If you’re looking for a quick island getaway where you can relax and enjoy a truly memorable vacation, you don’t have to catch a flight to Lahaina or Puerto Vallarta. Instead, catch the ferry to Avalon or Two Harbors at Catalina Island, and enjoy a few days of snorkeling, scuba diving, hiking and sampling great food as well.
Start your visit with a leisurely walk along Avalon’s waterfront, taking in the boats, people and local sights while also checking out the great variety of activity along the waterfront.
Are you looking for some fun on the water? Check out some of the dive shops, where you can hop a ride on a boat and snorkel in shallow water teeming with life. Fish, rock formations, and aquatic plants will be only inches from your snorkeling mask as you take in the scenery lying in shallow water near Avalon.
If you are a scuba diver, you will find dive boats ready to take you to calm, beautiful coves surrounding the Island. One fish you can guarantee seeing in abundance is the garibaldi, a bright, orange fish flourishing in shallow water and kelp beds all around Catalina. Try out some snorkeling at Casino Point Dive Park, where you’ll get a quick introduction into some of the variety of sea life that abounds at Catalina.
Diving Catalina, based in Avalon, operates diving tours all around the Island, offering divers an opportunity to view a variety of local marine ecosystems in a safe, family-oriented setting. If you’re interested in a truly unique adventure, Diving Catalina’s night diving tours let you see sea creatures that emerge only after dark. Watch anglerfish attract prey with luminescent pods on their heads and sea anemones glowing with an eerie green light to attract prey into their tentacles.
Young thrill seekers can rent a jet ski at Catalina Jet Ski Rentals and cruise the coast adjacent to Avalon. Conditions in that area are usually fairly tame, with swells of two to three feet, but play it safe by buddy boating with a partner on another jet ski. One safety measure I always practice is carrying a handheld, waterproof VHF radio, like those offered by Standard Horizon.
The town of Avalon itself offers unique historic sites and fine restaurants, both of which are essential to enjoying a memorable weekend. Of course, Avalon’s most commanding site, visible from miles offshore, is the historic Catalina Casino, completed in 1929 to replace the previous Sugarloaf Casino. Built initially as a dance venue, it was never, as some suspect, a gambling hall. Today, the Casino continues to serve as a movie theater, ballroom and historical museum.
The Marlin Club, also on Crescent Ave., was established in 1931 and continues to be a popular meeting place for prominent business owners and elected officials from the mainland. Today, the club is open to the public with historic memorabilia and a full bar and restaurant menu. The bar itself is shaped like a large, wooden boat, and a whole wall is covered with an underwater seascape, painted in 1946 by local artist Bud Upton to make you feel as if you’re in a sunken ship on the sea floor.
Specializing in craft beer, cocktails and bar appetizers, the Marlin Club also offers tee shirts and other memorabilia to make this a visit to remember.
Other popular restaurants and bars are El Galleon Restaurant, with its red brick walls and quirky décor; the Catalina Island Brew House, which boasts “the only Catalina beer brewed on the Island;” and Coyote Joe’s Restaurant & Bar, another popular hangout for couples and families alike.
When we think of a Catalina Island getaway, we usually think of Avalon for its nightlife, shops and small-town atmosphere. However, more Island guests are learning about the charms of Two Harbors as well. Located toward the opposite end of the Island, this settlement has few permanent buildings but lots of room for hiking and exploring, including a mile-long trail leading to the rocks on the south side of the isthmus.
If you’re arriving at Two Harbors on your own vessel, you need to choose which side of the isthmus you want to stay. Isthmus Cove on the north side offers plenty of moorings, which you can rent by calling several days before arriving. If you are anchoring, the most secure locations are Little Fisherman’s Cove on the north side and, in Catalina Harbor on the south side, the area beyond the mooring field, where you should find depths of less than 50 feet.
You’ll find plenty on the menu at any one of the three restaurants in Two Harbors. In the middle of the day, you probably don’t want to get too filled up on food because you still have a lot of snorkeling and hiking to do, right? To meet your lunch appetite, order from West End Galley’s list of short order items, such as quiche, a breakfast burrito, a bagel sandwich, chicken tenders, a burger or pizza.
For dinner, you can enjoy the quiet, nautical-themed setting of the Harbor Reef Restaurant, which offers full, traditional meals like fish, steaks and burgers. Start with a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres as you peruse the menu, which lists “a hearty selection of appetizers, salads, burgers, steaks, ribs and chicken.” For dessert, try a buffalo milk, Catalina’s signature drink.
For a romantic meal on the beach, try out Harbor Sands Restaurant, where you can sit in your rented palapa, or in the bar area, or right on the beach and enjoy a meal of “fish, steaks, signature burgers and more.” And you can still order your cocktails and wine from the Harbor Reef Bar only a few steps away.
With all three restaurants, plus the bar, situated in close proximity, you can enjoy dinner at each one on a different day of a three-day weekend. And if all you need is a candy bar or a quick snack, you’ll find a surprisingly well-stocked grocery section at the Two Harbors General Store within the same building complex. And don’t forget to pick up a tee shirt and a shot glass to remember your visit.
Both ends of Catalina offer fun, historical sites, plus restaurants with lists of libations meeting your needs and those of your family and guests. Whether you arrive on your own vessel or take the ferry to Catalina, you will find plenty to do and great places to eat. Enjoy!
