SVSoulsticeAdventures

Catalina Island

We arrived to Two Harbors on Catalina Island the morning of the October 25th around 830am. Stephen and I left the Santa Barbara marina around 10am and anchored out until 4pm to set up for an overnight sail to Catalina. It was going to take us 16-17 hours approximately. We wanted to leave in daylight and arrive in daylight. We had a great sail for several hours but then eventually had to motor the rest of the way. It was a full moon so the illumination was gorgeous. There are a ton of oil platforms all around Santa Barbara that we had to navigate around in the beginning. These platforms actually are dive sights. We did not pursue this but was reading in the Diver's Alert Network aka DAN magazine that these oil rig pillars make for excellent artificial reefs. What a unique dive sight and something to consider another time. When we arrived in Two Harbors we were greeted by Dave and Kelly on SV Arctos who left Santa Cruz to meet up with us again.

Two Harbors is in Isthmus Cove. It is definitely more serene than Avalon although this time of year both are even more mellow without the heavy summer traffic and crowds. We were able to get moorings easily without reservations in advance. We thought about anchoring out but the anchor sights are quite a distance from the shore and at fairly deep depths. We do have 300ft of chain but didn't want to commission our dinghy. And if folks remember we are one paddle board down due to seam tear on mine. Stephen and I mastered the 2 people paddle board shuttle and thank goodness we have paddle boards that are more utilitarian than speedy. Two Harbors is quite a simple little area with a general store, one scuba shop, a set of restrooms and a nice restaurant. It is more geared towards camping folks it appears. Because you are on an isthmus you can walk to the other side quite easily and see Catalina Harbor. During this quick walk, I ran into Richard on SV Firewater again. We met him up in Neah Bay and he is 76 years old and well traveled on his sailboat. He single hands and he has made 28 South Pacific passages. I think I mentioned him in the blog in Neah Bay. It was great to catch up and say again.

Stephen and I had a lazy 1st day catching up on sleep and then I had a great afternoon hike catching an Island Fox sighting - yehaa!!! The fox was not that skittish so I am inclined to think there are some good scraps at these campgrounds I noted almost at each little cove. We had another day of hiking and snorkeling and after 2 nights moved to Avalon. Stephen and I threw out some hand lines on the way over but no such luck 😕.

Avalon is definitely busier due to being more commercialized. There are many shops, restaurants and places for people to stay. The hallmark feature coming into Avalon is the Catalina Casino which contains a movie theatre and a ballroom. We did take advantage of seeing a movie at the theatre and the organ player who precedes the movie was fabulous! Very talented and was fun to watch him play. The theatre is lovely inside with a celestial ceiling.

Other adventures we took advantage of is to go snorkeling in the protected Avalon Underwater Park which is right in front of the Casino. It is a 2-acre park roped off restricting boat access. We were able to see tons of Garibaldi and kelp bass. There is a monument undersea for Jacques Cousteau about 35ft below and Dave who had a weight belt and free dive fins did make the drive down for a pic. Apparently, there is a wreck as well but we were only snorkeling. We also took advantage of hiking which is really a dirt road and it is a 13.5-mile circumnavigation around the harbor getting up to 1500ft in elevation. We ran into 3 young spry premed students on day 1 of their Trans-Catalina trail hike which is 32 miles and traverses the entire island. We actually met a fellow in Two Harbors who had just completed this feat and was heading for a beer. The nice thing about that backpack is you can stay at campgrounds along the way with access to water as the island is primarily dry. They actually have desalination plant on the island and an evaporative reservoir by East Peak.

I did enjoy my 46th birthday here and tasted the Buffalo Milk! A truly delicious drink. I did not see any buffalo on the island but did see some scat that definitely belonged to one of them. There are some deer and of course the island fox but really no other large animals here. All the wild pigs and goats were removed due to the concern of erosion.

We are ready for our next adventure to San Diego which will be our last port before heading international into Mexico. Stephen's mom will be meeting up with us for a week in San Diego and I have a good friend Lynne who I met in Montana but now lives in SD and we will connect with her and her boyfriend Steve also! SV Luego Sonni and Brad should still be there and SV Arctos Dave and Kelly. SV Jeane Anne has left today for Mexico as they are part of the Baja Ha Ha and we wish them well!

OH, I forgot to mention the splendid chimes you here in Avalon! They are being refurbished but they do add quaintness to this town that can seem overwhelmed with tourism.

At night these oil platforms are lit up like Christmas trees but interesting the little docking platform that is a 1/4 mile next to them is not lit up!!! Weird and unsafe