There may be more intriguing, even more romantic islands around. But there aren’t many as a convenient and conservation-minded as Santa Catalina, a mere 22 miles off the southern California coast.
When this reporter was a child, way back in another century, Catalina was magical, a place reached by seaplane from Long Beach in what remain the most wondrous flights of my life. Nowadays the seaplanes are gone. Only ferry boats (and helicopters) are at hand to shuttle you from the mainland to this special island. The ride costs about $65 and can be had from Newport Beach, Dana Point, Long Beach, San Pedro, and Marina del Rey.
Once you get there the first thing you’ll notice is what’s not there in any profusion: automobiles. Most folks get around by golf cart, bicycle or on foot. It’s part of the Catalina ethic. Most of the island is administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy.
Glass-bottom boat tours are terrific here. So too the snorkeling and SCUBA diving. The latter are best accomplished in places such as Lover’s Cove. Don’t even think about it in Avalon Harbor.
If you want to get off shore and explore consider a day trip aboard a 50’ catamaran from Afishinados. She’ll take you out to scout for dolphins, shale, sharks, birds and assorted sea creatures. You may want to opt for the company’s Two Harbors Trips, where they cruise the coast of Santa Catalina itself in search of eagles and sea lions. The latter is a great way to get an up-close-and-personal glimpse of this island’s geography.
How about the vast Pacific sky at night, from the deck of a boat? That’s the premise behind Catalina Coastal Tours’ Astronomy Experience. Amateur astronomer Kathleen Hill Carlisle explains some of the night sky’s riddles as you awestruck at the heavens above.
(Featured image: JMR_Photography)
