Smooth Operators

As you know, we woke up our third and final day on Catalina Island to heavy rain, wind, and mud-covered roads. Lucky for me, by the time I got out of bed, Mr. Monkey had already taken care of everything. He'd called Catalina Express to find out if and when any boats were coming to the island, switched our tickets, and booked spa appointments for both of us in the interim.

Jealous? You should be. We should all have a Mr. Monkey. Smooth Operator #1.

We grabbed some goodies from our hotel lobby's complimentary continental breakfast offerings and noshed and relaxed until it was time for our spa treatments. Mr. Monkey had a deep-tissue massage, while I had a body scrub accompanied by a massage. Our masseuse had magic hands. Smooth Operator #2.

After my body scrub, my skin was so incredibly soft. Smooth Operator #3.

Before we headed to the dock, we had lunch at Cafe Umami (205 Crescent Avenue, Avalon).

The place is adorable, filled with organic this and that -- perfect for a light lunch and for feeding even your pickiest vegan friend.

Notwithstanding all the vegan options, we opted for a tuna salad sandwich, beef shawarma, and sides of pasta salad and Middle Eastern barley salad.



Everything was fresh and delicious. We also had some fun bottled sodas.

While we relaxed at our hotel, got spa-ified, and enjoyed our lunch, the huddled masses waited for hours here in the cold. They weren't as smart as Mr. Monkey.

I almost felt a little guilty about showing up so fresh-faced, rested, and well-fed when we joined these folks in line to get off the island with our pre-reserved tickets. The wind whipped through our hair and through the palm trees.

Armed with a dose of Dramamine, we braved the 10-foot swells of the sea. We saw the gnarly white caps through our window, but we felt nothing. Our captain was so artful in his navigation! And that, my friends, was Smooth Operator #4.

A few notes and answers to questions asked in previous comments:

1. The Catalina Country Club where we had dinner our first night is not, in fact, a "country club." That's just its name, and all members of the public are welcome to dine there.
   
   
2. While we really liked The Aurora Hotel & Spa, I want to caution any readers out there that I didn't exaggerate when I said the room was the size of a ship cabin. The shower was seriously tiny for me, and I am not a particularly large person. All this being said, the hotel's amenities (free breakfast, Keurig single-cup coffeemakers, large flatscreen TVs, Tempur-Pedic beds) and great service (they let us stay in our room well past checkout time on the day of our delayed departure and even gave us a cab voucher to the dock) really made us love the place.
   
   
3. According to Mr. Monkey's research, another good place to stay is the Hotel Metropole, which is also rather modern. It is far larger than The Aurora but also more expensive. We chose to save some money by sacrificing the space.
   
   
4. If we were to do it all over again, we'd likely just stay one night and rearrange our activity schedule to make this possible. The island really is quite small, and even two days and one night would be sufficient for a lovely leisurely trip.
   

One last interesting bit -- is the L.A. Times lurking here or something? Today there was an article in the Travel section about visiting Catalina Island during the off-season! Sounds like the reporter went the day after we left!

More photos of our trip here.

Treasure Island

Day Two on Catalina started with a hearty breakfast at The Pancake Cottage (118 Catalina Avenue, Avalon).

People start drinking damn early here. The place was extremely busy, and it took a long time for us to get our food. Maybe we should've had a drink, too.

When the food finally came, though, it was delicious. Mr. Monkey had crepes with apples, raisins, cinnamon, and powdered sugar ($7.95), as well as a side of corned beef hash ($4.95).


I chose the spicy chorizo fried with three scrambled eggs with refried beans, rice, homemade salsa, and flour tortillas ($11.95). What a way to start my day!

If you have the patience, The Pancake Cottage is worth a visit.

Bellies full, we headed to our next activity. On the way, we passed a fountain and a somewhat awkward-looking wedding set-up.

We met our guide Fred at the Catalina Island Conservancy for our Jeep Eco Tour.


Having lived on Catalina for 46 years, Fred was not only well-versed in the island's history, but he also knew every single local we encountered. Fred taught us a lot about the island's colonization, flora, and fauna.

It's a good thing that we had the big breakfast because Fred took us on quite the extended tour -- much longer than the tour for which we paid!

Afterward, we explored some more on our own.

We went back to the hotel to rest awhile before we embarked on our evening adventure -- a nighttime Santa Catalina Island Company undersea tour.

The inside of the semi-submersible was disco-like.

Whereas our daytime undersea tour on Day One was like going to the zoo (i.e., the wildlife was abundant and right in front of us), the nighttime tour was like going on safari. We had to hunt for California spiny lobsters on the ocean floor. Tougher but still fun! The only drawback was that it was practically impossible to capture this with my camera. Alas.

Here is a poor-quality video from my point-and-shoot, complete with a crying child and an excited Mr. Monkey rattling off every creature he sees.



Spotting lobsters in the dark made us hungry. Mi Casita was our next stop.

Jamaica and lemonade. Frequently refilled.

We started with an appetizer of grilled panela cheese topped with grilled chorizo, tomatillo sauce and tortillas ($8.95).

This was my favorite part of our meal. Muy delicioso.

Our meals came with a choice of soup or salad. Here's the mediocre creamy chicken tortilla soup I had. Bland. Not hot enough.

Mr. Monkey ordered the pork ribs slow-roasted and marinated in adobado sauce accompanied by frijoles de la olla, fire-roasted corn-on-the-cob, tortillas, salsa, and tomatillo sauce ($18.95). This was fairly tasty. The ribs could've been more tender, but their flavor was enjoyable. The corn-on-the-cob was the standout on the plate. Charred and sweet.

My chicken flauta and beef taco combination ($13.95) was just sad. Flavorless. It was really too bad because the food's texture was perfect. It just didn't taste like anything. Boo.

Action shot!

I don't recommend Mi Casita. You can do better, even on Catalina Island.

Believe it or not, there is still one more Catalina installment to come. Stay tuned.