Catalina Island is 22 miles off the coast of Long Beach, California, the island is 75 square miles and the only city located on the island is Avalon. In addition to great weather most of the year, Cozumel’s popularity is due in part to beautiful beaches and being a major stop on most western Caribbean cruises, which take advantage of the destination’s well-known emphasis on scuba diving and snorkeling.
Towed by a speedboat back to its hangar after four unsuccessful attempts to attain sufficient lift off of Port Washington, the sailplane, a miniaturized version of the Navy-Curtiss NC flying boat with a 24-foot-long duralumin hull; a modified bow; 28-foot, silk-covered wings; spruce struts; and the Curtiss signature shoulder yoke control system; finally harnessed a hitherto absent breeze and surrendered to the air for a sustained, nine-second aerial interlude, permitting him to release his grasp of the tow rope for the first time that day.
The island has a population of 10,800, and its principal towns are Spanish Wells, the wealthiest colony in the Bahamas; Harbour Island, a resort island with clear water and a pink-tinged beach; Gregory Town, the locale of the island’s Pineapple Festival; Governor’s Harbour, a typical tropical town with history and charm; and Tarpum Bay, an artists’ community where, among others, artists Mal Flanders, an American, and MacMillan Hughes, a Scotsman, went to paint the scenery.
This alluring island is one of the Caribbean’s most expensive, but if money’s no object, you can ensconce yourself in a private villa or boutique hotel, dine on gourmet French cuisine until your heart’s content, and live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
A four-sided sign, located on Manhasset Walk and sporting the silhouette of a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat, synopsized Port Washington’s principle past industries, indicating that the 11-acre site across the water, at Tom’s Point, had once been the center of a booming aviation business with factories and had been the departure point of the first Pan American seaplane flight to Europe.