Spring at Sage: California Central Coast

Board the Pacific Surfliner in Santa Ana and watch Southern California change outside your window. After arriving in Ventura, have lunch near the beach and explore downtown. Visit Mission San Buenaventura and either the Museum of Ventura County or the Ventura Botanical Gardens to begin learning about the people and landscapes that shaped this stretch of coast. Gather for dinner and an introduction to the journey ahead.

Take a ferry across the Santa Barbara Channel to Santa Cruz Island. Keep watch for marine wildlife along the way, then join a guided kayak trip along the island’s rugged shoreline. If ocean conditions permit, paddle near its sea caves. After a picnic lunch, explore on foot and learn how isolation helped shape wildlife found on the Channel Islands. Return to Ventura Harbor for dinner and a chance to share what surprised you most.

Travel north to Hearst Castle for a guided look at one of California’s most distinctive historic homes. Continue through the Central Coast to Salinas, where you’ll meet with Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. Hear about its work with Indigenous communities in California and discuss how migration, language, and labor shape people’s experiences of belonging. End the day on Monterey’s Cannery Row, a waterfront whose story has changed along with the bay.

Begin with an Ocean Connection Lab at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Bechtel Education Center, then explore the aquarium itself. Connect what you see to the wildlife and coastal communities you’ve encountered over the past three days. As you travel to San Jose for your flight home, consider one last question: How might the choices we make affect the movement of people and wildlife along this coast?