Storypost | 2025.07.30

Catalina scuba dive black sea bass
Shane's photo, I didn't bring the underwater rig this year :'(

We mostly have the Catalina trip down to a science: scuba, beach, and grub.
Weather/water

Wetsuit Catalina Island Avalon harbor casino view Catalina Island ferry harbor view

The weather was perfect - considerably better than the heat of prior years. Alas, due to some oceanic effect that I overheard a diver talking about, surface temp was in the mid 60s. Luckily, wetsuits exist.
Diving

Catalina Island Avalon pier divers supply Catalina Island Two Harbors Bird Rock Catalina Island scuba dive boat trip Scrambler

We dove Bird Rock and Chernobyl near Two Harbors. Vis varied wildly and the temp below the thermocline was not ideal but we had close encounters with a black sea bass and a few sea lions. The kelp forest at Chernobyl was thicker than I'd ever seen.
The beach club

Catalina Island Avalon Descanso Beach Club view cruise ship

The beach club has:
I should say, the kelp forest and shore belong to the State of California, but the beach club makes them far more convenient to enjoy.

Catalina Island Avalon Descanso Beach Club waterguns
Dining

Catalina Island Avalon cookie

It's time to start keeping notes on Avalon restaurants:
Catalina Island harbor
Accommodations


The first year we stayed in a hotel. It was convenient and had A/C but each of the three families didn't hang out much beyond shared activities. The second year we got a big house. During the downtime, the kids played together and the adults conversed in the living room. With a kitchen available, we had some flexibility for meals/kid meals. The house was a few blocks from the beach though - a country mile by Avalon standards.

Catalina Island vacation rental living room Catalina Island vacation rental living room Catalina Island vacation rental fixtures

With the date shift, there weren't a lot of vacation rental options so we split our party between two houses. It's frustrating how little effort some Avalon vacation rental owners put into maintaining their property.
A few mishaps

July 30 2025 tsunami advisory
There was an earthquake many thousands of miles away but LA OEM wasn't taking any chances.

Leica SL2 power off lockup
Jes's SL2 froze during image review. I wasn't confident about pulling the battery but didn't have a choice.




2025.06.14

Compressed embeddings

Adding effiency to a simple embeddings implementation for webpage linking.
2025.08.02

120 stars

Chasing completionist goals and sometimes just completion in Sackboy, Horizon Forbidden West, Shadow of the Erdtree, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite.


Related / internal

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Related / external

Risky click advisory: these links are produced algorithmically from a crawl of the subsurface web (and some select mainstream web). I haven't personally looked at them or checked them for quality, decency, or sanity. None of these links are promoted, sponsored, or affiliated with this site. For more information, see this post.

Has a preview image link and yet 404 :/
offtheleash.net

Seven Miles, Jersey Shore | off the leash

Avalon and Stone Harbor
nudisttravel.blogspot.com

Nudist / Naturist Travel Guide Blog: Nude Cruise Report: Nude SCUBA diving and other fun

Guide to the world of nude travel. Featuring reviews of nudist/naturist destinations and accommodations.
stevenirby.me

Site of Steven Irby


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