WEEKEND ESCAPE : The Perfect Catalina ‘Weekend’ . . . at Midweek : Visitors who avoid Saturday-Sunday crowds can have choice of hotels and save money, too

AVALON — Our 12-year-old son had just left for Boy Scout camp in the Sierra, his third getaway of the summer. So far, the most thrilling summertime adventure for my wife and me had occurred the day the carwash substituted Pina Colada air freshener for our usual Country Spice.

We realized we needed a vacation of our own.

Because we both love the sea, we chose Santa Catalina Island. And because I have a pathological dislike of crowds (I would, for instance, rather be entombed in the Black Hole of Calcutta than go to Disneyland on a Saturday), we decided to go midweek rather than on the weekend, unlike our first visit to the island two summers ago.

We discovered that we couldn’t have picked a better time for our trip: This year, the number of midweek visitors to the island has dropped by almost 10%. The Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau speculates that that is because people are trying to save money by sacrificing weeklong vacations in favor of cheaper weekend excursions.

Whatever the reason, for the three days we wanted to spend there the first week in August, we found that we could pick and choose from hotels, some of which were offering midweek discounts of up to 45%.

One Wednesday at 7 in the morning, we boarded a Catalina Express boat in San Pedro that was about as comfortable and efficient as a profitable little no-frills commuter airline. It was clean and there were plenty of seats, though nothing luxurious.

The water during our 75-minute crossing was as smooth as lime gelatin and the boat sliced it effortlessly, churning up a white, frothy topping that spread out in a widening band behind us.

After landing, we took a cab a quarter-mile into the center of town and plopped ourselves down, bags in hand, at the Busy Bee restaurant near the pier. With its weathered wood siding it looked like the kind of place locals would go. We had Cajun sausage and eggs. The only other customers were two middle-aged women playing double solitaire, bloody Marys at their elbows.

“Ah,” my wife, Peggy, said. “This is just how I pictured it.”

In the ensuing days, we would say the same thing many times over.

With its narrow twisted streets, small gift shops with overhanging balconies and pots of flowers swaying in the mild breeze, Avalon reminded me of the English villages I visited 20 years ago. On the busy weekends, this small scale can seem claustrophobic. There can be a substantial wait just to tee off at the lone nine-hole golf course on the island or to eat at a restaurant. But during our visit we encountered none of that.

The one problem we did have was of a different nature: We had made advance reservations at the Hotel St. Lauren on Beacon Street because we’d heard it was a couple of blocks up the hill from the main shorefront road, and I had thought it would be quieter than the hotels “downtown.” But as we checked in, we decided it was farther from the beach than we liked. So after the first night there, we transferred down the hill to the Hotel Villa Portofino, just across Crescent Avenue from the water.

Though the rooms at the St. Lauren and the Portofino are comfortable, the visitor should not expect a hotel experience on a par with the grand hotels of Europe. The rooms are small and not lavishly furnished. There are no phones in the rooms at the Portofino, which Peggy and I liked very much.

Our room at the Portofino looked over the ocean, and because of that it was expensive--$170 a night. But to attract midweek business, the hotel was also offering rooms usually priced at $105 a night for $75.

Avalon is a densely packed community set in a small cove, and we were able to walk anywhere we wanted to go. For those who must have wheels, however, the island has accumulated a swarm of golf carts that buzz up and down the streets like busy insects. The carts rent for about $30 an hour, with the third hour free during the week.

At the outset, I was of two minds about how to spend my time: I was sorely tempted to flop down on the beach with “Nutcracker,” a true-crime book. At the same time, I thought maybe I should try something new--and maybe even a little dangerous.

I opted for adventure. I had never scuba-dived before, but here, as it turned out, that is no real good reason not to. Catalina Divers Supply offers an introductory dive for beginners costing $85, and I nervously signed up. Before putting me in the water in a little roped-off area near the Avalon Theatre, instructor David Lieberman made me read a typewritten page of material and then quizzed me on it.

“How often do you clear your ears while descending?” he asked.

“With every breath,” I answered confidently. Tests I’m good at. Actual diving, though, was another thing altogether.

“Don’t worry,” Lieberman assured me. “You’ll feel more comfortable in the water.”

But how to get in? Dressed in a wet suit, air tank and wearing a weight belt that I was sure would give me a hernia, I could barely walk, let alone swim.

Finally, I sat down on a rock and sort of rolled in, like an elephant seal.

Once in the water, I felt much better. I wore a life vest that Lieberman deflated slowly as we descended, constantly asking me with hand gestures if I was all right. When we reached the bottom, 40 feet down, I sat on a rock to get my bearings in the dark and somewhat murky water. After Lieberman asked if I was ready, I swam, or rather lumbered, through brilliant-orange kelp beds, past the sunken hull of a small boat and up to a little cave where “Fang” lives. Fang is a moray eel that the professional divers have befriended. Lieberman petted him like a dog. The eel opened its mouth in what I took for a smile of pleasure, but which could have been hunger. When I moved to pet him, I lost my balance and flipped over on my back like a turtle. Fang disapproved and disappeared into his cave, while Lieberman returned me to the surface.

“You did good,” he said generously.

As long as I am courting danger, I thought, how about trying a para-sail? This was a major challenge, because at one time I had had such a fear of flying that I would break out in a sweat just making an airline reservation.

Para-sailing is something like water-skiing except that the person being towed by the boat wears a parachute and never touches the water. There are several para-sailing companies in Avalon, and all charge about the same price, $38 for a 10-minute flight.

I went out with two other flyers, along with a driver and an assistant who unfurls the parachute and operates the winch that sends each flyer aloft. As the first flyer went up, I noticed a helicopter hovering perilously close, or so it seemed to me.

“Did you see that?” I pointed anxiously.

“Oh yeah,” the driver joked. “We get people tangled up with those all the time. Makes a mess of the parachute. Takes weeks to get the blood out.”

I shut up after that.

When my turn came, my parachute caught the wind and I lifted off.. Soon, I was floating 300 feet above the boat, which looked like a toy. It was so quiet and calm, with only the low hum of air blowing through the chute, that I had no fear.

Back on the ground, I decided I had had enough high adventure. So my wife and I walked a quarter-mile west up the shore to the Descanso Beach Club, which is open to the public and has a great outdoor bar just yards from the water. The bar is large and rectangular, with netting over the top, and is surrounded by comfortable wicker chairs. On a Saturday night, a bartender told me, the place is “wall-to-wall people.” But on this lazy midweek afternoon, I put my feet up and fell asleep, with a beer in my hand, to the sound of lapping waves and reggae music on the outdoor jukebox.

I awoke only when my wife tapped me to remind me of our dinner reservation. We ate out both nights at restaurants recommended by locals. The first night we went to the Channel House, an inviting if not luxurious restaurant on waterfront Crescent Avenue. I had pepper steak, and Peggy, being German and from Chicago, had pork schnitzel. Both dishes were good. There was almost no one in the restaurant, which is adjacent to the Hotel Metropole. The second night we ate at the Ristorante Villa Portofino, attached to our hotel, where I had a very good breast of chicken cooked with black olives, capers and tomatoes. Peggy chose a vegetarian pasta dish, heavy on the garlic, and she loved it.

Neither restaurant is cheap, with entrees running in the $16-$20 range, but we weren’t stinting on our budget. It was our first vacation alone in two years, so we felt we deserved special treatment.

On Thursday, we went exploring around the island and came across Two Harbors, 12 miles up the coast from Avalon at the Isthmus and reachable via a $12 ticket by boat. This is Catalina’s outback, a rustic-looking village with palm trees and a few houses scattered around the ridges.

From the top of the highest ridge, we were able to look over both harbors that give the area its name. On one side is the cove at the foot of the village, with its one restaurant and a 300-space campground that includes teepees and tent-cabins. On the other side is a long harbor.

The water here was clearer than at Avalon. For $19.50 each, we got wet suits and snorkel gear at the dive shop, as well as a boat ride out to kelp beds as thick as a primeval forest. This was my first snorkeling trip. From the anchored boat, I swam through the kelp and watched young mackerel dart through the water in silvery schools. The area is home to calico bass, and large numbers of California’s state fish--the bright orange Garibaldi--also can be found. The fish are protected and seem to know it.

If there is a heaven, I decided, it’s underwater.

Of all the midweek treats, the finest for movie buffs may be watching a show at the cavernous Avalon Theatre, an Art Deco monster built in 1929 at the west end of the Avalon cove and still known popularly as the Casino.

It’s true that the organ is played on Friday and Saturday nights only, but for a crowd-hater like me, nothing could beat a midweek-night trip to the musty-smelling theater with its exotic murals of Indians on horseback and seascapes with mermaids. There were maybe 20 other people in the 1,184-seat theater when we walked in to see “The Player.”

As we walked down the aisle looking for the perfect seat among all the hundreds we had to choose from, it was easy to imagine the show was being put on just for us.

In midweek, the same can be said of the whole island.

*

Weekend Budget for two

Parking at San Pedro terminal, three days: $17

Catalina Express boat, round trip from San Pedro to Avalon: 68

Busy Bee restaurant breakfast: 16

One night, St. Lauren hotel: 195

One night, Hotel Villa Portofino: 170

Catalina Divers Supply dive for beginners: 85

Para-sailing in Avalon: 38

Dinner, Channel House: 77

Dinner, Ristorante Villa Portofino: 66

Doug Bombard Enterprises snorkel trip: 39

Movie at the Avalon Theatre: 14

FINAL TAB $785

GUIDEBOOK

Cruising to Catalina

How to get there: Catalina Express: ticket information, (310) 510-1212. Departs Berth 95 in San Pedro and from the Queen Mary at 1046 Queen’s Highway in Long Beach.

Where to stay: Hotel St. Lauren (231 Beacon St., Avalon, 310-510-2299; $80-$200 a night, double occupancy).

Hotel Villa Portofino (111 Crescent Ave., Avalon, 310-510-0555; $75-$250, double occupancy).

The campground at Two Harbors: Doug Bombard Enterprises, P.O. Box 5044, Two Harbors 90704, 310-510-2800; $7.50 a night per person, midweek discount to $4.50 a person for groups of 20 or more.

Where to eat: Channel House (205 Crescent Ave., 310-510-1617); Ristorante Villa Portofino (101 Crescent Ave., 310-510-0508).

For more information: Contact the Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 217, Avalon 90704, (310) 510-1520. After Labor Day, some hotels will begin offering discounted vacation packages.