We came to Catalina Island with grand anticipations of experiencing many things, not the least of which was the buffalo experience. Apparently there is a herd of buffalo on the island that are frequently viewed. Additionally, in a little tourist guide to Two Harbors, the harbor we are currently floating around in, they talk about the delicious buffalo milk. Now this got Elizabeth excited. As a milk professional the chance to taste genuine buffalo milk sounded quite unique.
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| That's Buffalo S%*T |
After our first day here we decided it was time to venture into the wilderness and search for these elusive buffalo, maybe milk one and try some of that buffalo milk. Ok so we had no intention of milking the buffalo, if we found them. We did take a nice long hike that took us to one of the many mountain tops of the island where we could look all around and see the Pacific on both sides of the island. We looked and looked but never got a glimpse of the buffalo. We have encountered many piles of poop that look suspiciously like they came from a buffalo. Not being a buffalo expert I'm not exactly sure what they eat, and not being particularly interested in "investigating" their poop I'm just going to go with my theory and assume it's correct.
They claim that the buffalo were brought to the island many years ago for the filming of a movie. I'm pretty sure they also brought a bunch of fake buffalo poop and scattered it around the island on the trails and such so that there would be good story to tell tourists. What a great way to get tourists to the island. Who wants to go all the way to Yellowstone and be cold when you could just power over to Catalina Island and check out the buffalo in your flip flops?
On to the buffalo milk. After trying the little grocery store where they looked at us like we were crazy, and not being able to wrangle up a wild buffalo for the milking, we settled on trying some at dinner during our "nice night out" excursion. The "nice night out" idea could be a whole paragraph in its own. Needless to say for us to take a shower (by shower I mean hot water out of a bag in the coach roof with the outlet dangled thru the bathroom hatch) put on fancy clothes (meaning one of the two button down shirts I have, Elizabeth actually brought some nice sun dresses) and dinghy into shore (I even gave Elizabeth a towel to sit on for the ride) then walk half a mile down a dirt road for a sit down dinner, that's what I mean when I say "nice night out" Elizabeth ordered her buffalo milk and come to find out it was a total sham. I was a foofoo drink of blended stuff with coconut and various liquors designed for underage girls. It was delicious, but probably not from the elusive buffalo. If it was; I will be buying a buffalo upon my return.
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| Buffalo Milk...very suspicious. |
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| We looked far and wide for them. Catalina Harbor from our hike |
So the verdict so far is that there are no buffalo on the island and this whole thing was just a scam to get tourists to the island. We have been greatly disappointed so far but will keep looking for the elusive buffalo for the remainder of our stay.
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| Two Harbors (pre Buccaneer days) |
I promise more pics...internet is veeeeery slllllllooooow right now.
In case you were wondering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_Island_bison_herd
You guys pulled into the exact place I used to teach sailing back in 1969. Inner Harbor Island. It was Jack Dorsee Yachts which I expect is long gone. But did we have fun, especially after work re rigging the 21 ' sloops with two mains, three headsails, flying jibs, and anything else that would fit. My buddy is now cruising the east coast, http://www.saillegacy.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteEnjoy San Diego, Shelter Island, Point Loma, and window shopping along the waterfront.
Jeff
http://www.saillegacy.blogspot.com/