What is it like to live in Santa Catalina Island?

Every American who has fantasized about living on a Mediterranean island can relax. There's a place much closer to home where you can enjoy the mild climate without changing currency or learning another language. read more

All of Santa Catalina Island is not inhabited. The majority of the island is controlled by a conservancy which is attempting to keep it as is was before the white man arrived. The island is in Southern California and, just as the mainland, is basically a desert. The island is covered by scrub oak, cactus and other drought resistant, hardy plants. read more

I haven't personally lived on Catalina Island but I visited there a lot about 20 years ago when I dated someone who lived there. So my comments are applicable to that time. He was a single father raising 3 daughters. read more

Santa Catalina Island, some 20 miles off the Southern California mainland, has attracted visitors for decades. Many are day-trippers who spend a few hours, then board a return ferry or cruise ship. But it's possible to live on Catalina, which generally means residing in Avalon, a town that occupies less than 3 percent of the 70-square-mile island. read more