For sailors in Southern California, Beautiful Catalina Island is a favorite destination. With it’s sparkling clear water and abundance of great fishing, it’s the kind of place that we love to read about when we can’t visit. There are plenty of tourist guides for Catalina Island, but this book Between Two Harbors: Reflections of a Catalina Island Harbormaster by Doug Oudin offers a unique and personal perspective. The author writes a rare inside look at what its like to live on Catalina Island. If you enjoy visiting Catalina by private boat, this book will be of great interest.
About the Author Doug Oudin
A retired Catalina Island Harbormaster, Doug Oudin lived at The Isthmus of Two Harbors from 1978 for 32 years. He shares many personal experiences in this book. As sailors and occasional visitors to the island, we really enjoyed reading about the author’s adventures. In his long career he saw some amazing things – many more than we could hope to experience as occasional visitors. “Thirty-two rather amazing years, two children, and a lifetime of wonderful, challenging and interesting experiences later we left the Island.”
Highlights of this Book
Thirty two years on an island is plenty of time for some incredible experiences. This book reads like a collection of short stories, revealing much more that the occasional visitor would see. Catalina Island is widely known for it’s beautiful scenery and abundance of fish. But the author writes about some amazing things – a sea serpent, dramatic boat rescues and stories of survival in severe weather. As recreational boaters we’ll likely never experience some of the experiences in the book, but we absolutely love reading about them!
The Death of Actress Natalie Wood
One big highlight of this book is the author’s personal account of the Death of actress Natalie Wood. Being on duty that night and seeing first hand the tragedy unfold, Doug Oudin offers his personal perspective on what likely happened. We thought it was fascinating to read the account of someone who was actually there. He also offers some valuable advice to boaters who may face similar challenges as Natalie Wood may have done that tragic night.
A Unique Book About Catalina Island
This is not just another tourist guide about Catalina Island. If you love to visit Catalina like we do, Between Two Harbors will give you a unique look at what living and working full time on the island is like. It’s given us a newfound appreciation for Two Harbors and the Isthmus community. Whether you’re a camper, hiker or private boater we think there’s something for everyone in this book. You can buy this book at Amazon.
Browse more Catalina Island books on Amazon.