Catalina August 2026

Catalina August 2026

It's time for our annual Catalina trip!

View of Whites Landing

We debated staying at ocean side or Dana point on our way to Catalina. 

But oceanside YC is full and Dana point harbor cost $85 a night.and will only take more time. 

It's cheaper and faster to go straight to Howland with overnight crossing again. So we left on Thursday and got there on Friday AM. 

Making a beeline to Howland at night again

After getting to Howland in 14.5 hours, we went directly to sleep for a couple of hours. 

View of Howland when we got there

Bill started the process of the inflate party, as we need to get dinghy, swim float and splash the paddle boards in the water. 

First day at 3pm we took a dinghy tour to the snorkel area and realized it's so clear!It's ironical as we had a hurricane and high swell warning 2 days ago and boats are chased off moorings! 

First sunset at Howland

So the next day we made a beeline to the snorkel area with the paddle board and snorkel gear and snorkel all the way to emerald cove! Saw a lot of pretty and big fishes

After that it's time for micheladas and our first steak and zucchini dinner.

Had a couple of Steaks nights and a couple of Lox/Cream cheese Morning

The next day it's hiking day. We started early to avoid the hot sun. We hike towards emerald cove and the boy scouts camp. 

We keep going towards Parsons landing and saw the camp ground for hikers with camping permits

Saw a red fox along the way too but he's too fast for pictures! 

View of Howland from the trail

Emerald Bay clear waters!

On the last day at Howland's, in the morning we took the paddle boards and went for a paddle early in the morning. Saw a turtle and seal. Had a spam breakfast sandwich after that =)

Spam sandwich!

It's quite entertaining on the last day to see the talent show and obstacle course of the kids camp. They string a bunch of paddle boards and got them to run across. And they have water sports competition and water ballads shows by the kids. 

The kids camp at Howland 

The next am Bill and I made our way to Whites Landing for 3 nights.

We took the opportunity to tune the auto pilot along the way as we replaced the encoder system. Made a nice quesadilla for our breakfast when we got to White's

Chicken Queasadilla 

Then we check into buffalo beach camp and then we head for a snorkel at Hens rock. 

View from Oasis at White's

Saw the coolest thing ever during the snorkel! A huge turtle (at least 3 feet across) landed in front of us and started eating the kelp and we just watch it for very long time! It's certainly aware that we are there but didn't seems to care. It's so graceful! 

Beautiful wooden boat that moor next to us at White

The next day we woke up early and went for a paddle before it got windy. Then Bill had a meeting with the Catalina conservancy while I fished and got a striped bass for ceviche for our happy hour.

Ceviche and watermelon margaritas!

 

There's a bison in the Buffalo beach camp area and he decided to stick around for more than a day. Apparently he blocked the path to the men's bathroom too =) 

Bison sightings! 

We also used the carcass of the fish and put in the lobster trap to see what it will get. Surprisingly we got a lobster but it was returned to the ocean unharmed! 

Lobster!

The next day we woke up early again and went for a hike before it gets too hot. We hike up the road and came back after seeing a nice view of Buffalo beach camp

View of the mountain range at the top of the hike

After that I did more fishing and caught our 2nd fish for ceviche and more watermelon margaritas!

Repeat of ceviche happy hour

The sunset on the last night at White is spectacular. Side note at Whites. We did noticed the fishing seems more challenging this year and didn't get sheep head or bigger bass. 

Sunset on our 3rd night at Whites

The next AM we made our way to Avalon as we wanted to play miniature golf at Avalon. 

Entrance to Avalon harbor

It's super crazy with all the boaters packed into Avalon and we were lucky to get a mooring for one night.

View of Avalon harbor from the oceanside

We learned we can't book for more than 1 night of mooring at Avalon. They don't charge for more than one night at a time and they only inform you the next AM at 9am if they have to kick you off the mooring. The reason is the owners of the moorings at Avalon and 2 Harbors can inform with 24 hours notice to get their mooring back. 

Anyway, we got into Avalon and spend the day playing miniature golf and drinking cocktails. 

Playing miniature golf at the Golf Garden

We hide at Marlin's club for a bit before going to Lobster Trap for a late lunch and Sand Trap for a margarita. 

Lobster trap is a decent place but still a tourist trap =) Marlin club is probably still the coolest bar at Avalon. 

Late lunch at Lobster trap

We went to Catalina museum to learn a bit more of Avalon history. 

Saw this poster and it's pretty funny. 

Unique fun facts of Avalon

After a night at Avalon, we decide it's time to go home instead of waiting for 9am mooring verdict. We left for San Diego at 7am and Bill had fun downwind sailing for 2.5 hours with the spinnaker. 

Oasis spinnaker in action!

After the whole trip, I captured some of the food for this trip. My takeaway for this trip is I have learned how to bring the right amount of food for us, after doing it 3 times. We also have a good way now to maintain freshness of food with solar powering the fridge and Yeti with frozen drinks. But we need to get more than 1 week worth of food storage for us to go further! 

Yum!

Peru day 15 - Lima day 4

 Lima day 4

Plaza Mayor in Lima

Today we booked a city and catacombs tour in the historic area. and we got out of Barranco and Miraflores area of Lima.  

The meet point Hotel Bolivia

We met the tour at Hotel Bolivia and it has an old bar, a 1920 ford car and the oldest elevator in town. 

The bar in Hotel Bolivia with the pisco sours bottles 

The 1920 Ford car

The historic center is beautiful and Arianna our guide told us a few things about the city. 

The historic center sights

Bus services has their dedicated lanes and is the easiest to get around but it still has a long line to get on the bus. 

The gray city bus in Lima

The black and white sign means the building is protected and a lot of buildings in the city center can't have 2nd and 3rd floor occupied as it's too unstable

They have 9 presidents since 2016 and it's highly unstable politically. 

Beautiful church along the route

We visited the St Francisco monks church and catacombs and learned some interesting facts.

The Jesuits church with moorish influence

The monks took money from the people to bury their money in the church.. Then every 5 years they removed the body and put them in a mass grave hence creating the catacombs. 

The catacombs with original Seville Spanish tiles and a beautiful library and last supper

The cathedral at Plaza Mayor is built on top of a Inca temple and the only stone piece is found at the side of the plaza. And Francisco statue is found behind it. 

The cathedral built on top of the Inca temple

 

Francisco statue

There's a post office building repurposed into a gastronimique center but was closed as the building is unstable. 

Unstable post office building

Walking further down, we were able to see a church with 2 relics 

Church with 2 skulls as relics

Last stop of pisco tasting but too tourist trap!

We got a ride to Lacorma in the tour bus as it felt very chaotic and we were glad to get out of Lima historic center quickly and back to Miraflores. 

Ice cream before going back to the hotel

Had a rest at the hotel before heading out to Carnaval which is the 43rd bar in the world. 

Carnaval for cocktails on the last night

I wanted to see a neighborhood that's not Miraflores or Barranco.  The San Ysidro area seems interesting and it would be a good choice for next time if we visit Lima again. 

Carnaval interior 

Carneval menu

We had the Carnaval experience picking 3 cocktails and then had their signature cocktail too which has beautiful presentation. 

Carneval Experience

Carnavel cocktail

Today is the last day of our trip. I started this journey not knowing anything about Peru and I'm leaving with more knowledge of the country

I felt privileged to learn about Peru and the Andean culture from our guides in this trip. 

It felt like a life time going through all of this 2 weeks with so many different experiences and having such a good trip. 

Peru day 14 - Lima day 3

 Lima day 3

The love stature on the malacon

Today is our 2nd full day in Lima.We wanted to go see the pyramid in the city and more of the Malecon from the Miraflores side. 

The pyramid entrance and small museum

The pyramid caught us by surprise as I didn't think we will see one in the city. 

The pyramid

Turns out the city didn't know there's one till 1950! They are still excavating the rest of the pyramid too. As they only saw a yellow slope and houses are built and the slope used for sports. 

The city clearing out the buildings for the pyramid and the restaurant on site

I think they found sacrifices and burial graves in the pyramid.

The pyramids sights

While we are there, there's a mandatory emergency drill at 10am. The hotel left is a note the night before letting us know that we have to participate if we are in the room! 

the letter from hotel informing us of the emergency drill

As far as we can tell, the whole city has phone msgs, sirens etc all going for 10 mins with everyone at Punto de reunión. 

Everyone waiting to get back to the tour during the drill

After that we walked to a coffee shop called ombu and it has great coffee. 

Ombu for good coffee

Then we continue walking to the malecon on the Miraflores side

The same pacific ocean!

Gaudi style parks and the Love park

I noticed there's a churros con chocolate store Manolo and I told Bill that I need to try it. It is better than the churros that we get at Tijuana as they are crispier and lighter

The correct churros con chocolate

After that we had dinner at Ache which is a Nikkei-Peruvian fusion place. 

Good clams and fish soup and sushi at Ache