Catalina Excursion

We are now back from our long weekend excursion to Catalina island.  It was a beautiful weekend and we had such a good time.  Ian & Jo are wonderful hosts.

We set off early Friday afternoon after picking up a BLT at Mickey's Deli on Hermosa Beach (great sandwich; we should be working on commission).  We were all aboard Ian's boat Kiwi, which seemed rather apt.  Jo was still at work and the plan was that she would come across on the ferry on Saturday morning.  Ian set us to various tasks and we were pulling on various ropes not entirely sure what we were doing, but the Captain seemed satisfied with the results.  We motored out of the harbour to various wildlife watching, swimming or flying along.  The seals were lying around basking in the sun, while the pelicans and cormorants were either sunning themselves or diving into the water around us looking for lunch.  Motoring past the grand houses in Palos Verdes above Torrance beach, Ian pointed out the house that they used as Charlie's house in Charlie's Angels.  It was a massive white structure with columns and seemingly enough rooms to house a number of families.

Are you sure that we're supposed to be going that way?

We managed to find enough wind to get the sails up and got about 20mins sailing with the motor off.  It was very peaceful and a great way to spend an afternoon.  We even saw a whale off in the distance.  It surfaced three times and cleared its blowhole.  The rest of the afternoon was uneventful with both of us getting a chance to skipper the boat.

Coming into the serene Isthmus Cove at Two Harbours got a bit gusty and there was a bit of excitement pulling down the sails in the wind.  We then had all sorts of fun trying to attach the boat to the mooring - but we got it third time lucky.  The skipper was very understanding with his two incompetent deckhands and it turned out that we were quick learners (see Saturday for details).  We then got the shoreboat to take us to the wharf as the dinghy had been having issues, and it had already got quite dark.

After dinner, we were preparing to get back into the shoreboat when the woman of a couple getting in before us slipped over and banged her head.  It was a reasonable knock, but in the US, this required paramedics and the sheriff to attend.  I was trying to be helpful shining our torch so that people could see what they were doing, but everyone was looking for a flashlight and seemed oblivious to the fact that a torch could do the same job.  Or even was the same thing with a different name.  Anyway, the sheriff clearly had enough of the guy holding the torch and got us to move about 5 metres away.  I was helping - he was just looking for something to do.

We eventually got back to the boat and then had to make the beds.  This was an experience trying to fit a square sheet on a triangular mattress.  We were in the prow (or as John says when we go fishing, the pointy bit at the front).  It was quite cosy, and the constant rocking loomed as an issue lying down, but it was great.  First night's sleep on the boat was a good one.

The morning dawned on another fantastic day.  The signs were so good that we set to work on the dinghy.  We took the outboard off and brought it aboard Kiwi.  After not really being able to follow some instructons we'd printed out off the internet, we just turned the outboard upside down and drained the old fuel out.  Once we had new petrol in it, it went like a dream.  One of those dreams that gets constantly interrupted and where you verge on waking up all the time.  But it got us to the wharf where we had breakfast.  At breakfast, we met Ian's outboard repair man who told us not to turn the outboard upside down as that would send oil everywhere.  Well, maybe we did it quick enough but it seemed to work.  After that, we went for a walk across the isthmus to Catalina Harbour.  It really is a stunning place.  At the point on Cat Harbour I took a 360 degree panorama picture with my phone.  Siobhan took a 180 degree one with the camera and it is way better:

We then packed up and headed down to Avalon, the town on Catalina.  It was a very pleasant cruise, but under motor again as there wasn't a breath of wind.  The sea was so smooth the seals were all lying on their stomachs sunbathing.  It was very weird to see - it looked like a bunch of dead seals.

We got to Avalon about lunch time - the same time that Jo arrived on the ferry.  We got allocated a mooring right in against the shore so that we had to navigate around a bunch of boats that were already moored.  Our practice from the previous evening paid off and we hooked it all up first time.  These rookies next door with a really flash boat had no idea and eventually needed the harbour master to tie up their boat.

Avalon is a beautiful place.  It was bought by the Wrigley family (of chewing gum fame) a while ago.  They built a great big house overlooking the bay.  The star of Avalon is the old casino building which now houses a movie theatre, a museum, and a massive ballroom that seems to be used occasionally for special events.  We didn't get to do a tour of it, but we did walk around it.  We also went on a "submarine" to check out the native fish life.  It was an interesting trip - to see how the fish flourish when the area is a marine reserve.

The trip back on Sunday was slow as once again there was no wind and we were under motor all the way.  We got to see a number of dolphins as we were heading out from Avalon.  We even passed behind a huge container ship too.  It makes you realise how big they are and how small Kiwi was by comparison.

As if that wasn't enough for a weekend, we got home and had enough time for a shower and shave and then headed out for a concert.  Ian had got tickets to "In the Mood" which was a tribute show based on the big band music of Glenn Miller et al.  The show had a big brass band and a very talented group of singers and dancers.  It was a great show and a cool end to a full-on weekend.