Avalon welcomes more than 600,000 visitors every year.
The lucky few take one of the several inland tours, and get a chance to see Catalina’s wild interior. However, one couple from the state of Washington, and another couple from Wisconsin, recently got to see the Island in an even more personal way.
They signed up for a Volunteer Vacation, a partnership between the Catalina Island Conservancy and the Hermosa Hotel.
Avalon welcomes more than 600,000 visitors every year.
The lucky few take one of the several inland tours, and get a chance to see Catalina’s wild interior. However, one couple from the state of Washington, and another couple from Wisconsin, recently got to see the Island in an even more personal way.
They signed up for a Volunteer Vacation, a partnership between the Catalina Island Conservancy and the Hermosa Hotel.
Volunteers not only spend three days enjoying Catalina’s beauty, but also help to protect and restore the Island’s ecology.
“This is perhaps the most cost-effective way of discovering this lovely Island while giving something back to nature,” said Lesly Lieberman, individual volunteer coordinator for the Conservancy. “We put you to work, but you will have plenty of time to enjoy all that Avalon has to offer.”
Such was the case with David and Marilyn Sabold from Winthrop, Washington, and Gary and Judy Swenson from Waupaca, Wisconsin.
Close friends since their college days, the two couples have kept in contact with one another despite living far from one another.
Sabold said he was just “noodling around” on the computer, when he looked up Catalina.
The Conservancy’s Volunteer Vacation struck a chord.
As a former ranger and naturalist in Yosemite National Park and a current volunteer with the Methow Conservancy, an accredited non-profit land trust and natural history education center in Washington state’s Methow Valley, the idea of traveling to an Island off the coast of Southern California appealed to him. So he gave his pal a call.
“I was glad to get Judy and I out of the Wisconsin winter,” Swenson said.
The price was right. For $249 to $349 per person, depending on the season, the Volunteer Vacation package includes a round trip ticket from Newport Beach to Avalon on the Catalina Flyer, a one-year Catalina Island Conservancy membership, two nights at the Hermosa Hotel, and two-day’s worth of volunteering that includes box lunches from the Café Metropole.
Scotty Rohlfsen, a manager at the Hermosa Hotel, is one of the more than 700 people including Zip Line guides, hotel front line staff, tour guides and taxi drivers, who have been trained as Island Naturalists by the Conservancy.
A graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, Rohlfsen moved to Catalina three years ago after graduation—and just stayed.
A natural athlete, his enthusiasm is infectious. “It’s fun showing people a part of the Island that people don’t ordinarily get to see,” he said.
“I want to show how conservation efforts by the Conservancy have made the Island better. I like to point out where we are cleaning out invasive plants—what is natural and what is not,” he said.
On their first day, the party went to Shark Harbor where they walked the windward beach with plastic bags, picking up the little, but noticeable, debris left by recent visitors. Thursday morning, everyone was up early to catch a ride to the Ackerman Native Plant Nursery for a day of seed collection and potting plants. In the evenings the volunteers are free to roam Avalon and have dinner at restaurants in town, and enjoy any number of fun activities like the zip line or watch a movie at the Casino. And, Friday is a free day until the Catalina Flyer departs Avalon for Newport Beach. All Volunteer Vacations begin every fourth Wednesday of the month. Vacation booking is done through the Hermosa Hotel by calling (310) 510-1010. More information about Volunteer Vacations can be found at catalinaconservancy.org, key word Volunteer Vacations.
The Catalina Island Conservancy was formed in 1972 and is one of California’s oldest land trusts.
Its mission is to be a responsible steward of its lands through a balance of conservation, education and recreation. Through its ongoing efforts, the Conservancy protects the magnificent natural and cultural heritage of Santa Catalina Island, stewarding approximately 42,000 acres of land, 62 miles of rugged shoreline, an airport, more than 80 miles of trails, and some 220 miles of roads. For more information, visit www.catalinaconservancy.org.
