Catalina Island: Snorkeling, Trans-Catalina Trail & Casino

The 62-minute high-speed catamaran crossing from Long Beach to Avalon departs multiple times daily and offers the most dramatic arrival of any weekend trip from LA — the island materializes from the horizon as a green-ridged silhouette, and Avalon's casino dome appears before the harbor. Dolphins regularly pace the ferry; gray whales are common in winter and spring.

The 1929 Avalon Casino is not a gambling hall — it was built as a ballroom and movie theater in the Moorish Art Deco style, and its circular 180-foot structure is one of the most recognizable landmarks on the Southern California coast. The ballroom upstairs held 3,000 dancers during the big band era; the 1,168-seat movie theater below has the world's largest circular mural on its ceiling. Tours run daily.

A waterfront dive bar on Avalon's Crescent Avenue — plastic chairs, $5 mai tais, and a fish taco that has maintained a cult following since 1978. The covered patio faces the harbor; the happy hour crowd includes the island's small permanent population and the ferry-boat visitors.

The kelp forest at Lover's Cove begins at waist depth — orange garibaldi fish, bright blue sennets, and the occasional sea lion patrol the kelp columns in water so clear the sandy bottom is visible at 30 feet. The cove has been a protected marine reserve since 1965; the fish have lost their wariness of humans entirely and swim at arm's length. Snorkel gear rental available at the cove entrance.

The Trans-Catalina Trail runs 37.2 miles across the island's rugged spine — the first 12.8-mile section from Avalon climbs through chaparral to the Airport-in-the-Sky at 1,602 feet, where bison often graze the runway margins. The airport's Buffalo Springs Reservoir is a reliable bison viewing spot; the DC-3 diner serves meals at 1,600 feet elevation in the island interior. Bison were brought to Catalina in 1924 for a Zane Grey film and their descendants — now a managed herd of 150 — range freely across the island.

A diner at 1,602 feet on Catalina Island's central plateau, serving buffalo burgers, hot dogs, and cold beers to hikers and the island's bush pilots. The restaurant sits at the end of the operational runway; the buffalo on the menu is from the island's own herd. The bar-height windows face west across the island interior toward Two Harbors.

The Trans-Catalina Trail descends from the interior plateau to Little Harbor, a protected south-facing cove with a campground directly on the beach. The cove is the island's best non-Avalon snorkeling site, with a kelp forest accessible from the beach and the clearest water on the south shore. Sea otters have been spotted here in recent years.

The campground at Little Harbor has basic facilities (cold showers, fire rings) and a location directly on the sand. Campers wake to absolute quiet broken only by surf and shorebirds — the closest road is 4 miles away at the airport.

The western settlement of Catalina Island — 300 permanent residents, a general store, a dive shop, and the Harbor Reef Restaurant perched above the isthmus that separates the Pacific-facing and Catalina Channel-facing sides of the island. The isthmus's narrowest point is 200 yards across; the land bridge that makes it a natural harbor from two directions was recognized by the Gabrielino Tongva as a sacred crossing point.

A 3.5-mile trail from Two Harbors reaches Parsons Landing, the most remote accessible cove on Catalina — a crescent of sand backed by steep chaparral walls, with a snorkeling site where leopard sharks and garibaldi share the kelp forest with abundant sea bass. The hike back offers the best interior views on the island.

The only full-service restaurant in the Two Harbors area, serving Pacific seafood, burgers, and the Bison Burger made from the island's managed herd. The harbor view terrace overlooks the Cat Harbor anchorage, one of Southern California's most sheltered sailing destinations.

The ferry from Two Harbors to San Pedro mainland crosses in 90 minutes, passing through the rougher open channel water between the island's west end and the LA harbor. The return crossing in late afternoon often produces dolphin sightings in the ferry's wake.