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| Avalon Harbor |
This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege of going to Catalina Island and working with my dear friend, and one of my favorite photographers to work with, Pamela Masters, for a wedding. This was my first time visiting the island and although I'd like to post about my work on the wedding, this is going to be about my experience of my time there. The actual wedding work should be posted either the end of this week or sometime next weekend.
Introduction
For those that either don't know about Catalina or have never been, Catalina, sadly, is not a foreign island nation but it sure felt like it and I think it should be! I took the ferry out of Downtown Long Beach and having not slept much the night before, I took a nap on the hour long ride to the island. Upon landing, and being a bit dazed and tired, from the first sight of the multiple boats and yachts parked and docked on the water and how the buildings were laid out in the town of Avalon, I was immediately reminded of various pictures of scenic beach towns somewhere in the mediterranean and it becomes more apparent once you set out towards higher ground and overlook the bay to get the real visual much like in the first image above. Beautiful it looks and one could assume that Avalon and Catalina is a quiet town based upon that, but it's not all that quiet as it is fairly busy. Mostly filled with weekend vacationers and a mix of locals, you find yourself having to dodge the multiple gas powered golf carts running around the streets, bicycle riders, and a few "slightly" inebriated people. After having said that, you're suddenly reminded that Catalina is a part of LA County, has an area code of 310, and is 26 miles from Long Beach. This may appear as a shot at the town and the island itself, but it isn't. Not totally at least. If you're looking to get away for the weekend to look for something romantic and quiet, you'll find it here. If you're getting away for a different kind of excitement, you'll also find it here. Avalon/Catalina isn't a "this place" or "that place" but it's a place where someone can find what they're looking for.
Activities
So what's there to do on the island? Well, there's a multitude of activities one can do and find there. I wasn't able to do much as I was there mainly for business but I did some research for the next time I visit again (and I DO plan on coming back someday soon). One could go out and do a bit of parasailing which looked pretty fun from the balcony of the hotel I was staying for one night, but they REALLY take you up high. You can also do some nature conservation tours where you can see Catalina's famous buffalos amongst other flora and fauna. Zip lining across the hills of the island is also available. You can also do some snorkeling and scuba diving if that's your thing and they also provide guided tours of it. I hear it's rather beautiful and there are plenty of protected reef and kelp reserves on the island. Descanso Beach is where the day partying happens. Want to soak in the sun, have a few drinks, while having cheesy pop/dance music blaring in the background? This is the place. Ibiza West if you will. Just not as many drugs and not that many beautiful balearic people there. The nightlife is a bit lacking. There are many restaurants and bars around town but nothing to dance to other than Chi Chi Club. Probably the only velvet rope dance club on the island only there is no velvet rope. Just cheesy club music you would find in the various velvet rope clubs suffocating Hollywood. There's also the Casino which I fell in love with upon entering it. Now, this isn't a casino where gambling takes place. As I was there for the wedding rehearsal, I had an interesting exchange by an elderly tourist lady just outside the doors of the Casino. It went like this:
Old tourist lady: Where's the casino?
Me: You're looking at it.
Old tourist lady: *perplexed look* Ok. So where are the slot machines?!"
Me: Oh I'm sorry. This isn't a casino where gambling takes place. The word casino means a place of gathering. *points to sign on window noting it isn't a gambling casino* This is actually a theater and there's a ballroom upstairs.
Old tourist lady: *annoyed look* *walks away*
Me: Oooook.
So, if you're looking for gambling, the Casino doesn't have it which is weird right? I mean an island 26 miles off the coast of California SHOULD have some sort of gambling but Catalina isn't Monaco. That's why I think Catalina should be annexed, and turned into the Island Nation of Catalina! All joking aside, what you will find at the Casino is a theater where they show movies at 6pm and they do have guided tours AND a ghost tour because apparently, the Casino is haunted and I had a paranormal experience there working the reception and I wasn't the only one. More on that in the next blog...
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Casino Interior
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Casino Interior 2
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Casino Ballroom
All of these various activities can be reserved at the Catalina Express landings prior to visiting the island, or on the island itself. You can also bring some fishing gear and fish on the island if you're into that sort of thing. Although there is one pier (that I know of) on the island, you can probably book a private boat to take you out and fish in deeper waters. You can also rent a golf cart for $40 an hour and drive around the island along the scenic route, dangerously if you want as we sort of did on our final day, which is a fun experience.
Wait...buffalos you say?!
So...funny story. Let me take you back to the Great Buffalo Debate of 2007. In December of 2007, I decided to celebrate my birthday in San Francisco and me and my friends took the road trip to one of my favorite cities. As we were on the 101 just before Santa Barbara, if I remember correctly, the details are a bit hazy, but the topic of Catalina AND/OR buffalos came up and I said something along the lines of "That's impossible because they're extinct. We hunted them out of existence." My friend Alex said that they aren't extinct and that there are buffalos on Catalina. I was felt sure I was right or else I wouldn't have said it. Apparently I say alot of things that I think are right but end up being wrong. They're known as "Q facts". These days I am guilty of "Q facts" but not as much as before as I do my best to curb that. Anyway, I digress, so we each got out our iPhones and started Googling it. Obviously, in the end, I was wrong and what I once thought was fact, ended up being another Q fact. Being that this was my first time being on Catalina, it would be great for me to see these actual beasts in person. I had this funny thought of going out on one of the tours, taking a photo of the buffalo, and texting the picture back to some friends with txt saying "Q facts". Sadly, that never happened as when I did have the free time on my last day there to do something, we went out on our little crazy and fun golf cart ride around the island. The only buffalo I did see was this guy:
Hanging on the wall of Antonio's Pizzaria. Apparently there's two Antonio's and for the sake of definition, this is Antonio's I (as the other Antonio's, Antonio's II on the main road, I did not visit).
In Closing...
I was really pleased with my experience on Catalina and I've become rather smitten by the Island. If you've never been to the Island, I highly recommend going to get away from town. It's close enough that you can find your bit of peace AND a bit of excitement and not have to travel far out like San Francisco or the many national parks within this great state of California. I'm quite sure that upon your first visit, you'd join me in my thought and idea of annexing Catalina so it can be the great island nation it could be!
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