Trip to Catalina Island

12/24/2022-12/27/2022

It was a beautiful day on December 24, the Chrismas eve and we headed towards the Catalina Island. It was an hour drive from San Diego to Dana point and one hour fifteen minutes via catalina express west in pacific ocean. The Dana point itself was great place to explore with beautiful ports and lavish restaurants. It was easy to get a parking pass and park nearby in the parking lot after you pay parking fee.

Santa Catalina, one of California’s Channel Islands, lies southwest of Los Angeles. It's known for its wildlife, dive sites and Mt. Orizaba, its highest peak with altitude of the 2097 ft. The resort town of Two Harbors lies to the north. To the south, in the city of Avalon, palm trees and cabanas line Descanso Beach. Avalon’s circular, art deco Catalina Casino is a cultural center with a movie theater, ballroom and museum.

Catalina express leaves the Dana point at 2:45 PM and its an hour and 25 minutes ride. Dana point is an  hour drive from north county, San Diego. The island is 22 mi (35 km) long and 8 mi (13 km) across at its greatest width. The Catalina Island is about 30 miles from Dana Point.

In the pacific ocean , way to catalina island. It was a nice blue water and cool breeze. Drinking hot chocolate and watching seamless and endless ocean was not only  fun but shows the beautiful nature in the water. I remember the whale watching trip I had at San Diego couple of years back,  and trip in south-china sea at Shenzen in the year 2007.

The golf cart is the main vehicle in the island for transportation that has about 4000 people. I love the concept of using golf around the Island as it conserve the environment. There are about 100 cars (my guess) When we reached the island, we took the taxi to go to the hamilton cove, the home for next three days.

Bison Tour: The Bison were brought to the catalina island in 1924 for shooing the movie, the vanishing american. Bison became the dominating animal in the island ruling widely in the north west side of the island. Its fun to have a bison tour where you will navigate the north west and west of the island where Bison rules and see the beautiful nature. There are currently about 100-200 Bisons ruling the Catalina Island. The trip take you to north west of the Catalina Island and further towards north west, where you can see the Los Angeles in the clear day. We also saw the amazing dwarf fox - they were really small whose ancestors are huge in the mainland.

Bison ruling the Catalina Island.

Zipline Trip. Zipline was fun from the top of the mountain ( so called ). I met the same driver who was driving hummer for the Bison Tour. The guy has a good history of the Catalina Island and talks about fire on 1915 when Island was half destroyed develo. He also talks about casino which is literally a ball room and the history of tiles manufacturing in Catalina Island and how Bison were introduced in the Island. The second part of the zipline was pretty long and exciting. It didn't excite me much although you can see the pacific ocean and it was long when you are ziplining. I had similiar experience of zipline in The Big Island, Hawai. 

Parasailing. This was totally a new experience for me. I find it very much fun and exciting as you put your safety belt and the captain start to let the rope go ahead with parachute. It will go upto 400 ft above high , you will see the tiny boat,  long rope and the port of Catalina Island. I find it very safe and relaxing on the top of the pacific ocean in Parasailing.

Glass bottom boat - fish watching trip. This is an almost an hour trip where you have opportunity to see thousands of the fishes from the bottom of the ship. Its amazing to see so many types of fishes and different types of living things below the ocean. Its very exciting trip that mesmerizes the complexity associated with the nature and how things are working perfectly, amidst of the natural complexities.

Food. Food was amazing in the Island , we tried few different types of food but sea food is dominating in the Island. It was usually very busy and hard to find the restaurant in the chrismas eve and christmas day.

Downtown catalina island

This was an amazing trip and I vow to return to Catalina Island in the future in this decade. The things remaining in my bucket list are day hike, submarine boat trip, trip to two harbor city, museum trip and botanical garden trip.