Southern California & Catalina
A Navy city, an island with a movie-mogul past a short crossing offshore, and a national park where nobody lives at all — San Diego to the Channel Islands, the most varied coastal week on this side of the Pacific.
Southern California is a different kind of cruising ground: three working harbour cities along sixty-odd miles of coast, a genuine island a short crossing offshore, and beyond it a national park where nobody lives at all. San Diego supplies the infrastructure — deep, sheltered water, a Navy pedigree, and the only true superyacht berths on this stretch of coast. Newport Beach and Marina del Rey do the mainland glamour at a smaller, shallower scale. Catalina supplies the crossing everyone remembers, and two harbour towns to show for it. The Channel Islands, further out again, do the wilderness: sea caves, seals, and not a dock in sight. The water runs cooler than the postcards suggest, and the season longer than most.
“Cecil B. DeMille, Louis B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn used to arrive by yacht at Avalon's Casino to preview their newest pictures — the closest thing this coast has to a red carpet.”
Signature anchorages
Three mainland harbour cities, an island with two faces, and a national park with none of the above.
- San Diego Bay — Fifth Avenue Landing & Kona KaiDowntown's Fifth Avenue Landing takes yachts to 300ft (91m) LOA, 65ft beam and 20ft (6m) draft; Kona Kai, on Shelter Island, holds 250ft (76m) LOA in a minimum 17ft (5.2m) at low water. Both sit inside deep, sheltered water guarded by Point Loma, with refit work at Marine Group Boat Works in the south bay. La Playa Cove, between the San Diego and Southwestern Yacht Clubs, is the historic weekend anchorage for smaller craft.
- Newport HarborA shallower, small-craft-scaled harbour by comparison — Lido Peninsula Marina, to 135ft (41m) LOA, is the practical ceiling, and the marked anchorage between Lido Island and Bay Island holds good mud in around 10ft (3m). The 1905 Balboa Pavilion still marks the harbour's working heart.
- Marina del ReyThe largest man-made small-craft harbour in North America — over 4,600 slips behind a protective breakwater — but built for exactly that; individual basins run to 100–113ft (30–34m), a handful of slips to around 150ft (46m), and depths of 15–21ft (4.6–6.4m). Anything larger works through an agent for a mainland berth, or anchors off in Santa Monica Bay.
- Avalon, Catalina361 moorings, mostly privately leased and released to visitors when not in use, in around 18ft (5.5m) over good holding; reserve through the city's Harbor Department. The Casino's white drum is the first landmark to appear, from almost any direction.
- Two Harbors, Catalina — Isthmus Cove & Catalina HarborOver 700 moorings and anchorages across a dozen coves at the island's isthmus; moorings here are fore-and-aft tackle, not swinging, and Isthmus Cove or the leeward Catalina Harbor can be chosen to suit the wind. Hail Harbor Patrol on VHF channel 09 on arrival.
- Channel Islands National ParkOpen anchorage only, no marina infrastructure and, on National Park Service land, no landing permit needed — Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island and East Anacapa are both free to go ashore, though Anacapa's cove is not an all-weather anchorage. The rest of Santa Cruz belongs to the Nature Conservancy, which charges a landing fee and permits no overnight use.
The scene
Landmarks that have outlasted the fashions around them — a naval headland, a Hollywood ballroom, two ocean-going traditions.
Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race
Racing to Mexico every April since 1948, when Humphrey Bogart was among its founders — some 125 nautical miles from Newport Harbor to Ensenada, and regularly billed as the world's largest international yacht race by fleet size.
Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade
A lighted-boat procession around the harbour every December, running in one form or another since 1908 — one of the oldest holiday traditions on the water in the United States, and still drawing the fleet out after dark.
The Catalina Casino, Avalon
William Wrigley Jr.'s Art Deco landmark holds the world's largest circular ballroom, a 180ft dance floor for 3,000, over a theatre built for the first films with sound. Hollywood's studio moguls used to arrive by yacht for the premieres.
Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden
A 1930s memorial to William Wrigley Jr., built almost entirely from island stone, above a 38-acre garden of plants found nowhere else on Earth — and a clear run down the canyon to the San Pedro Channel.
USS Midway Museum
The US Navy's longest-serving 20th-century aircraft carrier, permanently berthed on San Diego's Embarcadero since 2004 and now one of the most-visited museum ships anywhere — a startling backdrop on the way to a downtown berth.
Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma
The 1855 lighthouse standing over San Diego Bay's entrance, decommissioned for fog 36 years later but preserved on the headland where Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is thought to have landed in 1542 — the first sight of California from the sea.
Table & stay ashore
Addresses old enough to have their own histories, from a wave-splashed dining room to a novelist's hilltop pueblo.
The Marine Room, La Jolla
Built on the sand in 1941, before coastal building rules caught up with it, with reinforced glass that lets diners watch the Pacific break against the window at high tide. The seasonal High Tide Dinners are timed to the biggest swells.
Hotel del Coronado
A wooden Victorian beach resort from 1888, a National Historic Landmark since 1977, and one of the largest buildings in the country to be electrified when it opened — visible from the water on the approach into San Diego Bay.
Balboa Bay Resort
Newport Harbor's waterfront club since 1948, built on former wartime naval land and still running its own 130-slip marina alongside the hotel — the closest thing this harbour has to an institution.
Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel, Avalon
The Western novelist's own hilltop home, built in 1926 in a Hopi pueblo style he borrowed from Arizona, turned into a hotel after his death and reopened in 2019 after a lengthy renovation — sea views from the hill above the Casino.
Harbor Reef Restaurant & Saloon, Two Harbors
The isthmus institution, and home of the Buffalo Milk — a White-Russian-style cocktail invented at its bar more than forty years ago and now poured island-wide. Line-caught swordfish in summer, a harbour-view patio year-round.
A week, sketched
San Diego
Embark at Fifth Avenue Landing or Kona Kai Resort & Marina; provision, and run out past Point Loma for a first look at the 1855 lighthouse inside Cabrillo National Monument before a first night alongside, an easy walk from the Gaslamp Quarter.
San Diego to Newport Beach
North some 68 nautical miles to Newport Harbor; a berth at Lido Peninsula Marina or the marked anchorage off Lido Island, then tender in to the 1905 Balboa Pavilion and the Fun Zone for the evening.
Newport Beach to Avalon, Catalina
The shortest crossing of the week, some 26 nautical miles of open Pacific, to a mooring off Avalon — the Casino's white drum the first landmark to appear. Ashore for dinner, and the Wrigley Memorial's canyon views the next morning.
Avalon to Two Harbors
Round the island's wilder northwest side, about 13 nautical miles, to the isthmus; a fore-and-aft mooring in Isthmus Cove or the leeward Catalina Harbor, whichever the wind favours, and a Buffalo Milk at the Harbor Reef Saloon.
Two Harbors to Marina del Rey
Back to the mainland, around 30 nautical miles; Marina del Rey's basins are sized for boats under about 150ft, so this is a night for the tender and Fisherman's Village rather than a berth for anything larger.
Marina del Rey to Channel Islands National Park
North around 60 nautical miles, past the Channel Islands Harbor gateway and on into the park itself — Anacapa's arch and its 1932 lighthouse first, then the night at Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island.
Channel Islands National Park
A full day among the park's sea caves — Painted Cave, among the largest sea caves on Earth, by tender at slack water — before the passage back to the mainland to disembark.
Ten days, unhurried
San Diego
Embark at Fifth Avenue Landing or Kona Kai; past the USS Midway on the Embarcadero and out for Point Loma's 1855 lighthouse, then dinner at the Marine Room in La Jolla, where high tide breaks against the glass.
San Diego to Newport Beach
North some 68 nautical miles to the marked anchorage off Lido Island; a walk round the 1905 Balboa Pavilion, and a quiet night before the crossing.
Avalon, Catalina
Some 26 nautical miles over to a Harbor Department mooring under the Casino's white drum — and two nights, not one: the Wrigley Memorial's canyon garden, the Zane Grey Pueblo on the hill above, and the interior's bison, left behind by a 1920s film crew.
Two Harbors
Round to the isthmus, about 13 nautical miles; a fore-and-aft mooring in Isthmus Cove or the lee of Catalina Harbor, and a Buffalo Milk at the Harbor Reef Saloon.
The West End
Emerald Bay and Cherry Cove, the coves beyond the isthmus the week never reaches — kelp-forest snorkelling off Indian Rock, then back to Two Harbors for the night.
Crossing to Santa Cruz Island
The long open-water run north-west to Channel Islands National Park, weather permitting — Smugglers Cove and its old olive grove on Santa Cruz Island's eastern end by evening.
Santa Cruz Island
Painted Cave by tender at slack water, among the largest sea caves on Earth, and the night at Scorpion Anchorage — no landing permit needed on the park's own land.
Santa Rosa Island
Across to Bechers Bay on the windier island next door, where Torrey pines grow wild in one of only two places on Earth. A weather-window call — trade it for a second Santa Cruz day if the forecast argues.
Anacapa & disembark
Anacapa's arch and 1932 lighthouse on the way off the park — its cove is no all-weather stop — then the short leg back to the mainland to disembark.
Three days, concentrated
Newport Beach to Avalon
Board at Newport Harbor — guests in through John Wayne (SNA) — and make the coast's shortest crossing, some 26 nautical miles, to an Avalon mooring; the Casino before dinner ashore.
Two Harbors
The Wrigley Memorial's canyon garden early, then about 13 nautical miles round to the isthmus — Isthmus Cove or Catalina Harbor as the wind decides, and a Buffalo Milk at the Harbor Reef Saloon, where it was invented.
Return & disembark
Back across the San Pedro Channel before the afternoon sea breeze fills in; the hook down off Lido Island by mid-afternoon, and disembark.
Pair with
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The gallery
The year, measured
Monthly means at the heart of this water — daily maxima averaged, wind as mean daily peak.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air, day °C | 16 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 16 |
| Sea °C | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 17 |
| Wind, peak kt | 11 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo · 2019–2023 means · sea temperature 2022–2023
The yachts that run these waters
Profiles from the record — introductions via the harbour desk.
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