Catalina mountain trail with Two Harbors in the distance
For the first time since returning Espiritu to SoCal from Florida,
Chris and I finally threw off the dock lines and sailed her from
San Pedro to Catalina Island.
And before we knew it, we were back on the open water!
(Palos Verdes is in the background)
You know this is where he wants to be, in spite of the
countless hours of work it took to get Espiritu back home
After a 4 hour sail, the island loomed in the distance. She looks a little
foreboding here, like the Island of Dr. Moreau. But she's a gentle place.
We dropped anchor just outside Two Harbors
and took the dinghy ashore
The Two Harbors dinghy dock
We passed this boat on the dinghy ride in. This guy's either an attorney...
or divorced...or probably both.
We took advantage of the great weather (you never know when June Gloom
will hit out here!) and headed out on a long hike into the back country
Most Catalina visitors never leave Avalon, the "big city" on the island.
As the map shows, we anchored at "Two Harbors" then hiked over to
the Isthmus to the far side of the island, home of "Cat Harbor."
Sleepy but beautiful Cat Harbor
We couldn't believe our luck when we tripped upon a herd of eight deer!
We stopped, kept our distance, and watched
in awe as they passed ahead of us
We've seen one, two or three deer before, but never a full herd.
You never know what you'll see in the wild, and thanks to the Catalina
Conservancy, 95% of Catalina's land remains pristine.
What a privilege to observe these beauties in their natural habitat.
As we climbed higher, the views of Cat Harbor improved
Cactus and old fence
We got to peek over the edge at the little seen
or explored far side of the island
Giant cacti grove
The road less traveled
Back in Two Harbors, we rewarded ourselves for our hard work with a
nice, greasy snack bar lunch and caught a World Cup game at the bar.
The next day we spent a leisurely afternoon on the cute little beach,
and then just relaxed aboard Espiritu, swimming, playing cards and music.
We're so fortunate to have this island paradise so close by, a mere 26 miles across the sea from Los Angeles. We're so grateful conservationists have kept her wild and pristine.
And that's just ABOVE the surface. Diving the Catalina kelp forests
is a spectacular experience. Catalina Island really does have it all.
How lucky are we?
Oh my gosh, let's just see if this posts
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