.dropcap { color: #838078; float: left; font-size: 82px; line-height: 60px; padding: 5px 8px 0 0; } On shore, the landing sounds straightforward enough. When we reach Green Rock on this blustery late-September morning, Jonathan Felis will nose the Zodiac up to the island, bump it lightly, and the person poised at the bow will jump onto terra firma. “It’s all about the timing,” he tells us. Bump. And jump. After cutting four miles north through waves pounding the Northern California coast, we see the island’s formidable cliffs. Suddenly the bump-and-jump notion seems downright daunting. The inflatable boat heaves, plummeting six feet below the landing spot—a slippery, barnacle-covered surface supposedly ideal to launch oneself onto from this puny, lurching vessel. Emma Kelsey doesn’t look fazed; on an upswell she leaps with the powerful grace of a gymnast and sticks the dismount. I jump next, clumsily grasp some sharp protrusions, and haul myself to my feet...