Sea Cozy

AVALON — Nobody goes to Catalina in the winter, or so I thought--which would make it just the place to recover from the holidays in peace.

I was wrong about nobody going, but had a swell time anyway. It started when I confided to a friend that I was going to the island that weekend. She announced that she and two girlfriends were planning to make a day trip over for some off-season snorkeling. We agreed to meet for lunch on Saturday.

With only my laptop for company, I sneakily boarded an early Saturday-morning Catalina Express boat and grabbed the only remaining seat on the top deck--whereupon my seatmate hailed me by name. I’d plunked myself down next to a couple of friends, with their 4-year-old daughter and mother’s helper, on their way to spend the weekend in a borrowed condo. We agreed to meet for dinner on Sunday.

My solitary weekend getaway was getting less therapeutic and more sociable. But it was a beautifully sunny, if breezy, day, and as the ferry crested the waves I felt the city stress slipping away with the receding Long Beach skyline.

It’s a short walk from the ferry landing to the center of the waterside town of Avalon, but my friends, Meg and Jim, were carting all the gear that parenthood confers, so we decided to cab it. On the way to their condo, set in the hilly part of town, I got to see some of the quaint gabled cottages that line the back streets. Avalon, like the movie set it resembles, is only a few streets deep and covers one square mile.

There are just 550 cars on the whole island, and none of them is for rent. Golf carts and bicycles are available by the day or hour, but Catalina’s a good place to rediscover the pleasure of puttering around under your own steam.

Nonetheless, I was grateful for the cab that dropped me and my luggage at the Snug Harbor Inn on the corner of Sumner and Crescent avenues, saving my breath for the short climb up the poinsettia-lined stairs to the first floor. I chose the hotel partly on the basis of its name. The newest small hotel on Catalina, it really is a snug harbor, one of the coziest spots where I’ve ever dropped anchor. The new owners renovated the original hotel, built in the late 1800s, and opened in July ’97.

There are only six rooms, each named after one of the Channel Islands, from the grandest, Santa Catalina ($295 per night with continental breakfast), to the smallest, Santa Cruz ($165), where I deposited my bag for the two-night stay that’s mandatory on weekends. (Rates will go up May 1.) The decor has a fishing theme that made this Pisces feel right at home. Though the “partial ocean view” required a lot of neck-craning from either of the two windows, I couldn’t imagine how my hosts could have crammed in any more comfort per square foot.

My little nest included a gas fireplace; two padded wicker chairs with a table in between holding a vase of fresh flowers; a cable TV with VCR and stereo CD player, facing a king-size bed made with crisp white Egyptian-cotton sheets topped by a goose-down comforter and pillows; and two bedside tables with adjustable reading lamps. On one was a fresh copy of the latest Vanity Fair; on the other, a sleep mask and earplugs.

The amenity-laden bathroom revealed an oversize tub with massage jets and a shower head with as many speeds as a Formula One racing car. There was a lighted gooseneck magnifying shaving/ makeup mirror over the sink, and all was spotlessly clean.

I was tempted to put on one of the white terry robes provided, fire up the tub and alternate between it and the bed. But the sun shone bright, and the message light on the phone was blinking. Time to meet the girls for lunch at a waterfront table at Antonio’s Pizzeria & Cabaret on Crescent Avenue. On the way out I eyeballed the Santa Barbara room, cheerful in chintz. But I was happy with my marine-themed nook.

After Antonio’s oil-slick pizza (the kind we wolfed down tons of in college), we walked off the calories on the way to Descanso Beach, past the Casino at the far end of town. Though the outdoor beachfront restaurant is closed in winter, Descanso Beach Ocean Sports offers kayaking and snorkeling.

Painful memories of kayaking in Cape Cod last summer are still lodged in my shoulder muscles, so I decided to take the educational route (otherwise known as the coward’s way out) and check out the Casino building, decorated with Art Deco-style tiled murals. Built in 1929 by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley and his wife, Ada, the Casino started life as a radio ballroom from which Jimmy Dorsey and his band once broadcast live. Now it holds a movie theater, a health spa and a bite-size but satisfying museum.

When I rejoined my friends, everyone agreed on the next move: back to town for a sundowner at the Blue Parrot, upstairs from the Metropole marketplace.

Next day, I was game when my friends Meg and Jim proposed an early dinner with their daughter Alexandra. We chose Rick’s Cafe Catalina, upstairs at 417 Crescent. The decor consisted chiefly of big blowups from a certain famous movie; the simple menu featured fresh fish. Later we adjourned for cappuccinos and hot chocolate at C. C. Gallagher’s.

Despite the coffee, I found myself yawning at 9:30. Thanks to the pace of off-season Catalina, I’d wound down more than on some weeklong vacations. The toughest part was getting out of bed the next day to catch the ferry home.

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Budget for One

Parking: $24.00

Catalina Express: 36.00

Taxi: 5.00

Snug Harbor,

2 nights: 359.70

Lunch, Antonio’s Pizzeria: 15.00

Museum admission: 1.50

Blue Parrot, ice cream: 21.55

Dinner, Rick’s Cafe: 30.00

Coffee, C. C. Gallagher’s: 3.00

FINAL TAB: $495.75

Snug Harbor Inn, 108 Sumner Ave., P.O. Box 2470, Avalon, CA 90704; tel. (310) 510-8400.