Thursday, May 19, 2011 by Eugene.

Our landing float, shown here breaking up in the rare surf, was torn loose of its moorings last night after suffering damage from the attempted ferry landing on Wednesday. The overnight high surf and extremely low tide combined to rip it loose and pound it into the pier. We lost 2 pier pilings and the 52′ float.

Needless to say, we had to cancel the water taxi service we had arranged to transport our stranded campers from New L.A. Charter School, and switch to ground transportation. Unfortunately, the Whites Landing road is underdeveloped, and buses cannot traverse it safely. The school kids bravely hiked up 1600′ up a twisting road over 3 miles long. They had great attitudes and their positive outlook got them through the ordeal. Conservancy buses took them from the top of our road to Avalon (about a 30 minute ride through the island interior) where they boarded the Catalina Duchess for Long Beach.

Students from Poly High School will repeat the feat at 7:30 tomorrow morning. We have cancelled our weekend event, and we are trying to arrange bus transportation for more than 100 campers on Monday. We hope to have the back-up float anchored by the end of next week.

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011 by Eugene.

68 students and 7 chaperones from New L.A. Charter school got stranded at Whites Landing today due to gale-force winds and a steep southern swell. The Catalina King, a 400+ passenger camper ferry attempted to land at our pier in the fierce wind and high surf. The ship caused heavy damage to our floating dock, and we were unable to off-load the incoming group from Poly High School nor board the group from New L.A. Charter. Attempts to get transportation to Avalon and back to Long Beach aboard the Catalina Express were made, but all transportation in the wind-whipped San Pedro Channel has been cancelled for the remainder of the gale.

The 75 stranded campers will be housed one more night at Whites Landing, fed and shipped out at 9:00 Thursday morning. Being that there are others on the island who are stranded as well, the ferry (Catalina Dutchess) will be making a couple more stops before heading back to Long Beach.

It’s always and adventure at The Catalina Experience!

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Thursday, August 19, 2010 by Eugene.

It’s been a long time since I first went to camp on Catalina Island. The year was 1979, and I was 12 years old. It was my first visit to the island, and I remember most things very well. For example, I rode over on the Catalina King, then operated by the now defunct Catalina Cruises. The King still serves the camp (including ours), but is now operated by Catalina “Classic” Cruises. To think that “state-of-the-art” ferry transportation in the 1970’s that replaced the steamship SS Catalina is now considered “classic” (and the “slow” boat to the island!) I remember looking over the side as we pulled into the Isthmus and seeing the bottom! It was my first look at crystal clear Southern California ocean water. I noticed the bright orange fish, Garabaldi, and the golden brown sea weed I later learned was giant kelp. After getting off the boat, our gear was loaded on a flatbed truck and we hiked the distance from the little settlement of Two Harbors to the Cherry Valley Scout Reservation at Cherry Cove—a trek of nearly 3 miles. The views from the winding road were beautiful, and I remember every step. I felt as though I was one of the first to discover the island, and I pitied my family and friends for not being able to join me. I was on the adventure of a lifetime!

That week in 1979, I learned how to fish, sail, row a canoe, dive for painted rocks that I was told was “treasure,” and of the rewards of having lousy poker players as tent-mates. We even took a war canoe out for an overnight camping trip on a remote beach. The canoe tipped over that night on our way to the camping site, and the older boys began humming the theme from “Jaws.” Remember…I was 12 years old, and that movie had just recently been released. We were terrified, but it was all part of the adventure!

The last couple of weeks of our own “Camp Castaway” has reminded me of that adventure 31 years ago at Cherry Valley. I think, in many ways, I drew from my own experience as a camper in suggesting a few of the activities to Anna, our program manager. I was very pleased to see that some things are timeless, and kids still enjoy many of the same types of activities, challenges and learning opportunities we enjoyed a generation earlier.

During the Camp Castaway week, I got a visit from Jan B. Olson. He’s an aircraft product engineer  from Playa del Rey. He is an older gentleman in his 70’s, and he loves the island, visiting often on his very nice 45′ sailboat. He asked if he could look around, and I asked him what interested him about Whites Landing. He told me he had been a camper at Whites as part of a YMCA program in 1948—31 years prior to my own Catalina experience! I offered to show him around in the camp’s golf cart, and we were off. He shared with me some of his childhood memories of Whites and allowed me to photocopy two postcards from his stay here 62 years ago (partly shown here). It was amazing to me how consistent his story is with mine—and with those of our current “Camp Castaway” campers. It seems that Santa Catalina has something to offer every generation of campers, and it is always something that kids remember for a lifetime, taking their memories and experiences fondly into adulthood.

[Jan’s postcard from 1948 showing Whites Landing from the eastern ridge.]

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