The narrowest point of Catalina, where the island is barely half a mile across and you can see water on both sides from the…The narrowest point of Catalina, where the island is barely half a mile across and you can see water on both sides from the road. Buffalo, descended from a 1920s film shoot, graze the hills above the cove, and the kelp along the shoreline holds the same fish as Avalon with none of the town. The isthmus has been the island's working anchorage for as long as boats have come here, a Union garrison in the 1860s, a steamer stop, and then the film industry, which left the bison behind after shooting a western. The Catalina Island Conservancy now holds most of the island, which is why the hills above are empty. Anchorage: Moorings dominate; anchor outside them in 12-20m on sand and expect to be asked to move if you sit in the fairway. Isthmus Cove is the settled-weather side and Catalina Harbor, a quarter of a mile across the isthmus, is the bolthole in a blow. Hazards: Downcanyon Santa Ana winds can arrive hard and offshore with little warning. Anchoring room is limited because the cove is largely moorings. Más