Looking for a Catamaran Cruising Blog?

If you found this blog via a link from a cruising site ~ we did cruise Mexico on our Ocean 49 cat for a season. See the first text box on the right for links to our preparations, trip down Baja, life in Mexico, cruising and trip back up to SoCal. Unfortunately we are back to the grind in the USA...

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Catalina Island is a Nuthouse in a Nutshell

Well it's more like being in a nuthouse.
Actually, it's exactly like being in a nuthouse.
Not that I would know...
Too many people.
Too many powerboats zipping by making giant wakes.
Too many jetskis.
Eight billion rent a kayaks.
Some that go under our boat...
Eek!
Avalon was CRAZY!
But we still had fun...
First we had to get there.
And dodge whales on the way.

Then we had to find a place to anchor, as there is no way, no how to get a mooring in Avalon in the summer for a 49' cat.
Not that we wanted to be in Avalon anyway.
But we did want to go there, for our one night out!
So we anchored North right off of Frog Rock.Just at the shore boat limit, figuring we would be out of the craziness.
Not quite.
There is a rent-a-jetski barge between Frog Rock and Avalon.
What will they think of next?
And a boat on the beach.Should have bought a Delta!
We watched who we hoped was the owner strip the boat each morning for a few hours.
And allowed his dog to sit on the beach and bark.
The. Entire. Time.
And watched the Harbor Patrol and Lifeguard patrol cruise by and not seem to care.
So we didn't either.
Except about the dog.
I considered tossing strychnine laced hamburger balls on to the beach.
No, not for the dog, for the owner!

Uh what else?
Watched the "Tole Mour" sail by.Later with full sail up, but partially hidden by the 257 thousand power boats moored in Avalon...

Oh yea ~ time for Luau Larry's!Where we were lucky enough to get our favorite bar stools in the window seats!
The best place in Avalon to people watch...
We watched these teenage boys get lots of hugs.


Smart boys!


Including a hug from Ramrod, the mascot from "Sweet Lorraine".














Don of "Interlude" (crew on "Sweet Lorraine"), Kellie and Dave of "Sweet Lorraine" joined us for drinks and dinner.






And Ramrod, don't forget Ramrod.









Always a fun place!Next stop, The Marlin Club!I had forgotten how cool this bar was!
Might have had to do with the mass quantities of purple drinks I had with Gina Greene the last time I was in there...













Ok, it was time to get out of the nuthouse and head up island.We slowly cruised up the front side, poking our bow into each anchorage and mooring area.
There are lots of cool campgrounds...
Straight out of those 1980 teenage horror films, complete with the individual cabins, floating docks, small sailboats and camping teenagers.

With all the moorings it is hard to find a place to anchor, but we got lucky at Emerald Cove.Beautiful.
Clear water.
Shallow enough water to not have to put 200' of chain out.
Friendly harbor patrol guy who told us exactly where to anchor (saves $37 / night!).
And a boyscout camp with a bazillion little boyscouts...
In kayaks.
In canoes.
Swimming.
Hiking.
Singing.
Sailing.
So fun to watch!

And Jim and Lucy of "Passage II" met up with us!So hora feliz on their boat, which gave us a nice view of our boat.I kayaked.
Hiked part way up the hill.
Beachcombed.
We swam.
We cleaned kelp off of the saildrives, rudders and anchor chain.
We read.
Dinner on "Passage II".
Re-met Denis and Holly from "Tango" and had happy hour on "Meerkat" with "Passage II" and "Tango".
Did boat projects.
Jim changed the zincs.
Dinghied over to The Isthmus to take trash in, check out the poor excuse for a book exchange and explore the general store.





Loved the clear water!







And saw a dog with the longest tongue in the history of dogs.Said adios to "Tango".
Said adios to "Passage II" and headed back to Newport Beach...

8 comments:

Rene & Michael said...

Yep, sounds just like cruising in Mexico! Well, without all of the irritations... We can't wait to meet up with you guys later in the Summer.

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

Looks like a great place and it'd be even better without all the jetskis zipping around. I'm guessing it's a little pricey though?

judith said...

Looks like fun. What happens when one of those jetski-ers whacks his head or something harder on the underside of your boat? Who pays for the damage? Or do you get to make a flag for your mast from his back hide?

Randy, Nena and Hook said...

Ahhh...Luau Larry's. My favorite place. Crawling distance to the Pavilion Lodge next door.

Behan said...

A large, uncontrolled powerboat moving ~5 kts swiped through the Avalon mooring field when we were there last November. It came 5 feet from prematurely ending our cruise before HP (amazing people) got it under control. Ugh. We watchd this thing T-bone and totally crunch one boat, and badly damage a half dozen others. I do have some good memories of Catalina, but don't ever want to go back to Avalon!

Mz M. said...

Sounds like Seattle/Puget Sound during SeaFear ... I mean, SeaFair. I got driven off a local beach during the heatwave by all the diesel exhaust spewing out of the Navy ships, Canadian Navy ships, Coast Guard, tour boats, Victoria Clipper, harbor fire prevention boats, tugboats, ferries, private boats, etc., etc.

Markitos said...

And just think Drunkneers day is only 2 months away!!

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