Franko’s Maps California Islands and Coastal Series

Includes:

• Franko’s Map of Santa Catalina Island
•  Franko’s Map of Channel Islands National Park & Marine Sanctuary
•  Franko’s Map of Monterey
•  Franko’s Map of San Diego County Coast
•  Franko’s Map of Orange County Coast
•  Franko’s Map of Los Angeles County Coast
•  Franko’s Map of Newport Harbor & Upper Newport Bay
•  Franko’s Map of Mission Bay

Franko’s Island and Coastal Series began with the mapping of Santa Catalina Island in 1996.  The actual first printing of 10,000 Catalina Maps in 1997 eventually sold out by mid-2000, just in time for the development of Franko’s computerized skills, and a new batch of six maps (the first six on the list above).  The list may continue to grow, as the ideas and information keep on coming.  The coastlines on these maps is obtained from USGS digital data, sometimes corrected with comparisons to aerial photographs, which are also useful in tracing the exact positions of trails or roads.  The shaded relief seen on these maps (shading on hills and mountains) is a sophisticated computer graphics trick, thanks to ArcView software by ESRI.  The bulk of the work is actually in the research, to know just what to put on the map after the map background is complete.  Some of these maps required a huge amount of field work too - including such hard tasks as mountain biking or hiking the trails, camping, snorkeling in pristine waters, scuba diving amongst a myriad of sea life in kelp forests and on wrecks, interviewing dive shop folks to compare notes, and so forth.  For some reason I’ve received very little sympathy for how hard I work on these things.  The following maps come in several sizes, and are available folded or flat (unfolded), but laminated, similar to a placemat, so it can be put on a table, wall, or countertop.  All of these maps are printed on a virtually indestructible plastic paper material.  It is waterproof and rip-resistant, so the ocean environment and heavy use won’t even phase it.  

Franko’s Map of Santa Catalina Island

Side 1 shows Franko’s Map of Santa Catalina Island features the most amazing, beautiful and perfectly accurate shaded relief of the Island, with it’s surrounding waters depicted in descending hues of ocean blues to indicate depth contours.  Shaded relief accuracy is gotten from USGS digital elevation models, as interpreted by ArcView, a geographic computer program from ESRI.  The ocean depth contours are a direct trace of the local NOAA charts, and thus, in addition to being beautiful, are also accurate.  Catalina Island’s miles of dirt roads are shown cris-crossing the island interior and along it’s coast, with mileages indicated.  All of the main roads can actually be driven (or mountain biked, in my case).  These roads include Old Stage Road (which becomes Airport Road in the middle of the Catalina Island), Middle Ranch Road (which leads to El Rancho Escondido, where equestrian shows can be watched), Escondido Rd., Tow Harbors Roads and West End Road.  Also shown are the lesser roads, which are more than just trails, but which the Santa Catalina Island Company forbids mountain biking for safety and insurance reasons.  However, hiking is permitted just about everywhere at Catalina.  Catalina’s major peaks, names of valley’s, points, beaches, and other island features are shown in perfect accuracy.  Over 70 dive sites are located and briefly described so that the scuba diver or free diver has an excellent, authoritative reference.  The list is long, but it includes famous sites such as Avalon Underwater Park, The wrecks of the Sue-Jac and the Valiant, Toyon Bay, Torqua Springs, Henrock Reef, Long Point, Italian Gardens (where you’ll likely see giant sea bass), Ripper’s Cove, Rock Quarry, Sea Fan Grotto, Bird Rock, Ship Rock, Eagle Reef, Indian Rocks, and Johnson’s Landing.  And that’s just a start on the leeward side!  The windward side includes the famous and fabulous Farnsworth Banks, as well as less-visited sites like Pin Rock, Little Harbor, Lobster Bay, and Iron-Bound Cove.  If you have a boat and want to moor it at Catalina, this map shows every mooring area around the island.  If you want to do some boat-in camping at Catalina Island, that is there too.  So is the general camping at Catalina Island’s five fabulous campgrounds.  This map is like a book on Catalina for all of the information it provides. 

Side 2 shows Franko’s Maps of Avalon and Two Harbors.  Franko’s details of Avalon are shown including roads, trails, camping, hotels, beaches, dive spots (Avalon Underwater Park and Lover’s Cove), tours and The Casino.  Avalon’s famous Green Pleasure Pier is shown jutting out into Avalon Bay, where the location of the moorings, boat terminals, Casino Point, the Cabrillo Mole, and every swim area are shown.  The exact location for every hotel in Avalon are shown and numerically listed.  Franko’s Two Harbors detail shows the local dirt roads and trails, dive sites including favorites such as Ship Rock and Bird Rock, where to kayak, the Two Harbors Campground, and the popular Boy Scout Camp at Cherry Cove.  Beside the full list of hotels found on Catalina Island, there is also a full list of transportation options to the island, as well as on the island, dive and ocean recreation services on the island, and Franko’s favorite feature: Kelp Forest Creatures, is beautiful hand/computer drawn color picture, which is equivalent in itself to one of Franko’s famous fish cards.  Just in case the viewer would like to embark on one of Catalina’s many wonderful tours and adventures, there is a listing of the two major tour companies.  They include submarine rides, night-time flying fish watching, inland motor tours to the Airport-In-The-Sky and Escondido Ranch, Seal Rocks Tours, Avalon Tours, Casino Tours, and much more. 

Franko’s Map of Channel Islands National Park & National Marine Sanctuary

Side 1 of Franko’s Map of Channel Islands shows the Santa Barbara-Ventura Coast with the five islands (San Miguel Island, Santa Rosa Island, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island, and Santa Barbara Island) in fabulous green shaded relief to show their hills and valleys, as they sit in an ocean of descending blue contours.  Shaded relief accuracy is via USGS data, and ocean depth contours are from NOAA data.  A brief summary description of each island, with beautiful underwater wildlife photos are also shown on side 1, along with Franko’s Kelp Forest Creatures, depicting dozens of local undersea critters.  This map is sometimes referred to as the Channel Islands Dive Map, because it shows the locations of the Channel Islands National Park’s favorite, famous dive spots.  Channel Islands is a fabulous place.  The surrounding waters have marine wildlife seemingly rivaling an African safari in scale.  The islands are wonderful to hike, camp and explore.  Near shore each of the islands offer amazing and diverse places to scuba dive and snorkel.  The dive sites located and described on this map could keep the most avid scuba dive interested and occupied for life! 

Side 2 of Franko’s Map of Channel Islands shows each of the five Channel Islands in the National Park and National Marine Sanctuary individually.  San Miguel Island, just below Point Conception, is detailed with it’s trails, the famous caliche forest, sand dunes, Cuyler Harbor, Prince Island, and Point Bennett, the most concentrated Pinniped (seals and sea lions) rookery on earth.  11 favorite dive spots and the best anchorages are also shown.  Santa Rosa Island is detailed with its many winding trails.  Details including the Torrey Pines forest (the only other such forest in the world is in San Diego), Becher’s Bay, and several wrecks that surround the island are shown.  Over a dozen dive spots are located and described.  Tiny Santa Barbara Island is detailed, including its ecological reserve, sea lion rookery, trails, coves, a blowhole, and a museum.  Dive sites include several popular caves, and the famous Archway are located and described.  The largest of California’s Channel Islands, which is Santa Rosa Island, takes up the most space on the map as it spans from Scorpion Anchorage on the East to Fraser Point on the West.  It >s numerous good anchorages are shown, as are it’s favorite scuba diving spots.  Painted Cave, the world’s largest sea cave, is located on the northwest shore.  Part of Santa Cruz Island is National Park property, and part of it is run by the Nature Conservancy.  Anacapa Island, which actually consists of three islets, East, West and Middle Anacapa Islands, is shown with its popular landing site, Landing Cove, where tourists commonly land, climb 138 steps up the plateau top, and visit the lighthouse and Western gull rookery.  Arch Rock dominates the East end, and is a famous landmark.  Another tourist stop is Frenchy’s Cove, the only public landing spot on the island.  Ecological reserves, brown pelican fledgling area, and a natural area surround the island, keeping it pristine for visitors and divers to explore.  Side 2 also provides the visitor with information about the official concessionaires to the Channel Islands National Park, including Island Packers, Truth Aquatics, and Channel Islands Aviation.

Franko’s Map of Monterey

Side 1 of Franko’s Map of Monterey shows the Monterey Peninsula and Point Lobos State Reserve in fabulous green shaded relief as they jut out into ocean blue contours.  Shaded relief accuracy is via USGS data, and ocean depth contours are from NOAA data.  This is a perfect tourism map as all of the local major roads and routes are clearly shown, including the unbelievable 17-Mile Drive (a toll road), as it meanders through the most amazing scenery, including ocean vistas that can’t be beat, tall forests of Monterey pines and Monterey cypress trees, and the most stunning golf courses on earth.  And if you thought that was beautiful, Point Lobos State Reserve is all of that, with no human population!  A special detail of Point Lobos shows its trails and dive spots.  Two dozen of the most notable scuba dive spots around the Monterey Peninsula are located and their underwater features described.  Underwater photos give the viewer a glimpse of what is down there, and Franko’s Kelp Forest Creatures depicts dozens of fish, invertebrates, and even an ascending sea otter.  Since Franko is a bicycling enthusiast, of course Monterey’s best bike routes are shown too, including the superb Recreation Trail, which runs clear up past Sand City on the north and right through Monterey’s Cannery Row area.  Pebble Beach and Carmel are along Franko’s cycling routes too, of course.

Side 2 of Franko’s Map of Monterey is a zoom-out view to show the area from the Northern edge of Big Sur, up through Monterey, around Monterey Bay and on past Santa Cruz.  The two-mile deep Monterey Canyon is shown in visually stunning descending hues of Franko’s favorite colors - ocean blues.  A further zoom-out showing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary further accentuates the underwater bathymetry of the region, from San Francisco Bay to San Simeon State Beach.  Also on side two, there are three zoom-ins, including Santa Cruz Harbor, especially for boaters and kayakers there; Monterey Harbor, which details everyone’s need to get around downtown Monterey and Cannery Row, plus the Wharf area; plus Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough, which includes this biologically rich 6-mile long slough, the beach and harbor.  Kayakers will especially like this detail.  It also shows Franko’s wildlife depictions, otherwise known as biological interpretive data.  Scuba diving sites from end to end in this area are shown with descriptions of what might be found down there.  Camping sites are shown, with reservation info, in case you want to stay inexpensively and in the most fun fashion. 

Franko’s Map of San Diego County Coast Diving

Side 1 of Franko’s Map of San Diego County Coast shows the viewer right away that this is San Diego’s premier dive map, as nearly every noteworthy scuba and snorkeling in the Southern half of the county are shown and described.  This includes several of the wrecks in Wreck Alley, such as the Yukon, Ruby E., El Rey, NOSC Tower, and Ingraham St. Bridge, all of which are shown in a Mission Bay/Wreck Alley inset.  Similarly, an inset of the La Jolla area shows a dozen dive sites there.  The rapidly descending La Jolla Canyon, and the near-vertical Scripps Canyon are also shown in deepening blues, which were made with NOAA data.  Dive sites aplenty include Scripps Canyon, Marine Room, La Jolla Shores, La Jolla Canyon, Goldfish Point, La Jolla Cove, Boomer Beach, Quast Hole and others.  The coast from Del Mar to Coronado is shown with major dive spots, and the major freeways and roads to get you there.  The famous kelp beds area off Point Loma are detailed, with dive sites including Sunset Cliffs, Osprey Point, Rockslide, and the Point Loma Kelp Beds, which is and extensive area. 

Side 2 shows Franko’s Map of Greater San Diego Coast, which includes everything from Camp Pendleton to Coronado Islands, south of the border.  Along with beautiful underwater photography to show you some of the sites of the undersea world, there is an inset showing Franko’s Kelp Forest Creatures.  The favorite Giant Sea Bass and several dozen more fish and invertebrates are shown amongst the thick kelp forest, which is what San Diego waters are famous for.  50 miles offshore sits San Clemente Island.  It’s favorite dive sites and the surrounding ocean contours are depicted to give the diver an idea of where he or she really ought to want to go.  An inset zoom-in of Coronado Islands (Islas De Los Coronados) shows the nearby favorite dive spots which are actually in Mexico.  The Coronado Islands are rich in sea life, typically feature great visibility, and are easily visited via San Diego dive boats.

Franko’s Map of Orange County Coast Diving

* Please note that due to the nature of maps, the look and apperance may change without notice.
You may receive a different looking map than what you see on this website.

Monoi oil, Monoi Soap, Dirt Shirts, Hawaiian Posters, Hawaiian Calendars and Postcards
A Lovely collection of Hawaiian books, stationery, postcards and Monoi Tiare Tahiti products.



Made with a Mac - Think Different...

No reproduction is allowed without
the express permission of Franko Maps Ltd.


This site developed, hosted and maintained by SupportDataInc.com

Site Pages


frankosmaps.com