Despite their proximity to the SoCal metropolis, the five northern islands (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara) that make up the 250,000 - acre park are among the system's less visited — all the better for a beach picnic at Santa Cruz's Scorpion Anchorage, a scalloped,
pebbly cove from which you can snorkel through kelp forests or kayak along craggy cliffs.