A Minted Location day guide
Dock & Dine in Catalina Island
Dining at Catalina works from a mooring: you go ashore by shore boat or by tender, and then you walk.
There is nowhere on the island to bring a yacht alongside for dinner, so both harbours are built to move people rather than boats — and the rules that matter come from the operators themselves.
- Two Harbors dinghy docks are "for small boats under 14 feet in length", at Isthmus Cove and Cat Harbor, for no more than 72 hours.
- "Isthmus Pier is only to be used by Shoreboats and the Harbor Patrol" — "no unattended vessels are allowed at Isthmus Pier."
- Avalon: "There is a 14' maximum limit at all dinghy docks at all times."
- Shore boat fares: Isthmus Cove $7 · Fourth of July and Cherry $8 · the anchorage $12 · Avalon $7.00 per passenger.
- Shore boats run "7 AM to 2 AM daily in the summer and 8 AM to 5 PM daily in the winter."
Plan the evening around that last line. In summer you can eat late and get back aboard. In winter the last shore boat leaves at five o'clock, so dinner ashore is an early one.
Harbor Reef at Two Harbors is the venue that speaks to boaters directly, calling itself "a favorite gathering place for campers, boaters and locals alike" — take a mooring, then the shore boat in. In Avalon the restaurants and bars are a short walk from the pier once the shore boat has landed you.
The chart below runs the leeward shore from Avalon to Catalina Harbor — the mooring fields, the two harbours, the reefs on the Isthmus approach, and Fisherman Cove, the island's one named Santa Ana shelter, now closed to anchoring and mooring.
The stops, as their own docks describe them
| Spot | Where | Arriving by boat |
|---|---|---|
| The shore boats — how you get ashore for dinnerShore boats run "7 AM to 2 AM Daily in the summer and 8 AM to 5 PM Daily in the winter." In summer you can eat late and get back aboard; in winter the last boat leaves at five, so make it an early dinner. Harbor Patrol and shoreboat cover 24 hours Thursday to Monday and 07:00–23:30 Tuesday and Wednesday. | Avalon and Two Harbors | Shore boat fares $7 to $12 by cove; Avalon $7.00 per passenger |
| The dinghy docks — 14 feet, everywhereTwo Harbors dinghy docks are "for small boats under 14 feet in length", at Isthmus Cove and Cat Harbor. Land at the dinghy dock rather than the pier: "Isthmus Pier is only to be used by Shoreboats and the Harbor Patrol", and "no unattended vessels are allowed at Isthmus Pier." | Isthmus Cove, Cat Harbor and Avalon | Two Harbors: "no more than 72 hours". Avalon: "There is a 14' maximum limit at all dinghy docks at all times" |
| Harbor Reef Restaurant, Two HarborsThe venue on the island that speaks to boaters directly, calling itself "a favorite gathering place for campers, boaters and locals alike." Getting there works the way it always has at Two Harbors: take a mooring, then the shore boat in, or land a tender under 14 feet at the Isthmus Cove dinghy dock. | Two Harbors | Take a mooring, then the shore boat |
| The Avalon restaurantsAvalon's restaurants and bars sit within a short walk of the pier, so dinner ashore is a shore boat ride and a stroll along Crescent Avenue. There is nowhere in Avalon to bring a yacht alongside for the evening — take a mooring, land at the pier, and walk. | Avalon | Shore boat, or a tender under 14 ft, then walk |
Dockage notes are what each restaurant publishes on its own site — space is first-come and dinner-hour rafting is real, so hail ahead. Where a venue states nothing about docking, we say so rather than guess.
Planning more than lunch?
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