Catalina Island

-

Todays beach is actually going to be an island! Its not located in Orange County but the closest port to get there is located in Long Beach. You may have heard of Catalina Island from the famous movie Step Brothers. Otherwise Catalina island is famous for its casino (with no gambling), the mysterious buffalo, garibaldi fish, the abundant amount of golf carts, and its amazing snorkeling. I often forget about Catalina because its a hour long boat ride away. The boat tickets are not cheap but I have frequently found them on Groupon for half the price. The couple times I’ve gone (of course with Groupon Tickets) its been completely worth the trip. 

I’ve been to Catalina Island a total of three times. First trip was with my seven grade class and it was a part of our outdoor education program. The two other times were during my senior year of high school for leisure. During these trips I went snorkeling at Lover’s Cove, ate at the Catalina Cantina, and laid out at the beach. If you ever go to Catalina do not be surprised by the prices. Everything is much more expensive because they have to ship it out from the mainland. When you go to a restaurant you have to request for water instead of just receiving it since water is such a precious commodity.

I’ve only been to Catalina three times so I can’t give a full synopsis on the entire island, since its pretty big. I can tell you what I recommend. I totally recommend coming to the island, with your own snorkeling gear, and snorkeling at Lovers Cove. Lovers Cove is a very short walk from the port. Theres lockers near by that you can store the rest of your stuff in. You just walk down the small amount of stairs right into the ocean. When I first went I was terrified because I was surrounded by fish and at some points they were touching me. Anything touching me in water freaks me out a little, but I got used to it after a while. Some people will also bring in bread to attract even more fish. I avoided going around those people because there were already enough fish for my liking. The fish are very colorful and you’ll be guaranteed to see Catalinas favorite bright orange fish, the garibaldi.









Comments

  1. HRottierApril 18, 2019 at 6:12 AM

    This has been on my bucket list since a family friend talked about his visit when I was growing up. Maybe someday...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historic District

-
Image
This last week during spring break I visited the Historic District. A beach I’ve been to many times and I’ve forget the true charm of it. The Historic District is in Crystal Cove which is the first state park I’ve talked about on this blog. Crystal Cove is located in Newport and has four beaches within it: Moro beach, Reef Point, Historic District, and Pelican Point. During this blog post I will mainly focus on the Historic District.   To enter any of these four beaches you have to pay $15 to parking. Which is the one and only con I have. It’s a lot of money to pay to just be able to park but it does mean it guarantees you parking which is sometimes worth the cost. Once you’ve paid you are then able to visit any of the 4 beaches within Crystal Cove. This is really nice because if your sick of one beach you can beach hop to another without paying again or struggling to find parking.   Now going on to the Historic District. This is a little village filled with restaurants,
Read more

Balboa Peninsula

-
Image
This week I will be talking about Balboa Peninsula . You might recall earlier in the blog I talked about Balboa Island, which might be a little confusing so I will explain. Balboa Peninsula is attached to the main land while the island is attached with a bridge. The part that confuses me though is every time I go to Balboa Peninsula I take a ferry. So I mix up the names of Balboa Peninsula and Island. The reason I always take a ferry is because it takes a long time to drive through the peninsula to get to the main part of Balboa Peninsula. I’ve attached a picture below to help understand. I always have a great time at   Balboa Peninsula because it has everything. Theres restaurants, shops, carnival rides, ice cream shops, and of course the beach. Theres places you can rent bikes and stand up paddle boards. Theres a section called ‘The Fun Zone’ and it has a waterfront Ferris Wheel, an arcade, and a nautical museum. Everything’s walking distance from each other. Its like
Read more

Pacific Beach

-
Image
For my last blog post I decided to pick a beach that I’ve been to dozens of time, Pacific Beach . Pacific Beach is located in San Diego, which is about a two hour drive from Orange County. I’ve spent every year, for as long as I can remember going to Pacific Beach and staying at the Pacific Terrace Hote l for Thanksgiving as well as other holidays. So I am very familiar with this area and it has a special place in my heart. The beach itself is pretty mediocre. Its nothing picturesque like Laguna surrounded by vegetation and crystal clear water, but it does have its perks. It has tons of shops and restaurants around. Heres a list of the best 10 restaurants . Its also really great beach to watch surfers. Every time I go I find tons of sand dollars and a few times I’ve seen starfish.   Once you leave the beach and go up on the board walk theres great restaurants. One of my favorites is Taco Surf . Every time I go I get multiple bean and cheese burritos and save them for later, th
Read more