Towards Catalina Island

Yep, the island on the horizon is Catalina. It's about 29 miles south of Long Beach... it has a small year-round population of about 3,600... about the size of one of our mainland high schools. It's a fascinating place to visit... so close and yet so far.

The line you see under the island is the break water. That was completed after WWII and completely destroyed what was one of the finest surfing beaches in all of California. It is still very controversial.

The big building on the edge of our shore (and in the center bottom of the picture) is the Belmont Plaza Pool. Completed in 1968, it's a public facility and has had a fine history of Olympic and National level swim events. This is not controversial.

To the left of that, in the water is what we call an "oil island". These are man made islands that house oil wells. There are 4 of them in the harbor, each named after the first 4 astronauts to die in the line of duty. The island you can see is "Freeman Island", named after Theodore C. Freeman who died in training.

I wish I knew the names of the different palm trees... but... I don't.