A Day Trip to Catalina Island
Sunrise on the ferry, a golf cart at your own pace, parasailing over the coastline, and a herd of bison, one packed day out of Long Beach and back.
Getting there
- Booked through Catalina Express: Long Beach → Avalon, 6:00-7:00 AM sailing
- Drove to the ferry parking lot and paid the flat parking fee for the day
- Showed tickets, boarded, and headed up top
Sit on the upper deck, back of the boat. As you pull away from Long Beach, that's the side facing the shore, so you get the skyline and the sunrise together as you leave. The boat is fast, faster than it feels from up there, and the ride itself is calm and pretty scenic.
Pack for both temperatures
- Sunglasses and a hat
- Layers: mornings run cold, afternoons can get hot
- Cash (see below)
- Skip holidays. Some shops and rental spots close for them.
Have a plan before you land
Catalina is easy to run out of things to do on if you show up without a plan. Map out roughly what you want to do and when before the ferry docks, golf cart rental windows and return times don't leave much room to figure it out on the fly.
Renting a golf cart
- Rental booths open around 8-9 AM, double-check current hours before you go
- Bring cash, there's an ATM right in front of the rental booth
- You'll need to show ID
- Carts follow a set route and have to be back by a fixed time, don't lose track of it
- Worth it: driving yourself means seeing the island at your own pace, and the coastal views are the whole point
The day, in order
- Breakfast: Original Jack's Country Kitchen, first stop right off the golf cart pickup
- Parasailing: booked as a group of three. You go up high, Catalina's coastline behind you, open ocean in front. First-timers get a little nervous, that's normal, trust the crew and the life jacket. Genuinely one of the best parts of the day
- Brunch: a second, quieter local breakfast spot, timed to land after the morning rush
- Jeep expedition into the interior: a guided drive up into the island's hills. This is where you're likely to see Catalina's bison herd up close. The popular story is that 14 bison were brought over in 1924 for a Western film and simply never left, though historians say the movie connection itself is disputed, so treat it as local legend rather than settled fact
- Lunch: a casual sit-down spot inland, good food, good service
- Ice cream: more than one stop, no bad choice
- Snacks: a quick run to Vons before heading back toward the harbor
- Late lunch: The Naughty Fox in Avalon, the buffalo crispy chicken bowl is a solid order
- Caught an earlier return ferry once we'd run out of things to do
Also worth doing: Discover Scuba
On an earlier, separate trip to Catalina, I did a Discover Scuba dive, a guided intro dive for non-certified divers. A few honest notes if you're considering it:
- You'll need real swimming comfort and the ability to stay calm underwater, this isn't the place to find out you don't like it
- Equalizing pressure on the way down takes attention, follow the instructor closely
- It's expensive, but worth it if you're a confident swimmer with decent breath control
- Go later in the season if you can. I went early in the year and the water was cold enough to make the whole thing harder than it needed to be