We spent the day about Santa Catalina Island, one of the southern islands within the
The hikers were rewarded with excellent vistas of the surrounding waters, as well as the rugged terrain, and some of the iconic animals of Catalina Island were spotted i.e. American bison, bald eagle, and
During lunch, we moved the ship around to the north side of the island in order to go ashore at the one town on the island, the famous community of Avalon. This has long been home, or at least a vacation site, for many movie stars, entertainment idols, sports stars, and other famous people. Apparently, it is incredibly expensive to actually live here and maintain a boat and/or car. However, it is a major tourist site and more than a million visitors a year come out here to enjoy nature, shop, dine, etc. It is now the offseason, so there were no crowds to deal with and it was very pleasant walking around and exploring the community on our own. The highlight of the visit was a tour and cocktail reception at the spectacular Casino. Frankie of Avalon, our guide, told us all about the amazing history of the place and the Wrigley Family behind it. He also demonstrated the “perfect” acoustics in the theater and danced with all the women among us (one at a time) in the grand ballroom, while we ate snacks and drank wine. As we returned to our vessel by way of Zodiacs in the dark of night, we were entertained further by bioluminescence in the water and bright stars overhead.
