RECREATION BOATING : Autumn’s a Perfect Time to Summer on the Island

Summer vacation in October?

Why not? The weather’s great and the tourists have gone home. All you need is a free day and a ticket to Catalina.

“I think October is the best time to go,” says Bob Black. “You get some real nice weather and you don’t have the crowds at the island.”

Black should know.

As co-owner and president of Catalina Passenger Service Inc., he operates the only ocean ferry service between Orange County and Santa Catalina Island. His boat, the 118-foot Catalina Flyer, carries nearly 100,000 passengers a year from the Balboa Pavilion and back. The 500-passenger boat can make the crossing in 75 minutes. From around Easter until the end of November, the Flyer provides daily service to the island, leaving the Pavilion at 9 a.m. and returning around 6 p.m.

On a recent weekday morning passengers were lined up at 8:30 a.m. waiting to board the high-speed catamaran, docked adjacent to the Pavilion. “We’ll probably make the trip today with about 275 passengers,” Black says. “But on weekends, even at this time of year, you need a reservation. As soon as you know you’re going over, you should make reservations. Sundays are our busiest days and it fills up quickly.”

The Flyer only makes one trip a day, according to Black, and a reservation assures you a seat over and back. Round-trip tickets are $28 for adults and $15 for children.

Before the Flyer went into service in 1988, Orange County passengers had to spend 2 1/2 hours making the crossing on the older and much slower Catalina Holiday. The old boat had bench seating, and crossings were often rough and uncomfortable, says Black, who has worked with the passenger service since the early ‘70s. The new boat has plush, upholstered seats on two levels inside, and features outdoor seating on rear and top decks.

“Most people start out back here,” Black says, gesturing toward the open cockpit. “But when we get outside the harbor it gets pretty windy so they head inside.”

Because the new boat is more comfortable and makes the crossing in half the time it took the old boat, Black says that fewer passengers get seasick. However, he still advises everyone to take a motion sickness pill before boarding. “We don’t carry them on the boat,” he says, “because after you board, it is too late to take them. You have to take them an hour or two ahead of time.”

Although Black can remember trips being canceled only three times in 15 years due to bad weather, he says: “We’ve had some pretty rough crossings. Usually it’s during Santa Ana winds, mostly in the spring. We’ve got halfway over and had Avalon call us and say you can’t come in. The wind is blowing too hard. So, we’ve had to turn around and come back.”

The most dangerous thing Black recalls ever happening during a crossing was not related to weather, but to reckless passengers. “We’ve had people jump off the boat,” he says, “not in the open ocean, but in the harbor. So we have a policy--jump off the boat, go to jail. One guy did it in Catalina and we had him arrested. He spent the night in jail.”

Not only that, but the passenger was barred from returning to Orange County aboard the Flyer. He had to find an another method of transportation, Black says.

Because the Catalina crossing is so quick in the Flyer, some local yacht owners prefer riding to the island aboard the catamaran rather than on their own boats, according to Black, who points out that it can take as long as seven hours to get to Avalon on a sailboat.

The Flyer is staffed by nine crew members, including two captains, one of whom--Bill Edelhauser--is a co-owner of the boat, along with Black and four others. On the trip over, folks from Catalina sell tickets to some of the island’s most popular attractions, including the glass bottom boat trip, harbor cruises and bus tours.

“We didn’t used to do that,” Black says, “but most people are going over only for the day and we found it saves time. They get to see more instead of standing in line once they get there to buy a ticket.”

If you’re planning a fall trip to Catalina, Black offers the following advice:

Reservations are required at least a week ahead. (For information call (714) 673-5245.

Luggage is limited to two hand-carried pieces per person.

Pets are not permitted aboard the Flyer.

Diving equipment is not allowed on board.