From Oxnard we sailed to Two Harbors, Catalina Island, October 9th 2011

On Sunday, October 9th we left Channel Islands Marina (Oxnard) early in the morning and cruised south to Catalina Island about 60 nautical miles distant. Winds were light so we motored most of the way. We passed one large COSCO freighter, a large sailboat and many fishing boats along the way, and more offshore oil platforms. Porpoise frequently appeared a long side of the boat or ahead of the bow. They seem to enjoy surprising us by suddenly jumping up out of the water just a few feet from the cockpit.

Catalina Island is the most accessible island in the Channel Islands group. Most of the island’s roads and trails are open to the public, and three large harbors provide moorage for a thousand boats. We stayed at Two Harbors which is a large bay on the north side of the island facing the mainland. Across a short isthmus from Two Harbors is a bay on the north side of the island called Catalina Harbor. We walked the ½ mile dirt road to Catalina Harbor to see what it looked like.  At the east end of Catalina Island is the town of Avalon with its bay and very fashionable and expensive harbor facilities. In the guide books, Avalon looks more like it belongs on the French Riviera than the Californian coast. We didn’t visit Avalon.

Mooring at Catalina Island is different than anywhere we stayed so far. They make the best use of space in the harbors by using a two anchor mooring system where boats are tied-in bow and stern. This allows many more boats to be moored closely together, so they can better serve the large number of recreational boaters in southern California. Lucky for us this is not the peak boating season for Catalina Island and we found the harbors almost empty. When we approached our mooring buoy and picked up the tag line, the harbor patrol guy said it looked like we had done this before. We told him it was our first attempt. He then asked, “what kind of boat is that”? I told him it was a Pacific Seacraft and he said, “Oh, one of those old classic boats”. “Old I said?” “She’s not old, why she’s in her prime” She’s weatherly and fast, very fast if properly handled”.  Thanks to the movie Master Commander I have a lot of dialogue for this kind of an off handed remark.

After we settled in, we enjoyed hiking along the trails around the harbor and see views of the harbor below surrounded by tropical palm trees. It really is beginning to feel like the tropics. However, the temperature remains on the cool side and at night it still gets cold enough for sweaters and jackets.