Catalina Summer holiday
Still on catchup with all the activities of the Summer but one of our highlights was 4 days over at Catalina Island in July. We were invited by our friends to attend a family camp with them at the Campus by the Sea camp for a week of fun and fellowship. We had an awsome time enjoying the water and the open spaces, camp fire singing, roasting marshmallows, hiking and general time away from work.
Catalina Island is located off the coast of California, just an hours boat ride from Long Beach by high speed Cat. From the main centre of Avalon it was a short powerboat ride along the coast to the camp. The location is amazing, nestled in a gully on the eastern side of the island (facing LA), there is no road access but you can hike out of the canyon back to Avalon over the hills. There was a private beach with a long jetty at one end and rock pools at the other end (see the photos).
The facilities were simple but well maintained. There were communal showers and toilet facitilies, dinning room with fully catered meals, meating rooms for activities and seminars. The sleeping quarters were basic bunk rooms and we had a cool one up on the side of the hill, they didn’t have any electricity but they provided lanterns for at night.
Back down on the beach they provided all the activities one would want: snorkelling, sea kayaking, fishing off the jetty and dingy, swimming with a dive platform. You could hike up the hill for great views and lots of wildlife.
It was also fully cut off from all the day to day grind of cell phones, Blackberry, Internet and TV, so I had to go cold turkey. The kids had a great time playing and exploring with their friends, they had a great adventure playground with a nautical theme.
