Bucaneer Weekend 2011 Catalina Island Bike CampTour

The annual Buccaneer Days in Two Harbors on Catalina Island is held the first weekend of October. The Isthmus harbor fills with boats flying pirate flags and pirates partying onboard and on shore.

Costume contests, a treasure hunt, an outdoor grill serving up pirate fare, live music and lots of rum round out the event. While there are activities during the day that are geared towards kids, make no mistake that this is a party for adults.

Come join us on a warm weather ride in Southern California, those of us from Washington, from Arizona and from California will catch the morning ferry on Friday, but you can come over later on Friday or else on Saturday and join us. If you are flying in to town, then the Orange County, Santa Ana or Long Beach airports are the closest. Saul has much of his gear stored in San Diego (my house) so he'll fly here.

This is a cross post of my trip on the Southern California Camping & Hiking Cooperative group.

Who's going:
Andrea, Randy, Ron from San Diego area
Saul and ??????? from Washington
Keep in mind Saul's cell phone doesn't work very well on the island.

Ferry tickets as follows:
It's toooo early to book reservations for the ferry - we want to go San Pedro to Avalon around 9 a.m. and return Two Harbors to San Pedro around 11:30 a.m. I'll let you know when you can book your reservations for the boat and the exact times/places.

TBD (hoping for 9:30 a.m.) on 9/30 San Pedro to Avalon
TBD (hoping for 11:30 a.m.) 10/3 Two Harbors to San Pedro

Catalina Island is like stepping back in time to what the California coast looked like prior to the big population and development boom of the 1960's and 1970's.

You'll get outdoors in a beautiful setting, so come join us for a great trip. it's supposed to be rated as the best camping in California, we saw Bison when we went in October 2008 and that was pretty cool. They were let loose after the filming of a Western in the 1920's and they have captured some of them to restock the midwest. The plan is to meet at the ferry in San Pedro, where we'll catch the 9 a.m. ferry to Avalon and then bike to the Black Jack Campground. We'll be riding a total of about 15 miles for the day, with one mother of a hill to warm up on. the second day we'll have a relatively easy 12 mile ride to our next campground at Little Harbors and possibly ride to Two Harbors for ice cream after setting up camp. On our last night we will head to Parsons Landing at the NW tip of the island. On our last day we will ride back to Two Harbors and catch the ferry back to San Pedro and drive back to San Diego. The road from Avalon to where we turn off for Black Jack is paved potholes, after that we are riding dirt for the rest of the weekend.

parking is $12/day ($48 per car) - PLEASE CARPOOL!!

Hotel near the dock if you want to stay there.
Crowne Plaza Hotel Los Angeles Harbor Hotel
601 S. Palos Verdes St.
San Pedro, CA 90731
(310)[masked]

The ferry is about $72.50 r/t (bike fee $6/included)-make your reservations soon at:
http://www.catalinaex... (http://www.catalinaexpress.com)

Send $50 deposit to hold your spot:
Andrea Zelones, 8879 Keremeos Way, San Diego, CA 92126
or paypal or Amazon to [masked]

A permit for your bicycle is $20 for the two days or $35 for a year for Catalina.
They require mountain bike knobby tires and helmets.

http://www.visitcatal... (http://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/avalon/acti_bicycling.php)
http://www.catalinaco... (http://www.catalinaconservancy.org/visitors/recreation/biking.cfm)

We'll catch the 11:30 a.m. return ferry (if that ferry is available) from Two Harbors and expect to be back in San Diego by about 5:00 p.m.

Meal plans will change as we add more people - see comment section for updates on who brings what.

I've booked campsite #2 at Blackjack, that's the one at the top of the big hill, 2000 feet in 3 miles and the bison wander through that camp each evening. I also booked Two Harbors site #01 right on the waterfront and Two harbors campsites one site back from the water.
Arrive Nights Site #Peeps
9/30/2011 1 Black Jack #1 &[masked]/1/2011 1 Little Harbor #10 & 11 16 (Two Harbors was already sold out)
10/2/2011 1 Parsons Landing #7 & 8 16

If we get more than 16 people then I will need to add more camp sites, so please keep your RSVP status up to date.

We will do group meals, We will bring a cooking kit, each person will need to bring their own plate, cup, bowl and silverware/utensils. Let us know if you are vegan or vegetarian. If you are lost on menu planning let me know.

We will have Group Meals except all lunches are on your own. Saul will make strong coffee in a French Press each morning.

Bring your bikes in good working order or rent on the mainland, the island shops won't rent overnight. If you are flying out with your own bike and aren't good at assembly or re-packing let Saul know, he can do most bikes in 20 minutes or less, and can even drink a beer and crack bad jokes while putting it together. If you aren't good at packing your own bike, get Saul's help before the trip or have a bike shop do it, Saul will do the repack at the end of the trip. Catalina roads are a bit too rough for most Bike Fridays, the pot holes are so big and you have so much speed going on the downhills that when combined with the regulations requiring knobby tires, Stick to a regular mountain bike with a rack on it for your gear. Saul has two bikes in San Diego and a few more in Seattle he can loan out if needed. Saul can also bring a 4 person tent that he can share and/or he can bring another tent as a loaner.

I'm looking forward to the trip, I hope that you are too.

If you have questions, feel free to email me: [masked] or [masked] or call me on my cell phone[masked].
Thanks - Andrea