When you live on Catalina Island, your experience can be quite different from what our visitors experience. Welcome to our series of Catalina Island local favorites.
One of the many benefits of living on Catalina Island is the easy access to great activities. Adventures abound and nearly all of them are within easy walking distance. For those who live on the island Catalina’s underwater world beckons, promising exploration, relaxation and fun. Lovers Cove, just past the Cabrillo Mole, where the Catalina ferry boats arrive, is a snorkelers paradise, complete with nearly tame fish and easy access to the shoreline. Southern California ocean waters can be bit chilly, so a wetsuit is recommended except during the warmest months. Wetsuits and other gear can easily be rented from several shops in town and those nearly tame fish appreciate being fed.
Local residents – and visitors – who like to go deeper strap on a bit more gear and head for the Casino Dive Park, a scuba divers’ oasis, where thousands of divers a year explore the Pacific. Air fills and gear are available in Avalon and many local residents take advantage of the great dive conditions and get their scuba certification on Catalina.
Even local residents who don’t like to get wet take advantage of the opportunity to see beneath the surface. Whether for 5-year-olds or 95-year-olds, glass bottom boats and semi-submersibles make for an entertaining expedition.