(14 photos) For the past four years I’ve made a tradition of visiting Southern California’s Catalina Island on my birthday. The reason behind this is a special deal from Catalina Express, one of the boat companies running trips between the mainland and the island, offering free passage to folks on their birthday when accompanied by a full-fare adult. Yesterday was my birthday and I was joined, for the third year, by Kat. I split the cost of her ticket to make it more affordable, and we share cost of other expenses throughout the day.
The highlight of our Catalina trip is kayaking. Last year we ventured out into the open ocean, rather than sticking within the harbor, and I looked forward to a repeat of that experience. It’s truly a blast! We rented our double kayak from Avalon’s Descanso Beach Club, and received another birthday perk…two hours for the price of one!
Our journey west along Catalina’s coast from Avalon was a long one, for novices such as us anyway. While we kept an eye on the time, allowing an hour out and an hour back, we learned quite a lesson. The distance one way must be repeated back the other. Going up the coast was so relaxing, relatively easy… we turned around near Long Point, but the return was arduous! Blisters, tired, oooooh, it seemed we’d never get back! But, along the way we were joined by seals diving in and out of the water, schools of silvery fish, fishing boats, and other assorted excitement that kept us paddling along.
Once back at Descanso Beach, we settled down at the beachside bar, ordered cocktails, and enjoyed the Bob Marley music playing! Kat and I highly recommend kayaking off Catalina. More photos to come. 🙂 ~SueBee
SueBee and Kat 
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous birthday adventure with us! Love it!
You are quite welcome, my friend!!