One Hell of a Hike...

Living in a flat country, we don’t get to hike very often, so I was looking forward to hiking in the hills above Avalon. 88% of this island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy with the intent to keep it wild and we had to get a permit to hike. It had been awhile since I’d been in that kind of heat and desert climate as you can see by my red face, so I had to take it slow. The 1.7 miles to the summit was a series of switchbacks with some great views of the harbor. The above photo shows a couple of the fire roads which were put to good use when a 4,000 acre fire broke out in May and Avalon had to be evacuated.

Diving in Catalina?

For months I'd been looking forward to scuba diving in Catalina. I'd been warned that it wouldn't be the same as diving in the warm waters off the Keys, but I was willing to try after a 7-year dry spell. In the interest of safety, we hired a dive instructor to put us through a refresher course. We brushed up on our hand signals, squeezed into a ridiculous amount of neoprene along with a hefty weight belt and scuba tank, and headed into the Avalon Underwater Park. Unfortunately, in the time it took to swim out to the descension line, I'd had enough time to chicken out. When I couldn't get my legs straight under me, the instructor grabbed them, which freaked me out even more. I headed back to shore and left Jimmy to do the dive without me. He enjoyed the kelp beds, but was glad that I hadn't continued because it was quite challenging due to a strong current and low visibility. From now on, it's only warm sunny diving for me.

Kayaking in Catalina...

It had been 4 years since Jimmy and I had a chance to go kayaking. It was a beautiful day, so we packed a picnic lunch and rented a kayak along with snorkel gear. Somehow I had this romantic idea that we’d find a lovely secluded beach, but instead we struggled to find anywhere along the rocky coast that we could land on. We finally managed to find a place that was flat enough, had lunch and hit the water. It was too cold for me even with a wet suit, so I didn’t last long. I actually preferred the view from above the kelp beds than from within. It was especially cool on our return trip when we saw 6 leopard sharks (although we didn’t take this photo).

Our $150 View...

When I was researching where to stay, I think I checked out just about every hotel and B&B on the island. Rather than stay along the waterfront with an easy walk everywhere, I picked a hotel at the top of the hill so we could have a workout between meals. When I chose the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel (former home of the famous Western author), I knew it would be bohemian. No TV’s, no phones, no room service (breakfast was 2 pieces of bread, some jam and a piece of fruit), no Internet, but it did have a pool and a fantastic porch where we had wine and cheese each evening. Wasn’t aware how run down the place would be, but the view made up for it. Jimmy joked that it was our “$50 room with the $150 view.”

Our Island Paradise...

Rather than escape to somewhere exotic like Hawaii, Jimmy and I had our island adventure on Catalina, off the coast of LA. It was quick 75-minute ferry ride from Newport Beach complete with dolphins playing alongside. Below is the harbor of Avalon, the island’s only city, population 4,000. It’s a popular stop for cruise ships on the way to Mexico, so the waterfront is quite crowded during the day with folks that clearly regularly eat too much from their cruise buffet. The city limits the number of cars, so most residents drive around the hilly town with golf carts. The island was originally developed by William Wrigley, Jr., the king of gum and owner of the Chicago Cubs. He built the famous landmark, shown below on the right, known as the Casino. Rather than a gambling facility, it’s actually a movie theater on the ground floor and a ballroom that fits 6,000 on the 10th floor which we enjoyed seeing on a tour.