Catalina Island…..we heard about this island but knew nothing about it. So here we are…..we arrived at a descent time and called for a mooring ball in Cat Harbour. Not many people here….so we got assigned our mooring ball. It’s the kind that you lift the floating stick and pick up the bow rope and the stern rope is attached and you run that rope back along the boat to tie to the stern cleat. Messy business….left mud and kelp all over the side of the boat….oh….and wear gloves while doing this. We noticed that the wind picked up in the afternoon and then died out completely in the evening and overnight. We didn’t have any swell come into this harbour….and noticed the Isthmus Harbour (which is directly across the land Isthmus was rocked all day with traffic and swell).
We walked the 2 klicks across the land to the sister harbour of ‘Two Harbours’….Cat Harbour and Isthmus Harbour. There was a nice beach, restaurant, general store and other tourist things to do….the ferry from LA comes here to drop people off. There are trails galore, camp grounds and pickup trucks to drive people to the various areas. We happily paid 10 bucks for a beer and too much for a burger to sit and enjoy the views.
After 4 days here, we decided to leave and were a bit confused about what we heard about Catalina and what we are seeing. Then someone told us we need to go the Avalon (the city here) to experience the typical tourist ideal of Catalina. So off we went to the the other side of the Island and got a mooring ball (same set up but more crowded) in the busy harbour of Avalon.
Now this is more like it…..many boats and a much bigger town. We headed to a restaurant on the main drag the first night…..we tried our first ‘Buffalo Milk’ drink and sat and chatted with a great American couple who were totally jealous of our early retirement and traveling…and pegged us for Canadian with only one sentence! Who knew we have a certain accent.
We heard the chimes from a nearby bell tower that reminded us of our winters in Victoria. Dave asked after a few hours….’Are the bell going to off every 15 minutes?’….Yup…..if Big Ben in London does it so does Catalina. The bell tower was so cool, with a Bat Silhouette that glowed orange at night….I was captivated. We took the morning to climb up to the tower but unfortunately it was closed when we got there.
We wandered the town everyday and even found a place that while not a Starbucks….they served Starbucks coffee. We found the local grocery store, the laundromat, liquor store (same as the grocery store) and a local hardware store. The deal here with the moorings during the summer is pay for 4 nights and get 3 more free….so we stayed the week. While here, we visited with Garret and Ruth on SV Rediviva ( Youtube channel Salt and Tar) and Dave was so happy to sit and chat with Garret for hours. While we rested here, several Cruise Ships came in and anchored off the Harbour. Of course, the town swelled with people during this time but calmed down again when the Cruise Ships sailed away.
After almost 2 weeks here we were ready to leave and get on with our sailing adventures. While we were here, I spent hours on the computer dealing with the necessary paperwork for entering Mexico, and the unexpected paperwork/computer work to get into San Diego.(more about that in the next blog). But we felt comfortable to head to San Diego with a brief overnight stop in Dana Point.
Our trip included the hundreds of dolphins. many humpback whales and even a brief encounter with a pod of killer whales. We fueled up in Dana point…which was the first fill up since leaving Victoria in August.
Next blog is about San Diego and what we had to look up and learn while we were here. Hope everyone is enjoying their last summer days while we spend day after day on the beach and soaking up the rays. Cheers.
DakotAdventures 