My fiancé and I had always wanted to Catalina Island. We finally decided to make this trip happen during the Labor Day weekend. However, our plan did not turn out so well as we wanted it to be. Here are some pointers about what we did right and wrong while planning for this trip:
Right
We planned our trip well in advance by looking for a place to stay that weekend. We found The Anchor Pointe Inn on Airbnb for a total of $147.78 for two nights.
The motel was located in Wilmington, which was only ten mins away from the ferry port in Long Beach. The motel is completely renovated. We would stay there again because it was affordable, clean and welcoming. Here are some pictures of the Anchor Pointe Inn:
Wrong
We spent Saturday exploring the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific and the local’s restaurants and bars. It never came to my attention that we should buy the ticket for the ferry ahead of time because we didn’t know what time we would want to catch the ferry. Waking up at around 9 am, we decided to catch the ferry at 12:15 pm. The ferry schedule was 6am, 8:15am, 9:50am, 11:00 am, 12:15 pm, 2:00pm…. By the time we got to the ticket booth at 11:30 am, they informed us that tickets for 12:15 pm were sold out. They could still book us for the 2:00 pm trip. However, they also said that the ticket to return from Catalina were already sold out.
Related: DoubleTree Hotel, Santa Ana, CA: A Review
Takeaway points
Buy tickets for the ferry ahead of time so you don’t have to worry about them being sold out.
Thanks for reading and hope you have a great day.
