The Tale of the 3 Sans
Short story about the Channel Islands
Have you been one of the lucky ones to make it to San Miguel, San Nick, or San Clemente the first time out? If you have been, count yourself lucky. It was 5 trips before I made it to San Miguel-the island I thought was just a magical myth in some far distant land. San Nick and San Clemente can also be hard to get to and dive at times because there is also the military to contend with on each and not only the weather.
Part of the reason it can be so hard to not only get to these islands (along with some other places) and then be able to dive them is “The Tale of the 3 Sans”
“The Tale of the 3 Sans”
Many, many, many years ago there was a king who was the ruler of “The Land of the Sea”. The king had a great empire that stretched over many horizons and the king had many wives’ and each wife was an overseer of a certain territory. Each wife also had many children and when the children became of age and married each was given an island to live on.
Now, there wasn’t anything fair about this the children thought, because some received big islands (the favored ones) and some received little islands not big enough for their families to even live on. Also, the girls seemed to get the best islands and the boys, well, they received the farthest more remote islands to start their own empires.
Anyways, one of the wife’s name was Santa Maria and she ruled the area we call the “Channel Islands”. Santa Maria had 5 daughters. They were Cruz, Rosa, Catalina, Barbara, and the odd little one Anacapa and the 3 boys were Miguel, Nicolas, and Clemente. Neither of the boys liked the fact that they would get the islands farthest away from everyone because it almost seemed like they were being exiled and because of this they became angry.
When the daughters all got their island they took their mother’s first name “Santa” except for the little odd one named Anacapa and the boys had to take “San” short for Santa.
As time went by the children’s islands became uninhabited and their spirit lives on especially the upset boys who still keep visitors away except on days when they wake up feeling kind and lonely. On these few and far between days they let visitors come to visit them and enjoy their magical island. These are the days we all hope for and when they let you into their world on one of these special occasions you will have memories to last a lifetime.
The End
Now that you have heard the “The Tale of the 3 Sans” you’ll know why you can count yourself lucky to actually get to dive the islands of San Miguel, San Nick, and San Clemente and a few other places just as remote as them. Many planned trips to these remote islands can end up at other places and diving involves many variables so just have a sense of adventure and be ready to have fun no matter what. As California divers, we should count ourselves very lucky to have the islands. On almost any given day there is always somewhere we can get some good diving in and if needed get shelter from the weather and still dive so come on out and join the adventure.
Written by Ken Kollwitz
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