ALG 4 life: Catalina Island Day Trip!

Hi guys,

Yesterday was my brother's birthday and we took a day trip to Catalina Island! First time planning anything like this, but I'd say it was pretty successful. Left home around 7:30 and arrived in Long Beach at 8:40 to catch the Catalina Express at 10 am.

Catalina Express gives free rides for bday people, but didn't know he would be getting a cute bday ribbon! Made him wear it for a few pictures then pinned it to his backpack.

Here's the big boat! He's so funny. He was like it looks like the boat is missing something. The water was green!!! Eww!

Since I upgraded us, we got to sit in the Commodore Lounge and get a drink and snack!

The original plan was to get on the island, grab a bite to eat, snorkel the day away. That didn't happen though. We were reading the list of things to do if it's your bday and we saw the parasailing deals. Yes we went! As you can see here, we signed up for the 600 foot flight! Luckily he was free because it was his bday! Yay for bday deals!

It was amazing! So beautiful looking down at the water, island, sky from so high up. The parachute alone was so bright and colorful! Not us in this picture by the way.

Here we are. Those little specks up there! Cool huh? It's so peaceful up there. Had about 10-15 minutes up in the air.

Before we got off the boat I saw this funny sign!

After that we decided it was time to snorkel!! We didn't wana bother with the underwater cameras so we don't have many photos to show you guys. Sorry! This is the spot we went to though. See the tip of the rock on the left? We swam all the way over there! I think there were more fish this time compared to when I went 5 years ago? I went with some of my 8th grade class. I forgot how enjoyable it is to just float in the water and watch the fishies. If you guys haven't been snorkeling before you MUST try it!

After an hour and a half of snorkeling we stopped for dinner. Bday boy was hungry so we walked the whole city for a place to eat. Decided to sit down at a burger stand. It's funny because I realized that my brother and I were eating almost the same thing. Except his had a patty, onions, and cheese! I never thought to put a BLT on a wheat hamburger bun! Simple quiet dinner looking out into the harbor.

In the bday brochure we saw he could get a free scoop of ice cream! They gave huge scoops! Guess who's is who's! Fed a huge piece of cone to a little brown bird. "Obese bird in the making!"

Eating ice cream can make you thirsty so I asked my bro for some water. It was hilarious! He pulls the bottle from his bag and water goes EVERYWHERE! Apparently I didn't put the cap all the way after dinner. The funny thing is that in that specific part of his bag he had everything in bags or containers! Reminded me of the time my water spilled in my bag after that chem quiz except he was lucky . . .