Wendell and Mary Ann Mitt were at the mole early on Thursday morning to catch the 8 a.m. first boat out of Avalon to Long Beach.
They had come from Michigan on Tuesday to spend one day and night experiencing what they had heard was the magic of Catalina Island. Like many who planned to return to the mainland on Wednesday afternoon, they became stranded on the Island as Catalina Express cancelled most of the crossings that day due to rough seas.
Wendell and Mary Ann Mitt were at the mole early on Thursday morning to catch the 8 a.m. first boat out of Avalon to Long Beach.
They had come from Michigan on Tuesday to spend one day and night experiencing what they had heard was the magic of Catalina Island. Like many who planned to return to the mainland on Wednesday afternoon, they became stranded on the Island as Catalina Express cancelled most of the crossings that day due to rough seas.
“It was our first time visiting Catalina and we planned on one night but we stayed two,” said Mary Ann.
“It wasn’t too bad. We really enjoyed our stay. It’s a beautiful Island,” said Mary Ann.
Wendell was philosophical about being stuck.
“It was OK,” he said. “We were able to stay that one extra night and stay on our schedule. But if we had been stranded again we would have had to make some changes in the rest of our plans.”
Mary Ann said what she liked best about the Island was the two tours she and Wendell took.
“We’d love to come back again,” she said.
Lyle Lint of Huntington Beach had been working construction on the Island and like the Mitts, he too was stranded overnight.
“We are working on a big house, a new building,” he said. “We just decided to work an extra day.”
Lint said he and other construction workers stayed in a condominium and had a kind of man’s style slumber party.
“My wife was over here too and she was able to get back by taking the 11:45 a.m. boat back to Long Beach on Wednesday,” he said. “She escaped.”
“The rough seas and high winds added up to something we just don’t want to put our passengers and our crew and equipment through,” said Elaine Vaughan, Catalina Express vice president of marketing and sales.
According to Vaughan, Catalina Express decides which crossing to cancel on a schedule by schedule basis.
“Every year we have a few days like this,” she said.
“We operate more than 5,000 approximate crossings a year and we may cancel 10 or 15 over the course of a year,” she said. “The message is that it happens and it happened and of course, this is all decided on safety.”
