Catalina calls from across the water

Ferrying to Santa Catalina Island — just you, that special someone and an upper deck brimming with buoyant kids, chiding parents and assorted Jimmy Buffett look-alikes — isn't exactly a secret on any summer Friday. L.A.'s fabled leisure isle hosts more than 1 million visitors each year, and by the looks of those lines at the waffle-cone place, the throngs at the Green Pleasure Pier and the buzzing golf carts in downtown Avalon, many of them are hitting it right now. Should that deter you? Nah — it's all fun. But it might inspire a little solitude strategizing without resorting to hiding out in Two Harbors or (more drastic) hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail. When I'm traveling to Avalon, here are some of my favorite escape hatches beside, above and beyond the bay.

By Jordan Rane, Special to the Los Angeles Times

July 22, 2012