Catalina Island - Avalon - Things To Do Reviews

It has a man made beach. A casino that has no gambling. A Mosoleum with no bodies. A bird sanctury with no birds. There is a limit to the number of cars on the island, a long waiting list to be allowed to have one. Therefore the main mode of transportation for the locals are golf buggies. The trip on the underwater boat is good as you get to see the marine life. The coach tours are also very informative. Souveniers are expensive but all in all, a relaxing time can be had. There were a number of movies made on the island. For one movie there were Buffalo taken to the island but the scene they were used in was cut. Buffalo still roam on the island. It is also a golfers delight. Many of the cruise ship passengers disembarked with their golf clubs to spend the day on the golf course.

Here are a few tips on getting out to Catalina Island, off of Los Angeles, if you're planning to go there. I'll expand more later...

Catalina's really beautiful. You can leave from Dana Point, San Pedro, or Long Beach (near LA). Dana Point is a shorter drive if your coming from the south, but if you get seasick, Long Beach or San Pedro is a much shorter boat ride. Long Beach is only 26 miles or so from Catalina. Overall you get there in about the same amount of time.

You have sort of three options for a visit:

Taking the morning ferry, spending the day there, and coming back on the evening ferry is the least expensive, and you can pretty much see the island in the day (it's mostly private, so it only takes half a day to explore the town). There are usually boats leaving as early as 0700 and coming back as late as 1900, depending on the season. http://www.catalinaexpress.com/ This is a really fast and smooth hydrofoil jet boat. Even the giant hydrofoils can be a bit rough in a big swell, you're way out on the open ocean. It takes about an hour to check in and get there.

Option two is to fly across on the helicopter service, only 12 minutes from Long Beach (an hour by boat), and come back on the ferry. More expensive, but you get more time on the island and a really cool helicopter ride. You could fly round trip, but the ferry's fun. http://www.islandexpress.com/ If you were thinking of staying overnight, I'd almost suggest doing this as a daytrip with the hotel money you save.

Staying overnight is usually really expensive, you're competing with all the rich people and movie stars in LA for the rooms, so they're at a premium. Most of the hotels have a 3-night minimum.

You can also camp at the far end of the island for a small fee, but you typically have to reserve months in advance. It's really fun though. There are also a three excellent yacht harbors there if you want to sail out.

Here's my last trip out there I did for work...
http://web.mac.com/dfking/Kingsite/Catalina.html