‘Tis the season to travel!! And if you’ve never been to Catalina Island before, you must put it at the top of your travel wish list!!
My family and I recently had the opportunity to vacation there for the weekend. It was our first time traveling there together and we had a wonderful time exploring everything the island had to offer!
Fun Fact: Catalina Island is part of California and is technically part of Long Beach school district.
My family and I started our adventure on the Catalina Express.
Catalina Express is the only year round boat service to Catalina Island and offers up to 30 round trip daily departures from three ports: Long Beach, San Pedro and Dana Point. Catalina Island is approximately 30-40 miles from California Coast via water transportation depending on what port you are traveling from and the entire boat ride lasts about an hour! If you are traveling from Los Angeles, I suggest leaving from Long Beach or San Pedro. If you are traveling from San Diego, I recommend leaving from Dana Point!
There are plenty of comfortable seats on the ferry. You can choose whatever seat you want and either sit inside, outside, upstairs, or downstairs! Each ferry boat is a little different depending on the port and time of year of travel, but there are plenty of seats by a window, in the back or front, wherever you are most comfortable! Some of the seats even have tray tables!
And if you are sensitive to motion sickness, I highly recommend sitting near the middle to the back of the ferry where it’s more stable and you won’t feel the movement as much. Looking out a window or feeling the ocean breeze should help too!
And if needed, there are multiple restrooms on board as well. There is even a snack shop on board where you can grab a snack, a cappuccino, soda, water, a glass of wine or even a cocktail!
Once you arrive in Avalon, you walk off the ferry and you are literally moments from town. You can easily walk to the shops, restaurants, and hotels within minutes. We saw many people walking and carrying bags or rolling suitcases but fortunately our hotel had a representative on site as soon as we arrived and they took all of our luggage to the hotel for us.
Fun Fact: I love that you don’t need to rent a car or worry about traveling with car seats when you are on the island. In fact, I was told there is a 25 year wait list to have a car on the island! Isn’t that crazy? Most locals ride a golf cart around town if they aren’t walking or riding a bike!
Once we had lunch on the green pier overlooking the beach, we set off on our first adventure, the Under Sea Expedition, from the Visit Catalina’s Catalina Island Company.
The semi submerged submarine travels 5 feet below the surface and is filled with individual seats and tons of windows (aka: port holes) on both sides so you can see all of the marine life under the ocean! The kids loved looking at all of the fish!
You’ll be able to see bright orange Garibaldi, spotted calico bass, urchins, rock fish, and bat rays, just to name a few. As you travel, your “captain” tells you some history and facts about Catalina and the sea life you are seeing!
The entire ride is about one hour and the last few minutes are spent outside above water on the boat deck so you can see the beautiful harbor before your trip ends.
Once our trip was done, we walked to the hotel for a little R&R before getting ready for dinner! We stayed at the Hotel Atwater, which has just been completely renovated this year.
Originally opened in 1920, Hotel Atwater was the first hotel built under the direction of William Wrigley Jr. after he purchased the Catalina Island Company more than a century ago.
Fun Fact: He named the hotel in honor of Helen Atwater Wrigley, wife of his son Philip Knight Wrigley. Completely renovated in 2019, this historic hotel stays true to the Wrigley family legacy with nostalgic elements like vases filled with fragrant carnations and splits of sparkling wine in every room, tributes to Helen’s love of flowers and glass of bubbly she enjoyed every evening before bed.
This quaint hotel looks brand new with all the new additions and it’s just gorgeous. Everything was bright and clean and elegant with so much nostalgic historic charm! The hotel even has a post office and a hardware store on the lobby level!
We had a standard room near the back of the hotel and even though we didn’t have a lot of space or much of a view in our particular room, we still had just enough room for a family of four and the inside was beautiful.
Our room had two double beds and even had room for a pack n play. We also had a refrigerator, which is key when traveling with children. And I loved that we were greeted to our room with some complimentary sparkling wine and chocolate! The hotel also offers suites and views of the city and the ocean!
Once we rested for a bit, we changed our clothes and walked to dinner at Bluewater Grill!
First I can’t even tell you how stunning view was of the harbor from our outside patio table. It was honestly so magical!! And then there was the food, which is fresh and sustainable. You will definitely get hooked! Get it? 🙂
In addition to the waterfront patio, the restaurant also has a full bar, happy hour, and a pet friendly space.
And the kids loved coloring on their menus and looking at all the boats while we waited for our meal.
We started with the seared scallops with roasted jalapeño aioli, fresh oysters, and clam chowder.
And then my husband got the Seafood Paella Valenciana while I ordered the shrimp skewers with scalloped potatoes and sautéed spinach!
My daughter got the pasta with tomato sauce while my son ordered the cheeseburger slider.
Everything was super fresh and delicious. We all ordered dessert and ate every last morsel!! We had the creme brûlée and the kids each ordered the Cup of Dirt with Worms and the Ice Cream Sundae (which disappeared too quickly for a good photo!)
The service was incredible! Honestly one of the best family dinners we have ever had. The service, the views, and the food put it over the top! I highly recommend dining here on your next trip to Catalina! After dinner we strolled back to our hotel and the town is so beautiful at night!
After a good night’s sleep, we ate breakfast in the hotel before exploring the town.
Our first stop after breakfast was to the Descanso Beach Club. It’s a beautiful walk along the harbor and took about 10-15 minutes, but we walked slow and kept stopping for photos!
Then we went to the beach! The kids loved throwing some rocks and playing in the sand!
Our next stop was to the Island Spa!
Lastly, we walked around to all the shops and checked out other parts of the city! And of course, kept stopping along the way for more photos!
And may I add that the island has the most beautiful public restrooms I’ve ever seen!
We walked by the miniature golf course, the local library, and even the grocery store – all within seconds of the hotel!!
We definitely worked up an appetite after our morning adventure, so we stopped for lunch at The Lobster Trap!
Fortunately for us, October kicked off lobster season and we couldn’t wait to taste the island’s fresh lobster! I ordered a lobster taco and a lobster roll and it was absolutely delicious. I suggest ordering it with some warm butter to dip some of your lobster!
My husband ordered the sea bass, which he loved!!
We both also shared the bacon wrapped scallops!
And our children both ordered the macaroni and cheese!
After lunch, we were given the opportunity to rent a golf cart from Catalina Island Golf Cart Rentals and Tours and travel further parts of the island and it was definitely the highlight of the trip!
The kids absolutely loved riding around and the views of the harbor from the high points of the island were truly spectacular!
We rented the 4-passenger golf cart, which is only $100 for two hours, but they also have 6-passenger golf carts as well, which is only $140 for two hours!
And I loved that they kept my little guy super safe in a car seat while he was riding in the golf cart, which are provided at no additional charge!
Make sure the driver is at least 25 years old!
On our travels, we drove by a golf course, a campground, and even a Botanical garden!
Before leaving the island, we stopped for some ice cream and a quick trip to the park because you know we love to play!
We had such a fun time and we will definitely be back. You can get a lot in if you just go for the day, but I recommend staying the night so you can see more and not rush. Honestly, we could’ve easily stayed one more night and explored even more!
A big thank you to Catalina Express and Visit Catalina for hosting us on a weekend trip my family and I will cherish forever.
This post is sponsored but all photos and opinions are my own.
Leave a Reply