:: This is me ::: Summer Getaway at Catalina Island

August 16, 2008 - We took a day trip to Catalina which is an hour drive to Long Beach Catalina express terminal then another hour yacht ride to the island. We've been planning to go here since last year but we just didn't have enough time to squeeze it in our busy schedule. We took the 10am trip and got there just in time for brunch.

Most of our pictures were taken from our iPhone and disposable camera coz I forgot to bring my digicam's battery which I recharged the night before. I was so pissed off coz I'd like to take as many pictures as I can.. and I mean good quality shots. The pictures came out pretty decent though. Those that were taken from the disposable camera were like taken from early 90s.... so old school =P

Anyways, we had brunch at Luau Larry's then of we went to the Discover tours that comes with the scenic and casino tour. Our tour guide was funny as we cruise around the island. He has a lot of trivia and most of it are weird such as 1) There's a casino with no gambling 2) There's a bird park with no birds 3) The 3rd street is the 2nd street from the shore

We have completed all tours at around 3ish and it is just in time for our introductory scuba dive. We didn't take any lessons before our scuba dive so it was kinda intense. I wasn't expecting that there's a lot of things to know/remember/consider before the dive:

1) learn to breath from the diving regulator
2) learn to clear your ears as you descend
3) learn to put back the regulator when it goes off your mouth
4) learn to get rid of water in your mask by "farting"
5) learn to move underwater

I really had a hard time "farting" and I swallowed a lot of salt water which made me decide to go up. But I stayed underwater at 15 feet deep for 12 minutes. I'd want to stay longer but my mask was just too big for me. It was such a different world underwater.. there's a lot of fish but the famous one is the garabaldi fish!

We'll definitely go back here and maybe stay for a couple of days. It's a perfect way to end summer.