiccup in the transportation getting out to the island, but Island Packers handled it wonderfully. All of the people involved with our trip were excellent, 5 stars. We saw a pod of Common Dolphins and a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins on the way out it was a joy to watch them race along side the boat and the Bottlenoses leaped out of the water in a spectacular display. The weather was awesome, the pit toilets were clean, the campsite was in great condition, the views were gorgeous. We know it is a bird nesting site so we planned our trip at the end of summer after the nesting season was over. However, we were still surprised at the shear volume of bird feathers, bones, carcasses and droppings.
There is a LOT!!
If you live near the coast and have ever noticed the seagulls in the evening as they head out to sea and wondered to yourself where they all go... they ALL go to Anacapa!!! In the evening hundreds of birds came to rest in and around our campsite and they made a heck of a racket All. Night. Long. I suggest you bring earplugs. Also, do not bring your summer tent, solid tent walls are advised. Our tent is all mesh and the wind blew all the dust up under the rainfly where only the finest grains made their way through the mesh and into the tent covering everything with a fine powdery, bird poop filled layer. Wind-whipping, birds screaming, dust settling we did not sleep well.
All that being said, I am really glad we camped a night on Anacapa it was a very different experience from all the other places we've camped from Mt. Rainier to Joshua Tree and I don't ever need to camp there again! LOL!

Go here.

A more secluded camping experience for Channel Islands. I specifically picked this for that reason. Sunset was gorgeous. Be prepared for any weather. If birds annoy you, this island isn’t for you. You will literally be camping next to them especially at night. Foghorn runs all day. Bring ear plugs if that bothers you. Overnight camping is more than enough to explore. If you’re an experienced kayaker, I highly recommend it.

The birds were very loud and never stopped, the staff and scenery were great though