Tony & Sharlene London of Culver City...
December 16th – Tuesday
Day 2 – Santa Catalina Island:
Day 2 – Santa Catalina Island:
Commonly referred to as Catalina Island is a beautiful rocky island off the southwest coast of Los Angeles in California. The main City is Avalon and the other less populated city is Two Harbors to the north side of the island with less than 300 population.
The island’s main industry has always been tourism, although there are 2 very large ranches located in the interiors of the island raising horses, cattle’s and bison’s known as the Middle Ranch and Rancho Escondido, most of the island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy bought in 1927 by the magnate William Wrigley Jr., founder of the Wrigley’s Gum. Prior to the Wrigley’s, it was the Banning Brothers who brought the first influx of tourist into the island by renting “Tent Lots”, later on sold for $5,000 a piece in 1891 – 1991.
Between 1927 & 1937, Spanish tiles were made on the island by the Wrigley’s Catalina Clay Products. These items are now considered collectibles and rears large sums of money for each antique tile. The Chicago Cubs also owned by the Wrigley’s used the island as their training camp between 1921 – 1951.
Avalon, was home to such renowned citizens as the Holly’s and the Swanson’s, their mansions still standing and preserved as local landmarks. As well as the other historical landmarks as the Casino Building (not for Gaming) mostly used for concerts, live bands and shows also house the Catalina Island Museum. The building and the museum is a must see destination for Catalina revelers.
Carnival is anchored in the middle of the bay and each passengers who wants to take tour excursion in the island are shuttled by boat tenders every 15 minutes. We landed in 8AM, and the passengers started their tours, we woke up later and decided to have a late lunch and got off the ship to explore around 11AM. While we were in tender waiting to depart, a seal was eagerly performing and swimming alongside our boat, of course we all applauded and encouraged the seal to do more tricks and got the wiser and quickly disappeared.
We went around the different tourist shops and looked for any souvenirs to take to home to our grand kids. Sharlene and Tony later on joined us at the boardwalk, then recommended we take the Trolley (cost is $2/pp RT) and the entire trip is about 1 hour. We joined, Sharlynn and Tony, they wanted to visit the Botanical Garden and take a walking tour. Sandy and I have already taken the tour and feeling lazy for a walking tour and decided not to repeat it, but for those who are plant and green aficionados, I highly recommend visiting the park and see about 1500 indigenous plant varieties in the island, mostly in the cacti family.
As the Trolley made its rounds, the tour driver shared that the best deals for the island is during the low seasons before Christmas, hotel rates down to $45/night from $169 during peak season and some rentals are available for week rates that are unheard of, this gave us the idea that maybe next year, we can rent a summer home in Avalon and bring our family members to experience the island as a Christmas celebration.
Our friends, Sarah and Long are both devout Catholics and when they found out that St. Catherine Catholic Church was a walking distance from the Trolley stop, we all decided to take a short visit, much to our surprise, we got there just minutes from the next service, in the spirit of the holidays, we decided to attend the hour long service, and Long sang a beautiful inspirational song even the priest got choked up saying the closing message.
We also met, 3 Carnival workers who informed us that they have requested on every Tuesday at 1PM a service is offered for them, we considered ourselves very lucky to have the opportune time to offer our prayer for the holidays.
We boarded the tenders back to the ship around 3PM, and we headed straight for the Lido Deck where we again ate our light snack to tie us over for dinner. It was Formal Dinner Night, Sandy and I decided not to join Long and Sarah for the mixers and agreed to meet them for dinner. The ship sailed at 5:30PM, while we were having our snacks.
We missed Dorothy, Igal, Sharlene and Tony during dinner because they decided to change their dinging time to the first seating, so we dined with just our friends. The menu for the evening is all you can eat lobster and shrimp trio, I ate 3 lobster tails, and again indulged in the Melting Chocolate Cake for dessert.
After dinner, we made our way early to the Normandy Theater to watch the Hollywood musical show that evening. Again, the show alone is worth the price, along with the endless selection of gourmet dinners, cruising truly is the best bargain for the money.
After, the show, we again went to visit and hear the Filipino Band play, this time Long again was requested to sing with the band and wowed the crowd, everyone was dancing and just having a great time.
The island’s main industry has always been tourism, although there are 2 very large ranches located in the interiors of the island raising horses, cattle’s and bison’s known as the Middle Ranch and Rancho Escondido, most of the island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy bought in 1927 by the magnate William Wrigley Jr., founder of the Wrigley’s Gum. Prior to the Wrigley’s, it was the Banning Brothers who brought the first influx of tourist into the island by renting “Tent Lots”, later on sold for $5,000 a piece in 1891 – 1991.
Between 1927 & 1937, Spanish tiles were made on the island by the Wrigley’s Catalina Clay Products. These items are now considered collectibles and rears large sums of money for each antique tile. The Chicago Cubs also owned by the Wrigley’s used the island as their training camp between 1921 – 1951.
Avalon, was home to such renowned citizens as the Holly’s and the Swanson’s, their mansions still standing and preserved as local landmarks. As well as the other historical landmarks as the Casino Building (not for Gaming) mostly used for concerts, live bands and shows also house the Catalina Island Museum. The building and the museum is a must see destination for Catalina revelers.
Carnival is anchored in the middle of the bay and each passengers who wants to take tour excursion in the island are shuttled by boat tenders every 15 minutes. We landed in 8AM, and the passengers started their tours, we woke up later and decided to have a late lunch and got off the ship to explore around 11AM. While we were in tender waiting to depart, a seal was eagerly performing and swimming alongside our boat, of course we all applauded and encouraged the seal to do more tricks and got the wiser and quickly disappeared.
We went around the different tourist shops and looked for any souvenirs to take to home to our grand kids. Sharlene and Tony later on joined us at the boardwalk, then recommended we take the Trolley (cost is $2/pp RT) and the entire trip is about 1 hour. We joined, Sharlynn and Tony, they wanted to visit the Botanical Garden and take a walking tour. Sandy and I have already taken the tour and feeling lazy for a walking tour and decided not to repeat it, but for those who are plant and green aficionados, I highly recommend visiting the park and see about 1500 indigenous plant varieties in the island, mostly in the cacti family.
As the Trolley made its rounds, the tour driver shared that the best deals for the island is during the low seasons before Christmas, hotel rates down to $45/night from $169 during peak season and some rentals are available for week rates that are unheard of, this gave us the idea that maybe next year, we can rent a summer home in Avalon and bring our family members to experience the island as a Christmas celebration.
Our friends, Sarah and Long are both devout Catholics and when they found out that St. Catherine Catholic Church was a walking distance from the Trolley stop, we all decided to take a short visit, much to our surprise, we got there just minutes from the next service, in the spirit of the holidays, we decided to attend the hour long service, and Long sang a beautiful inspirational song even the priest got choked up saying the closing message.
We also met, 3 Carnival workers who informed us that they have requested on every Tuesday at 1PM a service is offered for them, we considered ourselves very lucky to have the opportune time to offer our prayer for the holidays.
We boarded the tenders back to the ship around 3PM, and we headed straight for the Lido Deck where we again ate our light snack to tie us over for dinner. It was Formal Dinner Night, Sandy and I decided not to join Long and Sarah for the mixers and agreed to meet them for dinner. The ship sailed at 5:30PM, while we were having our snacks.
We missed Dorothy, Igal, Sharlene and Tony during dinner because they decided to change their dinging time to the first seating, so we dined with just our friends. The menu for the evening is all you can eat lobster and shrimp trio, I ate 3 lobster tails, and again indulged in the Melting Chocolate Cake for dessert.
After dinner, we made our way early to the Normandy Theater to watch the Hollywood musical show that evening. Again, the show alone is worth the price, along with the endless selection of gourmet dinners, cruising truly is the best bargain for the money.
After, the show, we again went to visit and hear the Filipino Band play, this time Long again was requested to sing with the band and wowed the crowd, everyone was dancing and just having a great time.
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