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Quiet Time
by Capt. Patricia Miller Rains
Avalon Harbor regains its legendary tranquility in September
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After their legendary lives were over, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were believed to have retired to a misty island somewhere in the western seas -- a paradise on earth named Avalon. In September, when Avalon Harbor’s summer crowds are gone, it’s not hard to believe that the legend is true.
“Nothing in Avalon closes up after summer anymore,” said Jean Hill, owner of The Old Turner Inn. “The only thing missing is the crowds.” Hill operates the quaint bed and breakfast on Catalina Street, just up from the green pleasure pier, the center of all nautical activities in Avalon Harbor.
“The biggest fishing tournaments don’t even get started until after Labor Day, because the fishing and warm water really peak during September and October,” Hill said.
“The weather is usually perfect then: not too hot; not too cold. You’ll almost always have open moorings, and there’s never a wait for a table in the restaurants, like you find in the summer when all the children are out of school.”
“We locals think September is the best time of the year on the island,” Hill said.
I’d have to agree.
Santa Catalina Island -- affectionately known as Catalina -- is the largest of Southern California’s Channel Islands, and Avalon is the only real town on this 22-mile-long strip of land. Avalon Bay is a small sheltered cove on the southeast end of Catalina, open to the lights of Los Angeles.
Avalon’s prominent Casino on the north arm of the harbor cove marks your landfall. (This Casino never has gambling; it houses the Catalina Island Museum and an art deco-style theater where jazz festivals are held.) Cabrillo Peninsula forms the south arm of the bay.
The main harbor shelters 258 two-point moorings, a fuel dock, a pumpout station, a yacht repair barge, a passenger ferry landing, the central pier, Catalina Island Yacht Club and the Tuna Club.
Besides the main harbor, 47 moorings are set in Descanso Bay, which is immediately northwest of the Casino. An additional 52 moorings are available in Hamilton Cove, just beyond Descanso Bay. A marine repair yard lies a couple miles south of Avalon Harbor at Pebbly Beach.
At least 2,000 visitors disembark at Avalon during each week throughout the summer, but during the off season, that figure drops to as low as 400. If you want to know exactly how many mainlanders arrive in Avalon on any given day, simply read the chalkboard posted outside the Visitors Center on the green pier.
Because Avalon Harbor’s small-boat moorings are operated on a first-come, first-served basis, they could all be filled up by the time you arrive from the mainland. Although Catalina Island has nearly 720 moorings scattered around in remote coves, the only other village is Two Harbors at the isthmus toward the north end of the island. It offers 249 moorings at Isthmus Cove on the east side. Cat Harbor, opposite it, on the west side has a nice little anchorage.
Only Avalon offers Southern California boaters a home base with so many marine services and fun activities in the midst of a major island retreat.
Shore Leave
Water sports (including kayaks, paddle boats, scuba and snorkel tours, even semi-submarines) are outnumbered only by eateries (outdoor cafes, coffee shops, cantinas and restaurants). Many boaters bring their own toys and meals, so exploring ashore is a bigger attraction.
Many turn-of-the-century Victorian homes fill the few square blocks of flat land at the head of the cove, because the town originally consisted of 200 tiny parcels upon which mainlanders were allowed to pitch their tents for camping. A few Victorian mansions decorated in gingerbread recall the island’s glorious past. Today, Spanish villas also climb the steep canyon walls surrounding the town -- including author Zane Gray’s home where came to write novels and enjoy the island’s spectacular billfishing. Zane Gray’s abode is now a small hotel.
The William Wrigley mansion (now the Inn at Mt. Ada), the Banning Brothers’ Home (at the Isthmus) and the Old Turner Inn are favorite stops on the island’s sightseeing tours.
Golf carts -- not cars -- are the normal mode of transportation in Avalon. The narrow streets are best suited for walking, and those near the waterfront are blocked off for pedestrian traffic only. Rent a golf cart or take a guided tour bus to make an initial scan of the whole town and surroundings. It includes the botanical gardens, the golf course (9-holes, resort type), tennis courts and the mansions. You can walk to the Casino, which has excellent nautical exhibits in the museum, and to Lover’s Cove, the underwater preserve and dive site, full of golden Garibaldi and kelp beds.
Because the drive up to Two Harbors takes half a day over Catalina’s rough mountainous roads, Avalon remains a world unto itself.
Weather Wise
“In the fall and winter, we perform fewer rescues, because there are fewer boaters coming over,” said assistant harbormaster J.J. Poindexter. “It’s a lot more relaxed.
“Weather is the thing boaters need to pay more attention to after September,” Poindexter said.
Just because it’s a nice day in Los Angeles doesn’t mean it’s a good boating day at Avalon or on the way out there. Listen to the weather radio before you go, and stay on top of changing weather conditions as you move from Avalon and around the island.
Avalon Harbor is open to the northeast, so Santa Ana winds are the primary weather consideration. Poindexter passed along a bit of personal weather wisdom to me about winter conditions.
“When we see snow on the mountains behind Los Angeles and a Santa Ana wind starts to blow out of the desert on the other side of the mountains, Avalon will definitely feel strong northeast winds,” Poindexter said. “But if there’s no snow on those mountains when a Santa Ana begins, we won’t get much of an effect from it at Avalon.”
This is not scientific analysis -- it’s just his personal observation -- but he believes this has something to do with the snow cooling the desert winds as they pass over the mountains.
Off-season Discounts
The crowds have thinned out by September, so visiting boaters can take advantage of some sizable discounts on the price of extended overnight moorage in the harbor.
Mooring rates for multiple nights are discounted from September 15 through October 15, and again between March 24 and June 15, 2002.
The fall and spring deal is as follows: If you pay in advance for overnight moorings for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, you get the consecutive Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights for free.
Between October 15 and March 24, 2002, it’s an even a better deal: If you pay in advance for any two consecutive nights, you get the next five consecutive nights for free.
Mooring fees are based on boat length per night. Boats 39 feet and smaller are $16; boats up to 49 feet are $21; boats up to 59 feet are $29; boats up to 69 feet are $36; boats up to 79 feet are $44; boats up to 89 feet are $51; boats up to 99 feet are $59; and boats 100 feet and larger are $67.
Moorings and Anchorages
As during the summer “on season,” no reservations are taken for moorings. You just show up at the entrance to Avalon Harbor and standby for the harbor patrol boat to assign you a mooring. They’ll guide you there and assist you, if needed.
No moorings are assigned in advance, and no mooring work is done over VHF. However, if you must call, the Avalon Harbor Department monitors VHF channels 12 and 16. Their phone is (310) 510-0535.
Avalon Harbor uses two-point moorings, to prevent boats from swinging, and to allow more boats to moor in the confined harbor. (A few single-point moorings are set on the outer row at Hamilton Cove.) If you’re new to two-point mooring, here’s a good way to approach it:
Put on gloves. From your bow, pick up the wand and haul the mooring’s bow hawser up from about 6 feet below the surface. Secure it on your bow cleat. Follow the attached sand line or spreader line (it’s sometimes slimy and crusted with small barnacles) back to your stern. Take all the slack out of the stern mooring line and secure it to your stern cleat. When you’re sitting properly, drop the sand or spreader line back into the water alongside your boat. To depart, drop the stern line first and allow it to sink clear of your props.
Avalon Harbor provides three dinghy landings for skiffs 14 feet and smaller. Use a painter that’s long enough to stream away from the dinghy dock; this keeps others from being forced to step into your dinghy to get ashore, and it lessens congestion.
Canopied shore boats circulate through the moorings, so you don’t always need to use your dinghy to get to the green pier. To hail a ride, call “Shore Boat” on VHF Channel 9. The charge is $2 per person, one way. When you have many people on board -- all going in different directions at different times -- and only one dinghy, the shore boat option makes getting to Avalon a breeze.
No anchoring is permitted inside Avalon Harbor or at Lover’s Cove just south of Cabrillo Peninsula. The closest designated anchorage is outside Descanso Bay’s moorings north of Casino Point. In long periods of calm weather, some boaters who can’t find a mooring or anchoring room off Descanso might anchor on the narrow open ledge a mile or so south of Avalon -- between Pinnacle Rock and Pebbly Beach.
Come on Over
September brings fewer visitors to the island, so you’re almost assured of a comfortable, quiet mooring in the main harbor.
In foul weather, if you’d rather not bring your boat over, you could be here in 15 minutes via helicopter from the Long Beach and San Pedro boat terminals. Choppers land near the old seaplane landing on Pebbly Beac, just south of Avalon Harbor. Private planes and charter flights land at the small airport on top of the island -- which is 30 minutes from Avalon by taxi.
After schools open in September, the passenger ferry services from San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point offer fewer trips from the mainland -- so landlubbers are almost outnumbered by recreational boaters.
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This article first appeared in the September 1, 2001 issue of Sea Magazine. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
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