A Day in Avalon on Catalina

     I turned 25 years old this month.  When my birthday comes around, it normally means nothing to big.  For the family, I choose any restaurant and we all go out to eat.  For the friends, we normally just hang out as usual.  This year, things were different.  I was bored at home as winter break started.  I have the tendency to have a major urge to travel and/or have some kind of adventure when at home bored.  At times I even look around on Google Maps to look at places I wish I could travel to.  That is when I thought of doing something different for my birthday.  Instead of asking for gifts, and going out to dinner; I chose to ask for a trip to a place that I have yet to travel to.  Santa Catalina Island.  I told my mom and she seemed interested.  My dad did like the idea, but he was worried about how much it would cost.  In the end, we went to Avalon, the only city on the island, on December 22.  One week after my birthday on the 15th.  Why?  My dad had to work on my birthday weekend.  It was alright because it ended up raining that entire weekend.  There was a worry that it would have rained on the 22nd.  There was even a forecast that it would start raining after the sun set, but lucky for us, the rain didn't fall.  This is how the day went on my first time to Santa Catalina Island.

     The day started out very early.  We all woke up at 5:00 am.  Waking up this early for a family trip is extremely rare, especially with my dad.  We got packed up and headed on the road by 6:15 am.  We were headed to the downtown Long Beach Catalina Express Port, which is located just to the north of the Aquarium of the Pacific.  We arrived over an hour before the 8:30 am boat left for the island.  While the parents got the tickets, my sister Ashley and her boyfriend Jon, went outside to the small harbor to look for two geocaches that were hidden there.  Jon found the first geocache, which was a micro disguised as a leaf.  Ashley found the second cache which was also a micro.  Right after we placed the second cache back where it was found, the parents called saying that they were about to start the boarding.  We headed over to the boat.  It was a smaller boat, not one of their larger boats of the fleet.  We headed right to the top deck.  We sat at a row that had a table.  Everyone but me sat down.  I headed to the top deck stern outside seats to get a view of Long Beach, and hoping to take some photographs.  We took off, and headed on the hour ride to Avalon.  

     When we first began, it wasn't great conditions for taking photographs, so once we got out of the Port of Long Beach, I headed back inside to sit down.  The port was filled with several oil tankers and cargo ships.  I don't think I have ever seen so many.  Once we past the break water, we saw a large number of Common Dolphins.  Sadly, they didn't follow the boat, which I wanted in order to take some photographs.  The ride over to Avalon was smooth, with a small western swell in the middle of the trip.  Of course, that just happened to be the same time that I had to take a piss.  Trying to piss while the boat is moving around is way harder than it seems.  As we got close to the island, I grabbed my camera and went outside.  It was beautiful.  The sun was out, the skies were clear, and was perfect for photographs.  After about 10 minutes, the first signs of Avalon came in view with the historic Casino.  While looking out to the island, a person yelled with excitement that they spotted dolphins swimming behind the boat.  First it was one or two, but as we got in close to Avalon, a few dozen dolphins were swimming with the boat, jumping through the waves being created from the boat.  It was amazing.  The water was very clear, so you can see the dolphins swimming under the boat.  It was an amazing welcome to Catalina.  The captain of the boat noticed the dolphins and decided to slow down and change course so we can take a better look.  For me and my dad, we saw most of them through our cameras.  After about 5-10 mins, the captain set back in course to Avalon, and the dolphins slowly went on their own path.  Within a few moments, we had docked in Avalon.

     We docked on the southeast point of Avalon Harbor.  We got off, and my dad wanted a coffee.  As the parents got ready to walk to town, I walked towards the end of the point to get a good view of Avalon.  While walking over, I noticed a brown pelican sitting on a small wood plank on the rail facing the ocean.  I took out my camera from my backpack to get a good shot.  While shooting, I got as close as I can.  I got within 10 feet of the nice bird before things got risky.  After taking a good amount of shots, Ashley and Jon found the bird, and got close as well. Finally, the bird got annoyed and flew away, but not to far.  Just flew closer to the point, and on the cement.  I had decided to leave the bird alone.  I look a look over the rail into the nice and clear water.  I could see down to the bottom of the water.  It was the most clear I have ever seen the ocean.  There were large amount of kelp, and a handful of fish.  The most noticeable  was the California State Marine Fish, the Garibaldi, which we would see several of throughout the day.  The parents found us, and my dad tried to take some photos of the pelican, but he wasn't so lucky as I was.  After that, we started to walk into the town.  Before we started walking, the parents saw a place for a trolley stop with a map.  While looking at the map, they noticed that the trolley could take you up to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Garden.  They figured we could first go up there.  Next to the trolley stop was taxi drivers.  They said it would take a while to get up their via the trolley.  We decided to take a taxi up to the gardens, and we would walk back down the canyon.

     The taxi ride only took a few mins.  The Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Garden was located near the top of Avalon Canyon.  We were dropped off, paid the entry fee, and went walking around.  You walked uphill through the gardens which ended with the large memorial that was at least 3 to 4 stories high. The botanical garden was filled with plants that are found on Catalina.  Some plants can be found on the main land, and others are special plants only found on the Island.  A majority of the plants were more desert like plants.  There were tons of cacti.  One of the noticeable things about the gardens was how nice and quiet it was.  In fact, even in the city, the quiet was noticeable and enjoying.  There were plenty of birds.  One of my favorite birds, which we saw a good amount of, was the wood pecker.  I love wood peckers mainly because of their red feathers on their head.  As you walked through the gardens, you can hear them pecking away at the palm trees in the garden.  Ashley, Jon, and I stayed together while my parents moved slower.  Out of all the plants, I think the coolest I saw was the Lemonade Berry, which I guess would be found only on Catalina.  When we made it to the Memorial, you had to climb a good amount of stairs.  Once at the top, you had a great view of the botanical gardens, the canyon, the ocean, and surprisingly you could see the snow covered Mt. San Bernardino and San Gorgonio Mountain which is near home.  It made sense since the mountains are the highest points in southern California.  After the memorial, we walked back towards the entrance and killed time until the parents came back to the entrance.  In the mean time, we were getting hungry.

     After the gardens, we walked the 1 1/2 miles back down through the canyon into the city.  It was a nice walk.  Along the way, we found a two geocaches that were along the road back into town.  When we got to town, we started looking around for a place to eat.  We came across a small pizza place called the Antonio's Original.  We decided to eat there.  The place was small, only four tables, but lucky for us we were able to get seated right away.  While we waited for our food, we were given peanuts to eat, which was different.  We also were allowed to throw our shells on the floor.  It felt weird to do, but I did it anyway.  The pizza was quite good.  We ordered two pizzas.  Ashley ordered a small cheese pizza that had ground up pepperoncini peppers, which we thought was a great idea.  The second pizza was a large pepperoni, Sausage, and Canadian Bacon, which is my favorite.  The pizza was great because of the flavor and the warmth since it was a cool day.  The sausage was amazing, because the sausage was like Roberto's Pizza, which was my favorite pizza place in Highland until it closed down.  

     With being satisfied with lunch, we walked around Avalon looking at the shops it had to offer, and slowly headed our way towards the Catalina Casino, located on the other point of the harbor on the north west side.  The parents were moving slower than the three of us, just like at the gardens.  We ended up getting to the casino before them.  My dad wanted to see the casino.  We got there, but there was nothing for us to do but walk around it since we were not going to see a movie or take a tour.  We walked past the dive park, where a few dozen of divers were there exploring the undersea life.  We walked towards the front of the casino after walking around it, and sat down waiting for the parents. They arrived and did the same thing we did.  It was time to were we had to head over to the Green Pier in the middle of the harbor, for we had a tour to take, which I choose since we were on Catalina for my birthday.

We took an Undersea Exploration tour on a semi-submersible boat.  This boat and a section that was under the water, with windows so you can see the sea life around the boat.  The tour lasted 45 mins, and the boat took us through lover's cove to the southeast of the harbor and close to the dive park to the north west of the harbor.  We saw tons of fish right up close.  The tour was amazing.  Not as long as you would of hopped for, but it was good.  My favorite was seeing the Garibaldi.  I would of hoped to see a shark, or a ray, but didn't get that lucky this time.  As the tour ended, we were able to go on top to see Avalon as we were going back to the pier.  I was hoping to get a few good photographs of the city, but the sun was starting to set, and was right behind the city, making it impossible.  I moved over to the other side of the boat, when we noticed a sea lion swimming around.  Of course, we don't get to see one while in the bottom of the boat but when on the surface.  

     After the tour, we continued to walk around and look at more shops.  The sun was setting and it was starting to get dark.  The city seemed to be almost empty, as many people either left to go back to the main land or to their hotels since it was dark.  A good amount of businesses was starting to close.  I was worried that everything would close, and we wouldn't be able to get dinner.  After the sun was almost set, we had decided to stop and have dinner.  Ashley wanted clam chowder in a bread bowl, so we looked for places with that option.  The place that was the cheapest was Luau Larry's.  It was an half restaurant half bar.  We went in, and got sat down with a view of the harbor.  The food was quite good.  I had fish and chips, and the fish was good, and the tartar sauce was homemade.  Made it quite delicious.  After a good dinner, we walked around for a few more shops, for those who were open.  Then we ended up walking a few of the streets.  Saw a few Christmas lights, but nothing to massive.  We came towards the mini golf course, which was still open.  I wanted to play, but no one else seemed to care.  So we ended up walked over to the beach wall, well Ashley, Jon, and I.  We sat there looking over the harbor, and listening to the gentle waves crashing on the beach.  With rocks on the beach, the sound was amazing.  Avalon had Christmas lights along the main street, and with the streets empty of people, it made it a nice relaxing time.  It was cold, but that didn't bother me.  The parents ended up sitting at a bench near by.  Unsure why they didn't join us at the beach wall.  Sadly, after about 20 mins, it was time for us to walk back over to the Catalina Express Terminal.  As we got there, I realized that you can see the bright lights form Los Angeles from the terminal.  It was the last ferry back to the main land for the day, which left at 7:30 pm.  I bought a hot chocolate at a small story right near the terminal, then waited in light to board.  This time around, we got one of the large boats on the fleet, and what seemed as the newest.  We sat on the lower deck.  This time, the boat was way smoother headed back to Long Beach.  We got back at 8:40 pm, and we headed on the hour and 30 mins back home. 

     The day was a very nice and good day.  I wished I could of stayed there for a few days instead of just a day, but it still was a good amount of fun, and a great birthday gift.  I will defiantly plan to return someday, hopefully in the summer, so I can do things like snorkeling and kayaking.