I've been on Santa Catalina Island since Friday afternoon. If you aren't quite sure where that is (and honestly, they are quite modest about their popularity, self-describing themselves as a "lesser-known island"), here is an illuminating link: Santa Catalina Island, California
Am presently staying at the Glenmore Plaza Hotel. Firstly, let me be clear here: I booked the hotel through hotels.com, which is usually pretty good for cheap rates and didn't disappoint this time. It is the oldest hotel on the island, and also the least expensive. An old Victorian style building, yellow, hard to miss - in fact, I'd forgotten to print out my confirmation and indeed had forgotten the hotel's name with nothing other than a vague recollection of where it was, and I still found it. Leading me to mention that Catalina's town of Avalon is not very large. The rooms in the hotel are quite cozy in a sort of non-Euclidian way.
Avalon itself is hyper-tourism incarnate, at least near the docks. I've heard that it costs $10K a year to have a private boat mooring here. Hm-mmm. Just investigated, and mooring fees cost $20 to $80 per night based on boat length...so watch out, all you size queens! If you had a yacht (and the likelihood is great, of course) and were moored for a year, it would be a little over $29K. Gosh. Lucky you. The town is jam-packed with restaurants and specialty shops, although this time of year they open and close rather whimsically. Tonight I went to a place called The Landing, which was nice enough...salads and steaks, a full bar, nothing exotic. The best part of the room (to me) was the fireplace, which I sat so close to my eyes began to water. Has been a cold day.
Out on boats all day. I'd wanted to rent a bike and explore the island, unwittingly assuming you could ride out and around the coast. However, for those who may have the same ambition, the bikes are relegated to Avalon Proper. So I nixed that idea, and went in search of other fare. Was surprised to discover that whales are already migrating - the gray whales are passing by. And so are orcas, since they like to eat the grey whale calves...a bit of info I'm less than pleased with. The gent in the whale watch booth insisted that the orcas only eat the gray whales' tongues. I have not been able to verify this grisly piece of information, nor am I sure I want to. Signed up for a trip (with a small prayer that no orcas would show up). I've been on a few whale-watching sojourns, and they always go out on large ferry-style boats. The set-up here is a little different. I arrived at the assigned meeting place and was told to head to Gate 5 and "look for the yellow dinghy". And sure enough, it was a tiny yellow dinghy. Thrilling really - I like more personal adventures, so this was a good sign. 5 other people arrived, and off we went. I wore four layers, plus a hat and scarf, which was far too hot for the general weather, but once out on the water, damn! Freezing!!! We went to the south and west around the lower tip of the island past "Lover's Cove", past the quarry...eyebrows raised a little at the sight of a quarry on what seems like a very finite amount of land. "Iron and silver used to be mined here, but now only granite is exported." (we asked)
As for fauna, there were many sea lions (discovery: the Catalina sea lion is smarter than the average bear and is the specific animal used in circus shows and the like); one very fidgety bald eagle (whose eggs are finally hatching on their own after a very long recovery from exposure to DDT); a mass of pelicans on poo-splattered rocks; and finally, the show-stopper(s).
We bounced and jounced our way toward sea a bit to locate sea mammals of any stripe or color...seemed pretty barren until one little white wake appeared in the distance. The captain announced, "We might have a dolphin!"; as it got closer, it looked to be more. But when they arrived, oh my god. Hundreds and hundreds of dolphins!! Who decided they might like to play for a bit. Lots of flipping, jumping and slapping, and riding the boat's wake. Wonderful! The trip was more than worth it before, but this event kind of made the entire New Year feel right. These were Common dolphins. And so many of them! ^^ While enjoying many (perceived as) benificent playful aquatic mammals, we also had the slightly less fun experience of seeing a waterspout form. But a unique trip, that I'll grant! Was great fun and just what I was looking for. Got back to land soaked through (the boat bounced and splashed quite a bit once we headed away from the coast), my glasses spotted with saltwater, and my camera lens (protected by a filter) as well. Didn't realize how numb my extremities were until I tried to write. Entertaining results. But, not being able to give up on a good thing, I dashed off and signed up for a "nighttime underwater tour" of the coast.
The nighttime tour was a bit of a letdown - was hoping for sharks, rays, octopus, something terribly dramatic...the underwater tours at night are to find predators and scavengers, and they tend to hide. The company had gone out and placed 75 pounds of bait on the ocean floor. By the time we started making the rounds, the bait was covered with hundreds of lobsters. These were different from east coast lobsters, no giant claws. And lobsters would be almost all there was to see, other than the occasional garibaldi glaring out flourescently from its domain; also a few bass and sardines. And the kelp forest. Giant strands of bladder kelp, so thick in the water they covered the front of the boat. Amazing. I fancy I saw an eel as well. The best part of the trip for me was when all lights were shut off and we watched the bioluminescence (its light activating because it is scared, supposedly), millions of little particles streaming by. The crew informed us that since the island's plumbing is 75% salt water, we might want to shut off our lights and flush the toilet if we wished to see more of the bioluminescent organisms...! Poor little guys.
And so the night ended. After that, was frozen to the bone...no more adventures. Went to the aforementioned Landing, had a coffee with a shot of amaretto and a salad, then called it a night. There have been more exciting endings to a day, but it will do :)
Addendum: found this YouTube vid and it is nigh-exactly what I saw (was looking for my captain's video, didn't find it). "My" dolphins were more frisky though, leaping in the air and flipping outrageously. Give it a minute. All those little white wakes in the distance? Watch as they catch up to the boat :)
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