Catalina June 8-9

I was a participant in a mentor training workshop at USC's ultra-plush Wrigley Institute near Two Harbors on Catalina Island held Friday and Saturday. Private boat ride to and from, a three-bedroom house all to myself, and catered food- it was a really cool experience and an interesting contrast to the low budget UC research stations I am used to. Their station sits on a choice piece of real estate in a small valley adjacent to the best snorkeling between Two Harbors and Avalon. Thankfully the schedule allowed for a little free time to go snorkeling and I was able to sneak off for an overnight kayak trip.

The snorkeling was the best I have had in California and was a delight. There was a lot to see in the diverse little cove. Lots of rocky nooks in the lava flows on the north side, kelp forests in the middle, schools of fish hanging under the dock, and grasses on the south side near the volcaniclastics. One person in our group even saw an octopus. 

        Garibaldi

        Kelp bass

        Catalina Goby

        Sargo

After snorkeling I inflated the packraft and headed off along the coast. I only made brief stops at the sea caves in Blue Cavern Point before paddling on to Rippers Cove, then along to Lava Wall where I had reserved one of the two camping sites. It took about two hours to reach Lava Wall. I arrived to find both filled but no one around which was super annoying and pissed me off. I ended up putting a lot of time into leveling out a reasonable campspot at Paradise Cove. Mosquitoes and biting flies were annoying. People night fishing obnoxiously looped back and forth offshore with daylight-inducing lights and a noisy engine. Some tandem kayakers pulled up onto my beach at 1:45a and bandit camped, leaving at 6am. In short people were super annoying and it was a much less positive experience than my last time kayaking along the coast. I kayaked back to USC's station in 1.5 hours, returning just as the others were putting on for a short kayak trip of their own. It was nice to be able to tack on a mini-excursion to a work trip.