11 days on Catalina

Captain Chris and I

I recently had a 2 week summer vacation from my job as Arrowbear Music Camp nurse, so we jumped aboard Espiritu, hoisted the sails and headed across the channel to Catalina Island.

We dropped anchor at the Isthmus, Two Harbors

We hiked across the isthmus to the entrance to Cat Harbor. 

You can see teeny tiny Chris standing on the shore.

This houseboat found a novel way to get satellite for the boat

Years and years of wind blowing across the isthmus have made this tree permanently 

lean to starboard, while Chris impersonates

The closest we'll ever get to "swinging"

Each evening we broke out the guitar, piccolo and fiddle as the sun set and serenaded the anchorage with Irish music. 

It felt appropriate to play a sea shanty as this clipper ship glided by

A local taught us how to prepare cactus fruit for eating. 

       Chris with our cactus fruit in front of the Harbor Reef Restaurant, 

the site of Natalie Wood's last meal, which I'm pretty sure was NOT cactus fruit

After a couple of lovely days at the Isthmus, we headed over to White's Landing, dropped anchor and headed ashore for a hike. 

Chris: "I know there's supposed to be a wild buffalo around here somewhere..."

Mr. and Mrs. Buffalo relaxing in the midday sun

We were careful to keep our distance, as a curious hiker was gored earlier this summer. Only a week after our visit someone had be airlifted off the island with a punctured lung, courtesy of a Catalina bison. 

Cactus flower

Hiking down a steep trail above Moonstone

Newport Harbor Yacht Club 

Looking down on White's Landing

Looking up from the beach

Locals

Wall of clouds

I was excited to make the long trek to the top of the island, home of the Catalina Airport. It's a 2,000 foot elevation gain. 

We were told to "Watch for Foxes" along the trail. I don't see any here, do you?  :-P 

After a couple of hours, we finally arrived at the top

I was expecting the "Catalina Airport and restaurant" to be a WWII quonset hut with a beat up picnic table. Boy was I wrong!

Check out the excellent gift shop at the Catalina airport!

Captain Chris: "Maybe we should buy a plane!" 

Me: "cricket, cricket..."

It was so clear you could see all the way across the channel to the LA coastline

Who even knew this was HERE on Catalina? What a great find...

After a delicious lunch watching the planes come and go, it was time to head out.

Many miles to go before we sleep

The views were spectacular. Visible are the San Gabriel Mountains and Mt. Baldy, near Los Angeles

It was hot, though. 

Captain Chris waits in the shade while I lolligag along taking photos

It was so hot that my hiking sandals began melting, falling apart and self destructing halfway through the hike.

A kind pilot at the airport shared some duct tape with us. If there's one thing you know every small plane needs on board, it's duct tape! 

Survival tip: If you only eat half of a pretzel with every bite, according to Xeno's paradox (which states if you only go half the distance between two points, and keep going half the distance, over and over again, theoretically you will never reach your destination) I should never, EVER run out of pretzels. In case of emergency, this bag of pretzels could keep me alive for weeks!   

This sign is along the trail as the beach gets closer and closer...

A well earned barefoot walk along the beach after our long, long hike

The next day we dinghied into Avalon for a Big Olaf's ice cream. They have sugar free now, so our tasty treat was sort of guilt free. :-) 

The kitchen sink clogged -- Captain Chris to the rescue!

We met frequent Mexico cruisers Mike and Judy aboard Lunautica. 

Judy and her cute little salty sea dog Gunner

Catalina sunset

We went on another hike with Mike from Lunautica 

Higher and higher we went...

The top. That's Saddleback Mountain in Orange County off in the distance

Happy

Heading down along some precipitous cliffs

Meandering trail

Sadly, due to ocean warming most of the kelp is dead and dying on the island. On the upside, the beaches and shoreline are now tropical blue as the rocks and sand below the surface (previously hidden by the giant kelp forests) now shine in the sun. 

A rope climb near Newport Harbor Yacht Club

Lovely

This is why we love Catalina

Each day after hiking ashore we swam and swam in the warm, clear water,

 then settled in aboard to watch the sunset

This awesome sunset seems to be literally painted on 

the surface of the water with bright pink paint

It was like we were cruising all over again. We had such a beautiful, relaxed time that we even talked about heading to sea again. We're more experienced now, it would be easier now, wouldn't it? Might it? Wow, we could really do it again, do it better this time, couldn't we?

Who knows. Stranger things have happened.

Catalina Adventure: Kiss of the Sea Monster

Beautiful Long Point on Catalina Island 

    Chris and I sailed to Catalina Island over Labor Day with his brother

 Scott, down from the Bay Area for our annual Catalina sailing adventure.

Long Point is about halfway between Avalon and Two Harbors.

    A gorgeous orange starfish crept around the dock to say "Ahoy" to us as  

      we threw off the dock lines in San Pedro for our Catalina Island sail

A large pod of dolphins swam off of our bow wake during our sail to Catalina...

...and then they moved on. See ya later, boys!

     We scored a mooring at Hen Rock beach, and after a light

 dinner, the brothers did some stargazing and catching up

 under the crystal clear sky

The next morning, Chris bravely (or crazily?) decided to climb Hen Rock

  Master of his domain. To my relief (and with a wifely eye roll) 

      he quickly jumped in the water after conquering the great

 peak (LOL). Boys will, apparently, always be boys! 

               After the great white hunter returned from his grand adventure (really, 

              we're too old to be doing such crazy things...aren't we? Wait...don't

                answer that), the 3 of us jumped in the dinghy to do some exploring.

           After all, it was a gorgeous sunny day!

  The giant waves and swells of Hurricane Marie destroyed this 

dock at a nearby Girl Scout camp merely days before. Wow...

       We took Scott on a dingy tour of the area.

 The sun was so bright, and the sea was so crystalline blue...

Can you believe this is only 30 miles away from Los Angeles? 

       We had heard of a cave at Long Point that goes all the way through 

        and comes out at the waters edge on the other side, but we had never 

           explored it. If you look in this photo, you can see the tiny sliver of blue

            sky at the other end of the cave. Victorious after his Hen Rock climb, 

          Chris said: "Come on! Let's explore it!" Scott took the helm of our

      dinghy, dropped off Chris and I at the entrance of the cave, and motored

   around to the cave exit to retrieve us.

               We climbed through the dark cave and emerged on the other side, 

with Scott waiting in the dinghy. 

        The cave exit on the other side. You can see the light of the entrance

       side at the top of the cave. Unfortunately the exit was not as easy as

       the entrance. As this photo shows, it had a very surgy slot tunnel 

       about 10 feet deep and 20 feet long that we had to traverse in order to 

           enter the open sea. Waves were surging in and out of it, over and 

      around the sharp, craggy boulders that lined it on all sides. 

   Chris traversed the slot easily, with the waves only coming up to

 his waist. He entered the ocean safely. And now it was my turn.

                          

      I had a decision to make. I considered signaling to the boys that 

         I would turn back, and they would pick me up at the original cave 

          entrance. Bright red warning flags were firing off in my brain all 

      over the place. But Chris made it through easily...

and I am the brave first mate...

So I decided to go for it, and began easing myself down into the slot.

Almost immediately, larger waves started surging through. 

                 I took a deep breath, grabbed crags of rock to stabilize

                myself and tried to move through the slot. Another much 

                  larger wave barreled through and tossed me back deeper into

                  the cave,  then sucked me back to my starting point, as if to taunt:

 "Ha, ha...not so easy, is it? Wanna try again?"

By the way, we later named this cave the Sea Monster. 

                 I sensed I was losing control, but there was little I could 

                      do at that point. I quickly tried again to exit, but the Sea Monster 

                      was having too much fun to let me go so easily. Another wave,

                    the largest one yet, crashed into the cave, enveloping it and me, 

                     tossing me into the depths of the slot like a dirty kitchen towel. 

                         Now completely powerless, she began sucking me out and I knew

                       I was going for the ride of my life. There was nothing to do but hope

                        for the best. The thundering waves were now over my head,  and I 

                   was sucked completely under. I could see nothing.

                  I was at the complete mercy of the sea and the rocks.

The Sea Monster

              Suddenly, I was in the open ocean. My hip wracked with pain. 

            Chris and Scott were about 50 feet in front of me, 

      encouraging me to swim. 

                            But the Sea Monster wasn't through with me yet.

                         Smirking (I'm sure she was smirking...), she began sucking 

                me back into the cave for another go.

                             I swam and I swam and I swam like I've never swam before. 

                                     I think I broke the free-style speed record for my age group,

                               because after about 10 frenetic pumps of my arms (during 

                             which time I basically stayed stationary against the sucking 

                          power of The Sea Monster) she finally let me go.

          

  For real this time.

  My legs were covered with cuts and bruises, 

but that wasn't the worst of it...

         I received this lovely parting gift from my adventure.

      I call it the "Kiss of the Sea Monster." 

                    We returned to Espiritu and I nursed my wounds while the 

                           boys went for a swim.  It's not smart to be in the same water as 

                      great white sharks when one has weeping, bloody wounds. 

          One encounter with a Sea Monster was enough for one day. :-) 

Scott plays on the flopper stopper 

           After the swim, the boys went off for more exploring of the island

            We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing aboard playing cards, 

music and just laughing about old times

                       Well, all things considered, I was very, VERY grateful to have made

                          it through the weekend with only cuts, bumps and bruises and no

                fractures or paraplegia. My encounter with 

               the Sea Monster could have really been catastrophic.

       Maybe we'll take it easy and act our age during next year's annual Catalina Adventure.

Maybe...or maybe not.   :-) 

"Live your life and forget your age." -- Anonymous