Qualla: Catalina Island

Catalina Island: Introduction

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ngresonance at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is a-waitin' for me - so sang the Four Preps in 1958, though the island actually lies twenty-two miles from the mainland, a discrepancy the song acknowledges with a wink. The distance hardly matters. What matters is that 88% of Santa Catalina Island is owned by the Catalina Conservancy, protected from the development that consumed the rest of Southern California. A ferry ride from Long Beach or San Pedro delivers passengers to a world apart: one incorporated city of 4,000 people, one hamlet of 150, and a rugged interior where bison roam - descendants of animals brought for a 1920s film production and simply left behind.

Read more: Catalina Island on Qualla

Image: Ngresonance at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Catalina Island: Avalon and Two Harbors

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Don Ramey Logan, CC BY 4.0. City is a relative term on Catalina. Avalon, incorporated in 1913, crowds around its harbor on the island's eastern end - a compact town where golf carts outnumber cars and visitors explore on foot or bicycle. The iconic Casino building, a 1929 Art Deco theater that has never hos...

Read more: Catalina Island on Qualla

Image: Don Ramey Logan | CC BY 4.0

Catalina Island: Bison Country

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit tinyfroglet, CC BY 2.0. The interior tours are a Catalina tradition, winding into the Conservancy's protected lands where the famous bison herd roams. The original fourteen animals arrived in 1924 for the filming of a silent western; the studio found it cheaper to leave them than to ship them back. The ...

Read more: Catalina Island on Qualla

Image: tinyfroglet | CC BY 2.0

Catalina Island: The Underwater World

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Breene13, CC BY-SA 4.0. Catalina is a haven for divers in the Los Angeles region. Casino Point, protected as a marine preserve, offers the easiest access - concrete steps descending directly into water where garibaldi, bat rays, octopus, giant black sea bass, and horn sharks patrol the kelp forests. The...

Read more: Catalina Island on Qualla

Image: Breene13 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Catalina Island: Yacht Club Row

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 2.0. Catalina hosts more yacht club outposts than any comparable stretch of California coast. The Catalina Island Yacht Club operates from Avalon Bay; the Isthmus Yacht Club occupies the 1864 Union Army Barracks at Two Harbors. Mainland clubs maintain stations throughout the island's ...

Read more: Catalina Island on Qualla

Image: CC BY-SA 2.0

Catalina Island: Island of the Blue Foxes

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kiloueka, CC0. The island fox, smaller than its mainland cousins, once faced extinction. The Catalina subspecies dwindled to fewer than 100 individuals by 1999, devastated by canine distemper. Intensive conservation efforts - captive breeding, vaccination, removal of feral cats and pigs - pulle...

Read more: Catalina Island on Qualla

Image: Kiloueka | CC0