AVALON, Calif. — American bison, sea otters, sixgill sharks, semi-tropical fishes, 200 birds and more than 400 plants share one of America’s most unique places: Catalina Island.

Located less than 100 miles from the heart of America’s most sprawling, traffic-choked metro area sits a quiet, island paradise where endemic island foxes, Urocyon littoralis, outnumber cars almost 2 to 1.

The 4,000 or so people who live on Catalina are remote workers, retirees and those supported by the tourism, fishing, wildlife watching and scuba diving industries in a place where locals take pride in the fact that every business is locally owned — save for the Ralph’s grocery store. Local leadership had to relent to the Kroger subsidiary due to the corporation’s robust supply chain, but island residents remain fiercely independent.

Aside from a small cluster of civilization across the island in Two Harbors, the small harborside village of Avalon holds most of the population. The core of town is less than a mile across, which explains why most locals walk or ride golf carts up the steep streets to get from the waterfront to their homes up the hillside.

Immersion

Not having a golf cart, road-weary Luke disembarked from the Catalina Express ferry loaded with gear after an hour-long ride in the comfort of the Commodore Lounge — about as close to flying First Class as I’ll ever get.

He had a suitcase, fishing rods and a cooler full of bait and drinks to hoof more than a mile along the cobblestone pathway at the western end of Avalon all the way to his hotel at the eastern edge of town and halfway up the hillside town.

After checking in, he tossed out his own name for the last time and returned to the first person.

I walked to the water and began enjoying the traces of California warmth in between overcast skies and strong winds and a surprising number of hapless tourists. With no plans other than “fish and eat good food,” I enjoyed my three days in exactly that fashion.

I splurged on coffee and pastries at the Catalina Cookie Company, enjoyed several meals at The Naughty Fox and The Lobster Trap, and fished from both the landing and the inside of the rock spit across the harbor. I bounced sabikis off the fishing pier.

I caught halfmoon, garibaldi, rock wrasse, calico bass, barred sand bass, California scorpionfish, senorita, blacksmith, giant kelpfish, California sheephead, Pacific sardines and two species of mackerel.

The highlight was catching a California moray in the dark. The lowlight was slipping off my rocky perch, falling on my butt and covering myself with guano and then subsequently watching the now-liberated moray slither off the rocks and back into the water before I could get a picture.

All told, I landed half a dozen new species of fish and experienced some great food on the picturesque little escape from urban sprawl.

I will definitely visit again some day, though I’ll be sure to plan the next trip better.

Logistics

As a lifelong Stan of television’s “Arrested Development,” the small island has long been on my radar, though I planned to end up there on purpose instead of by boarding the wrong bus.

From the mainland, you can take a ferry from Dana Point, Long Beach or San Pedro. Due to high demand the week I visited, my only choice was Long Beach.

I was seated in the Commodore Lounge on the way there since the main cabin was full, and it set me back $62. It included a free drink, but as a nondrinker, I broke the heart of the guy next to me when I used my drink ticket to order coffee. The ride back was also booked, overbooked actually, and my $41.50 ticket in general seating didn’t guarantee me a seat. I ended up sitting at the back of the boat surrounded by luggage. Certainly not as cush as the ride there, but I survived the hour-long ride with only moderate stiffness. While in Catalina, I parked in the structure at the ferry terminal, which ran about $30 per day.

I rented a room at the Hotel Catalina for $130 per night. I brought my own fishing equipment and bait from the mainland, and grabbed coffee, pastries, breakfast and dinner from the pricey local restaurants, but the food was far above the California average, and a few places were elite.

If fishing isn’t your thing, spiny lobsters can be found all over, and I saw them swarming the rocks while night fishing. I ate several lobster-based meals, but the fried lobster avocado BLT paired with a fresh papaya and berry fruit salad took first prize.

The trip was planned just a few weeks in advance around family plans, and that cost me. All told, driving down to Catalina and San Diego for my short, mini-vacation cost almost as much as a similar trip to Baja or Hawaii would run if planned far in advance. Not only that but California’s crazy flooding and overtaxed highway system led to an absolutely miserable drive. Still, if you plan it better than I did, I would place Catalina Island alongside Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Diego and San Clemente as California’s top 5 destination cities.