Day 5: Catalina Island

Sorry I missed a day in there...
We woke up in the dark and I noticed we had a signal on our cell phones so I knew we must be in port at Catalina Island. We turned on the television to the station showing the view off the front of the boat and I got excited. We were about to spend time on an island. Now THAT'S a vacation!

We quickly ate breakfast at the buffet again, then headed down to get on the tender (boat) that would transport us to the island. It was too shallow for the cruise ship to pull up to a dock. The ride on the tender was fun. It was a fairly empty boat, and the edge was barely up out of the water. It made for a great ride. Our welcoming symbol was a seal sunning himself on one of the buoys near the marina. Then as we got closer, the ship's captain told us a little about Catalina Island. He said that 90% of it was reserve land and off-limits to the public. The island is privately owned by the Wrigley family, yes, the chewing gum family. They still have a mansion on the hill but you can't get too close to it. The island is 22 miles long, and over 2,000 feet at its highest point. I won't bore you with the details, you can look up more on Wikipedia if you're interested.
When we exited the tender, we were on the dock by a bright green-blue structure. We were officially on the island! We got there early and at least half the shops weren't open yet, so we had another idea...we rented a golf cart to see the island ourselves, following the map they gave us, and it was only $40/hr. Since it was all uphill, very twisty roads, and we'd never be able to see a fraction of that walking, we took the deal. We barely got to the next block when a couple stopped us and asked where we rented the golf cart. The entrepreneurial bug kicked in and we offered them a business proposal. We told them that since it was just the two of us, and there was just two of them, and we just got started, and were given a 4-person cart, how about they just jump in and see the island with us and we'll split the cost at the end. They accepted.
We found out their names were Tony and Erica. They were from California and were also on our boat. We talked about baseball, football, the ship, and the island. They seemed perfectly fine traveling with us and we told them we'd stop for pictures wherever they wanted. It was all good until I found out Tony was a Yankees fan, and being a Red Sox fan, I then turned my conversation to Erica and let the guys talk about jobs. It wasn't as cold as it sounds, it just sort of unfolded that way, and we all were temporary friends for the whole island adventure. We saw luxury homes, shacks in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods, and everything in-between. We drove by the entrance to the Wrigley Mansion, the botanical gardens, the golf course, and some really pretty scenic views. There were lots of seals popping their heads up out of the water in the cove as we took pictures from the hills above. It really is a wonderful little island, but I wouldn't want to be one of their 3500 permanent residents. Maybe a long weekend, but most hotels there I found were around $299/night, plus the $85 per person ferry charge to get there from the coast. It was a great little trek in our golf cart, which only ended up costing half as much. Definitely worth doing.

After returning the cart, we found all the shops were now open, so we went looking for things to bring back for the kids. All the shops seemed to have very similar things, and at close to the same prices. We got Adam a shot glass. He's 20 now and he collects them. We got Logan a coffee/tea mug. He has a favorite one he bought at the Dollar Tree that's all black and he doesn't like sharing it. His favorite colors are black and dark blue. We found a new mug for him in his two colors that says, "Catalina Island" on it. Now no one else will use it because it's his gift cup, not just "the black mug in the cupboard". Jordan is into pirates, so we found a cute necklace and earring set with pirate heads and the hat is made of a blue opal-looking stone. She's very picky since gifts is her Love Language (great book, by the way). I knew we couldn't go wrong with pirates.
After we were done shopping it was around lunch time. There were many cute little cafes the island with cheap deals. Tim wanted to try a cheap drink special so we stopped into The Galleon. It was decorated half like a pirate ship, and half like Mardi Gras. Their drinks were almost half what they were on the cruise ship, so we made one quick stop there, then got back on the tender to have lunch on the ship. Although the little restaurants were cute, the cruise's lunch was free (or at least, already paid for).
After lunch, we went to the sun deck at the back of the ship, at the very top. It's the area where kids play in the water slide area, but with everyone on the island, we had it all to ourselves for most of the afternoon. We must've been out there for about 3 hours, totally at peace, watching the seagulls, and the boats, and the seals. It was the most relaxing day I remember having ever. Again, nowhere to be, no one to answer to, no responsibilities except to each other. It was amazing. It was on that back deck that I really felt close to Tim like we used to be. So many rough things have happened in our lives and our marriage, but this, this made all that fade away. I finally could stop the stress and planning and to-do list-making. It was the first time I can remember just living IN THE MOMENT. The one thing I had really hoped for was to see a whale. I heard they were running this time of year, and off the coast of Catalina Island too. I've never seen one in real life and I know they won't be around forever. Seeing a whale is something I've wanted to do for my entire life. That's why I love boats, deep-sea fishing and 3 hour tour boats alike. It's in the hopes of seeing a whale. I mentioned it to Tim so we stood up and looked off the back railing out into the water behind us. Sure enough, within just a few minutes, we saw the white big splash of where a whale had just jumped! Tim's great at spotting things like that and God's good enough to grant my little requests to see stuff like that. I tried to get the camera focused and ready for the next jump, if there was one. I wasn't able to capture anything but the next and final white splash, but I did see the tail before it disappeared. For someone who's waited her whole life to see a whale, it was enough (this time). I was very thankful for that little experience. It made the rest of the afternoon that much better.
Dinner that night was fun. We had Italian night. I ordered the roasted broccoli for an appetizer (needed vegetables!). It was funny, one single "tree" with grill marks, nothing else. Tim got the special appetizer that night, frogs' legs. My entree was veal parmesan over spaghetti with a Greek salad as my side dish. It was okay, and it was great to taste veal for the first time in a long time, but the spaghetti was NOT made by Italians! Again the desserts were centered around chocolate, so I ordered the carrot cake. It turned out to be the best dessert on the menu. The staff performed a song and dance routine for us too. That was fun.
Later that night we went to the Candlelight Lounge for karaoke. We met our dinner friends, Christopher and Kerri, there to enjoy it with us. The guy hosting was from India and was great! He had a great singing voice and made the experience fun and encouraging. After about 4 or 5 singers, all but one was pretty bad, but then Tim got up to sing. He used to sing, so I wasn't too worried. I knew he'd do great. He sang a song by Brooks & Dunn, and yes, he did awesome. Unfortunately, both Kerri and myself were soooooo tired, and I started feeling really sick (like maybe something from dinner didn't sit right). Tim (and Christopher) were kind enough to call it an early night so we could go back to the room and sleep. Tim was my hero getting me back to our room feeling as bad as I did.