Santa Catalina Island, California - Transportation and Communication

Transportation and Communication

Catalina is serviced by passenger ferries. Ferries depart from Orange County in Newport Beach and Dana Point, while they depart from Los Angeles County in Long Beach, San Pedro, and Marina del Rey. The trip takes approximately an hour and costs approx $65 round trip. Helicopter service is also available from Long Beach or San Pedro. Catalina has also been an active port of many cruise lines since the 1990s, with Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and Carnival Cruise Lines making the port a regular for Baja cruises. Specifically, Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Paradise has made calls to the island every week since 2004, making it the ship to have the most weekly calls to the port, but left in November 2011 and was replaced by the Carnival Inspiration. The ships anchor about 100 feet off of Avalon Harbor.

The island is also home to the Catalina Airport (FAA Identifier: AVX), also known as Airport-in-the-Sky. The airport was founded by Dick Probert and built in 1946. The airport is located 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Avalon. The 3,000 feet (910 m) runway sits on a mountaintop, 1,602 feet (488 m) above sea level. Until the time of the airport's construction, the only air service to the island was provided by seaplanes. Fixed-wing flights pay a $25 landing fee as of January 1, 2009.

The use of motor vehicles on the island is restricted; there is a limit on the number of registered cars, which translates into a 14-year-long wait list to bring a car to the island. Most residents move around via golf cart. Because of these restrictions, there is no regular vehicle ferry service for visitors to take their car from the mainland to Catalina Island. Tourists can hire a taxi from Catalina Transportation Services. Bicycles are also a popular mode of transportation. There are a number of bicycle and golf cart rental agencies on the island. Only the city of Avalon is open to the public without restrictions. The only major road into the back country is Stage Road. Under an agreement with Los Angeles County, the Conservancy has granted an easement to allow day hiking and mountain biking, but visitors must first obtain a permit at the Conservancy's office (on which they declare the parts of the island they intend to visit). Hiking permits are free, whereas bicycle permits are available for a fee (as of 2006, $60 per person annual, $20 per person good for 2 consecutive days, helmets and mountain bikes with knobby tires required).

Catalina's isolation offered good opportunities to experiment with new communication technologies throughout its history. Although not high tech, the first of these communication innovations was the use of pigeons by Catalina's gold prospectors. Homing pigeons delivered messages to the mainland in 45 minutes, compared to 10 days to deliver mail from Isthmus to Wilmington by regular post in 1864. Even today, Avalon Post Office does not match the airmail service enjoyed by the miners. Pigeons were used to deliver messages for Catalina residents until 1899. By 1902, the first commercial wireless telegraph station was built in Avalon where the Chimes Tower now stands. By 1919, the world's first wireless telephone system was installed. Engineers came from all over the world to study it, and people stood for hours to use this new technology. (The only drawback was that all conversations could be monitored by anyone listening to their radio.) Another communication first touched Catalina when the world's first commercial microwave telephone system was installed in 1946. Although microwave telephones had been used for wartime applications, this was the first peacetime use of this technology.

Catalina's isolation also left the island as one of the last central offices in the US Bell System to operate entirely using manual switchboard operators. The Catalina Island exchange was converted to dial in 1978.

Read more about this topic:  Santa Catalina Island, California