Most visitors to Catalina Island experience only a tiny portion of this Southern California resort destination. For the vast majority, Avalon is the only vision of this Channel Island that they will see – and while this quaint village has many charms, it’s only in exploring the rest of the island that Santa Catalina truly reveals herself.
Besides Avalon, the most visited portion of the island is Two Harbors, the picturesque community located near the West End of Catalina Island. So named because of the twin harbors that create the isthmus of Catalina, Two Harbors is an adventures’ nirvana. While you can get a glimpse of remote outpost on either a bus or boat tour, the only way to truly experience the isthmus is to spend a few days soaking up its unique atmosphere. With less than 200 year round residents, Two Harbors is arguably the remote and isolated community in Los Angeles County. During the winter, that makes it an ideal destination for those looking to get away from it all. In the summer – and when the weather makes it feel like summer – the population at the isthmus swells to several thousand, with boaters, campers and adventurers all eager to relax and enjoy hiking, snorkeling, mountain biking, scuba diving, kayaking, stand-up paddling and much more.