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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
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
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
The beach club has:
- Sand (the rest of the Catalina shore is rocky)
- A great kelp forest for snorkeling
- Separation from the boat people
- An excellent pina colada
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.
Dining
It's time to start keeping
notes on Avalon restaurants:
- Avalon Grille: we didn't eat there this year because we couldn't get a table in a reasonable amount of time. I recall being disappointed by the lamb chop but optimistic about other menu items.
- Bluewater Avalon: we enjoyed the food enough in previous years to have come back twice. They have three non-seafood menu items so I have to regurgitate Jeff and Jessica's reviews: "good, but a mere shadow of Steve's cuisine (see below)". Eating at Bluewater was an ordeal this year. We put our names in and after a reasonable wait (for a party of 13) were told that the restaurant staff were setting up our table but that they needed a few minutes before seating us. The hostess said this twice, about ten minutes apart, then nothing. I eventually got back in line and after waiting for a few parties to put their names in discovered that the hostess had crossed us off thinking that we'd already been seated. It didn't get any better when, once seated, we had an equal-size party sit, eat, and leave before we got our food. I'm going to advocate that we skip Bluewater next time.
- Maggie's Blue Rose: we didn't eat at Maggie's this year but I recall being happy with their fajitas in years past.
- Original Jack's Country Kitchen: extremely 'meh'. I don't mind the pancakes but would be just as happy with a frozen waffle in my pajamas. I tried the chorizo hash this year and it was not good.
- Steve's Steakhouse & Seafood: I stayed at home with a tired kid and was told I missed a profound dining experience.

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.
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
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There was an earthquake many thousands of miles away but LA OEM wasn't taking any chances. |
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Jes's SL2 froze during image review. I wasn't confident about pulling the battery but didn't have a choice. |
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