On a clear day looking out to sea from the beaches of Los Angeles you can see it, looming on the horizon. Some days you can only see the very top, peeking above the clouds, a floating mountain range in the middle of the ocean. It’s like something from a fairy-tale.
At 22 miles long and 8 miles wide, Catalina Island has only 2 towns and a population of just 4,000 people, 3728 of them living in Avalon, the islands capital. It’s a hot spot for tourists who take the 80 minute ferry ride from Long Beach or Orange County to enjoy a day or two relaxing on the beach, hiking the hills or exploring the kelp forests in the shark infested waters that surround the island (yes, there’s Great Whites out there).
I’d only been to Catalina once before for a birthday day trip with a couple of friends to hang out at Descanso Beach Club. As soon as we landed and I stepped off the boat I knew I wanted to spend more time on the island and explore this tiny slice of heaven, just 29 miles off the coast of Long Beach. As a keen diver I knew I wanted to check out more of the underwater world of Catalina as well as explore the islands’ interior, a sparsely populated mountainous region where wild Buffalo roam. Yes you read that right, WILD BUFFALO are on the island. They were taken there for a movie in the 30s and never brought back to the mainland, so now they live there, free to roam.
In the second video I put out on my YouTube channel I had a go on an ONYX Motorbike, an insane 60mph electric bike that looks like it comes from the future. As soon as I hopped off I knew I wanted to take one to Catalina and use it to explore the island, where locals travel exclusively by golf cart or electric car. I got in touch with ONYX CEO, James and pitched my idea of putting the bikes through their paces on a cross-island expedition over 22 miles and 3,000ft of elevation.
He didn’t take much convincing “When are you thinking?” he asked, to which I replied “What’s your plans this weekend?”. Twenty minutes later and I’d booked the ferry and hotel, we were going to Catalina.
Check out the video below and if you’re interested in buying an ONYX RCR Motorbike, use code “AdamSwords” at checkout for a special discount!
www.onyxmotorbikes.com
Hi Adam, subscribe to you and the producer Michael on you tube, enjoy all the stuff you both do! I work as a EMT in the ambulance service for the past 15 years in England and wish Iād done more things when I was younger, love watches and cars but as you can guess cannot afford the nice ones! Anyhow love your work get your clothes line on the go as Iām interested to see the merchandise! š take care mate! š barry disley.
Cheers Barry. clothing will be out soon I promise!