Back to Catalina Island

We are at it again. It's getting to late October, the weather is great, so we decide to sail to Catalina Island. We went from San Diego and sailed 7 hours to Oceanside for the night. We are now motor sailing 7 hours to Catalina and the weather has become summer-like. Jenée took a couple of hours to clean and polish the stainless steel rails, in her summertime gear. I'm doing what I always do in these situations - act like a peeping Tom.

OK, I'm coming out. "Gee honey those rails are really shiny. Plus, I'm getting a great shot of Catalina in the distance."

Really, you're out here to shoot pictures of Catalina? "Why yes, I am dearest".

"Oh, hi honey, I'm getting a nice shot of the dinghy".

You're taking pictures of the dinghy? "Yes! Um, I mean no".

Well then, we are in Two Harbors, Catalina. We plan to catch up with our good friends Linda and Ron on their 44' Norseman - Ditto. There is also a sailing and cruising event covering the weekend. This is the last event of the year for Two Harbors, so it should be a blast.

We are now looking towards shore and plan to head in to check it out.

The harbor is pretty quiet right now with just a few boats, but it's only Thursday.

I grabed this aerial shot of Two Harbors so you can see the two harbors. The bottom harbor is where we are in Isthmus Cove. The harbor on the top left is Catalina Harbor, or Cat Harbor. There are less than 200 year round residents here - a few more in the summer. Cat Harbor is the only all weather harbor on the island. We'll take a stroll over there and check it out in more detail. Time to roll.

We are walking the 0.4 mile trip across to Cat Harbor. It's pretty dry here now. We will come back later in the season when the hills are green.

On the walk over, we spot an LA Sheriff's County chopper. Now you know, Catalina is part of LA County. They loaded up with Sheriff Deputies and took off.

A look at Cat Harbor. We'll come here on our next trip with Jungle.

A closer look southwest, out to sea.

We walk back to Isthmus Cove and come across the Banning House Lodge. This is a 12 room B&B built as a private residence in 1910 by the Banning Brothers. They originally were providing steamship transportation from Los Angeles to Catalina. They saw the tourism value and purchased the island in 1892.

We approach and see a great view of Cat Harbor. The 3 Banning brothers would come via steamship to Avalon, then hop on horse drawn wagon to make the 2 day trek to Two Harbors.

Zooming in for a better view of the harbor. The Banning Bros. father is Gen. Phineas Banning. He made his fortune by setting up transportation of goods from the Port of Los Angeles (Long Beach) to points inland. Later, he was instrumental in developing and expanding the port itself. He supported the Union during the Civil War and based on that, was given the honorary title of Brigadier General even though he never served in the army. He insisted on being called General for the rest of his life. I like that. From now on call me Captain.

Full view of Cat Harbor from the lodge's back patio. The Banning brothers invested in all sorts of tourist attractions and invested heavily in Avalon. Business was rolling along through the turn of the 20th century until 1915, when a major fire hit Avalon. Coupled with the fire, tourism decreased significantly with the onset of World War I. By 1918, the brothers were desperately looking for a buyer and found William Wrigley Jr. Love that Juicy Fruit gum! (Even if it is flavored synthetic rubber)

The lodge also affords a great view to the other side of Catalina and Isthmus Cove.

Taking a closer look we see Jungle - 2nd white hulled sailboat on right in the middle of photo. The white blob on the top is Ship Rock.

While waiting for our friends to sail in tonight, we decide to dinghy further out on the island for a little picnic. It feels like a summer day, so let's dress accordingly.

Not very crowded over at Emerald Bay my love.

Not too crowded at all.

Let's go swimming dear.

Enough, my loving dip wad, the water is too cold. My life is difficult, but I accept the challenge and will go on. Thank you.

Gee hon, the tide went out a bit on us.

Back at Isthmus Cove, we see Jungle at mooring - back right.

The sailors are arriving for the weekend. Jungle is to big to come in here.

Sniff, sniff, so we are out there.

Hey, our friends on S/V Ditto made it! Nice miniature photo. Not mine. We can put it in our locket.

We go for a morning stroll out past Cat Harbor. The cool morning fog is lifting.

Nice effect.

Here is Linda and Ron with Linda's son Kyle. Kyle is going to school in San Francisco - cool guy.

The band is back. Great three piece band playing 70's - 90's music. Including some Jimy Hendricks - very cool. "S'cuse me, while I zip my fly"

Gang photo. We had a great weekend with our friends. Unfortunately we need to sail out on Saturday night to arrive back in San Diego on Sunday morning. We have a busy week coming up.

Fortunately, we have a full moon for the sail back - with flat seas. Not bad at all. We enjoy overnight sailing.

Here is a screen shot from our GPS. The red line towards the top shows our route from Oceanside. The diagonal line is our course from Catalina (top left) to San Diego (bottom right). It's about 3 AM and we all arrive at 10 AM. Jungle is center of screen.

It's 9 AM Sunday and Point Loma and San Diego Bay are clearly in sight.

It's 4 PM and our little fluff ball is clearly in sight. Katie made the trip to Catalina with us. She has 30,000 miles at sea and counting. Name a family pet who can top that.

The Captain is kicking back at home.

Time for an X-Ray. Check out the screws in my knee. Just getting a little oil change. Everything is looking good. I'm told there may be some degeneration within my surgically repaired right knee. Mostly due to aging. Really? No, can't be! But I digress.

Garrett is beside himself. No wait, he's beside me. See you soon everyone.