Catalina Island - daytrip?
 

we will be in the laguna beach area - wondering if a daytrip to catalina island is worthwhile.

thanks!

Hello mackie, in my opinion it is! Have taken it from Long Beach. If you go I am sure you will have a fun and relaxing day.

I think it is! I took a boat over from Long Beach. I had a great time. Got an early boat over and a late one back. Lots of fun.. very pretty. If you're only going to be in Laguna Beach for 2-3 days.. it might not be worth it... but if you'll be there for at least 5 days.. definitely worth spending one at Catalina.

I agree that it is a nice day trip. I believe that there is also a boat from Dana Point: www.catalinaexpress.com

Here's a thread with some suggestions: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35106730

I did it as a daytrip a few years ago, I think it was well worth it. Next time, we want to stay over a couple of nights.

We took a day trip from Long Beach 4 years ago, and loved it. We took the early boat over, and as soon as we got off we went to the ticket booths on the pier to buy tickets for the tours we wanted to take - a good idea to get them ASAP, as the good time slots sell out fast. I believe you can also buy tour tickets online before you go. We toured the casino (a must-see, really fascinating), took a tour of Avalon, which was pretty interesting - you do go up high, overlooking the town, so it's worth it for the view, if you don't plan to rent your own golf cart for the day, and we went on a submersible to see the kelp forest, which we really enjoyed. We would have gone to the botanical garden too, but those tickets were sold out. We took the last ferry that evening back. Even with all those tours we still had time to eat lunch and dinner at nice restaurants, poke in a lot of the cool shops, spend some time on the beach, and wander around Avalon. We especially enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful, colorful tiles everywhere, and the murals made of tiles. Like trippinkpj, we thought we'd love to go back someday and spend a couple of nights, there's a lot more to do and see. I think a day trip is definitely worthwhile!

Another yes, but it's better in warmer weather than cooler. End of summer would be great -- water still warm (well, for the Pacific Ocean!) and, if so, take a bathing suit and towell.

A few years back we spent the night on the Queen Mary in Long Beach and the next morning walked next door and took a boat to Catalina for the day. (We were able to leave our rental car in the Queen Mary lot). One of the most memorable things we did on Catalina was the Catalina Conservancy Jeep Eco-tour. It took us to places on the island which are not accessible otherwise. We got close to the buffalo which were left there in 1924 by a film crew and have since multiplied. Since the Conservancy is a nonprofit organization, taking this tour is beneficial to the island and conservation efforts.