Personal: Catalina Island Adventure & A Brief History of the Cruzon Bay

As Phil and I meander through our life together I find myself wanting more and more to create traditions of our own, for our growing little family.

As a kid, my family made regular voyages on the S.S. Cruzon Bay — the Cruzon has a long history with the Aseltine Family. My Grandpa, affectionately known as Captain Gramps, was gifted the 1959 motor vessel in 1986 from his son, my dad, Ace Aseltine. Captain Gramps had quite a few adventures on the Cruzon, even living aboard for a period of time in La Paz, Baja California Sur. My dad has maintained ownership of the Cruzon for 30 years but it has been a true treasure, beloved by the entire family.

Quite some time after my grandfather’s passing, my dad’s oldest brother, my Uncle Ed lived aboard the Cruzon on Gangway S for many years. Uncle Ed always said it was a full time job just keeping the boat afloat. He carried out his last days on the vessel and his memorial was held there as well. We have lot of great memories of Uncle Ed, also known as Captain Eddy — Drinking his beer of choice, PBR — fishing off the dock and general “boatnik” misadventures.

After Captain Eddy’s passing, my big brother Acey and sister-in-law Stacey moved aboard the Cruzon. Talk about tiny home living!? Living on this tiny boat was comfortable for 1 person, but it was definitely a little cramped for 2. It seriously puts other tiny homes to shame. They enjoyed the boat together for about 8 months they now live in what would compare as a mansion down in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The boat has basically been unoccupied since their departure with the exception of a few guests here and there. My dad has been trying to sell the boat for months. It wasn’t an easy decision given all the love we all have for the boat but financially it was a decision we had to make. When it started looking more and more that the boat was no longer going to be “ours” — my dad and I decided we needed one last adventure.

For Thanksgiving this year, my dad, Phil, our 2 small dogs — Lucy & Frankie, and myself (with Little John Henry in utero) made the voyage to Catalina Island. It had been years since my dad and I made the trip and Phil had never himself been on the island.

Take a look at some of the photos below. We left Long Beach Marina, stopped at the bate barge and carried onto Cat Harbor, where we stayed the first night. The next morning we trolled around the island to Isthmus Cove, went ashore for a couple Buffalo Milks at the cantina — virgin for me — which is basically a glass of milk with whipped cream, nutmeg and cinnamon :-p The next morning we had great weather all the way back to Long Beach and got home just in time for a proper Thanksgiving feast.

<3

 

The Cruzon Bay is no longer ours, it’s in the hands of a boat loving couple who (fingers crossed) will take good care of it and enjoy it just as much if not more then we have. It’s been a good run Cruzon Bay — you will be missed!