Catalina

This Memorial Day weekend found me on Catalina Island. How can I live so close and not go? My time remaining in California is flying by. Catalina highlights and insights:

1. Take some Dramamine one hour prior to boarding the Catalina Express. It’s a bumpy ride.

2. If you don’t have camping gear, the next most affordable option is staying in an “E” room at Hermosa Hotel and Cottages for $75/night. The friendly staff will show you upstairs to your room, which consists of a bed and a rusted out sink in the corner. No television. Communal toilets and shower are down the hall. Wear shower shoes.

3. Show up at C.C. Gallagher shortly after 5:30pm. Order a seaweed salad, a couple of salmon nigiri, and a spicy tuna roll. This simple meal will be much more delicious than any other meal you will get at any other restaurant on the island at any time of day. For breakfast, buy fresh raspberries and a Milk Chug from Vons. Don’t beat yourself up for going out on a limb and trying to find good food at other local establishments, only to watch yourself fail again and again. It’s not you, it’s them.

4. Buy a 7:00pm movie ticket for the theatre down at the Avalon Casino (not a place of gambling but rather a gathering place of entertainment in the Italian etymology sense of the word). The movie changes weekly. It doesn’t really matter what is showing…spending only a few minutes inside the theatre is worth the price of admission. Arrive early and listen to an organist play one of only four remaining Page Organs in the world. During the performance, admire the beautiful art deco frescoes and sparkling lights that adorn the ceiling of the first theatre built exclusively for the advent of “talkies” (but also has an orchestra pit, you know, just in case this “talkies” phenomenon doesn’t catch on).

5. Go back to Avalon Casino the next day and buy a ticket for the Behind the Scenes Tour. Soak in the history and listen attentively to the docent’s stories about how the Wrigley family (yeah, that Wrigley family) had the casino built back in 1929 to commemorate their 10^th year of owning the island. Find yourself wishing you’d been there, in the Avalon Casino ballroom, when swing first hit the scene.

6. There’s no need to pay one of the many tourist companies to take you out snorkeling. Rent a mask, snorkel, and wetsuit (this isn’t the Caribbean…the water is cold, folks!) for $10-15 from one of the many snorkel and scuba shops and walk down the street to Lover’s Cove. Suit up and go for it. You don’t even need to swim away from shore to be surrounded by schools of silvery and blue fish, along with bright orange Garibaldi (the official state fish of California). The giant kelp forest sways back and forth, parting to let you through and swishing shut behind you. The water is clear enough to allow visibility of 60-100 feet, aided by rays of sunlight that hit the surface of the water and splinter into 100 beams of light shooting straight onto the ocean floor. Amazing!