Over the past century and a half, most vacationers heading to Santa Catalina Island have traveled via boat. But those in a hurry had an option to fly there. Until the private Buffalo Springs Airport was built in 1941, the only way was via seaplane. Here we have four of them parked on the teeny tiny runway of Catalina Airport in Hamilton Cove, north of the town of Avalon. The seaplanes would land on the water and then roll up that ramp on the right like an amphibian. As per the famous song, it’s only 26 miles to Catalina, so the flight wouldn’t have been long, but I’m guessing it was perhaps a bit of a rough ride.
Here’s “the world’s smallest airport” from another angle:
From this July 2023 satellite photo, it looks like the seaplane ramp is still there.
Can seaplanes still land there?
Do seaplanes still exist?
On a website about Catalina I found this information:
For generations, Catalina Island seaplanes were a popular mode of cross channel transportation, bringing thousands of individuals to the island. Operating under several different airlines, these seaplanes initially utilized a terminal [see MT’s photo above] at what is now Hamilton Cove. After landing just offshore, planes would taxi to the beach where they were hauled ashore onto an ingenious turntable terminus. Once arriving passengers deplaned and departing passengers boarded, the turntable could be rotated and the plane pointed in the right direction for taking off toward the mainland.
In later years, Grumman Goose seaplanes arrived at the Green Pleasure Pier in Avalon and at Pebbly Beach, offering scheduled commercial air service to Catalina Island until 1989.
These days, the only way to fly to Catalina Island, unless you are – or are friendly with – a pilot, is via helicopter. IEX Helicopters offers on-demand charter service to Avalon from Long Beach and San Pedro as well as several other Southern California airports. It’s $179 per person one way. (The Catalina Express boat is $84 round trip!) The helicopter takes 15 minutes while the boat takes a little over an hour. Is it worth the extra cost?
A co-worker of mine died in a helicopter crash coming back from Catalina, so I’ve had a phobia about them since then.
I’ve only ever taken the boat, and it’s fine. My advice? Buy a drink and stay on the open deck.
Back in the Sixties I used to fly to Avalon on Catalina Airlines. They had several Grumman Geese, as Mr. Pal indicated, plus a large clipper type seaplane they called the Mother Goose. It was a thrill indeed. Coming into Avalon they had to fly between and amongst the boats anchored in the harbor. I assume the anchorages were situated to leave a path for the descending planes, but it was still a startling sight to see masts going by the window. And with the many boaters out sailing or putting around, I wondered how they kept a clear flight path. As I recall they landed fairly close to the pier and then taxied up to it, where we disembarked, and were met by handsome young men in Bermuda shorts who unloaded our luggage. Wish they still did that. It was, by far, the best way to get to Catalina.
There were two piers in those days, the Steamship pier and the green one was called the Harbormaster Pier, at least by locals. Oddly, I don’t recall ever hearing it referred to as the Green Pleasure Pier. Then they started going to Pebbly. Getting too crowded around the pier, I guess.
The Steamer could be fun, but was long and carried threats of seasickness. After my first visit by ship, I was going over on weekends to visit friends who lived there, so preferred the speed of the seaplanes. You could also fly into the airport situated on top of the island, called I believe, Airport in the Sky, but I only did that once. There was so little room, it felt like they were going to go over the edge at the end of the runway. Too scary! Both were thrill rides, but I much preferred landing in the harbor. Such fun!
I remember once, I believe in 1968, going there on one of the boats with cousins visiting. I remember seeing a lot of flying fish on the ride over. Once we got there my mom and the older kids went to who knows where, the younger bunch were dumped in a park for the afternoon. I just remember being bored out of my mind waiting for them to come back. I wished we could have taken a plane back it would have added some excitement that afternoon.