Posted January 23rd, 2016 By Yummy Jobs

Adam's Santa Catalina Summer Experience!

 
Hi there! My name is Adam and I am a business student from Glasgow. In the summer of 2014, I was lucky enough to be offered a job on beautiful Santa Catalina Island, California. Before I applied through Yummy Jobs, I researched the island and was drawn in by its history as a top resort, year-round sunshine and location only twenty-two miles by boat from Los Angeles. Despite my high expectations before arriving, nothing could have prepared me for seeing it with my own eyes!
 
Avalon, the island’s tiny city, is where the majority of tourists travelling from the mainland arrive on Catalina. Although it is only an hour by boat from urban Downtown Long Beach, Avalon couldn’t be more different. A small collection of mosaic tile decorated streets lined with local gift shops, hotels and restaurants meet at Crescent Avenue, which faces onto Avalon Bay and the Catalina Casino. The Pacific is so clear that the native bright-orange Garibaldi fish can be seen swimming below. Mount Ada towers above the city and provides an amazing view when hiked to the top. The rest of the island, with the exception of the small fishing village of Two Harbors, is a conservancy of protected rural land.
             
As a participant on this program, you will work for the Santa Catalina Island Company, who operate many of the island’s most popular attractions. The company were great to work for and provided us with a lot of support in settling in. They gave us choice in terms of what property we wanted to work at – the Atwater & Pavilion hotels, the Avalon Grille restaurant, Ben’s Bakery, Descanso Beach Club, Descanso Fresh Café or the Island Spa. I worked at Descanso Beach Club and I can safely say it’s the best job I’ve ever had! I was a server and concierge serving customers who rented cabanas and lounge chairs on the full-service private beach. Every day at work was different as I met interesting tourists from all over the world and learned about American culture from my colleagues. The only thing that never changed was the amazing views over the ocean. We lived on company property in Avalon so it was only a fifteen-minute walk to work across the Bay.
 
On my days off I was able to travel to popular attractions in Los Angeles like Beverly Hills, Disneyland, Hollywood, Huntington Beach and Santa Monica. I also travelled upstate to San Francisco which was the highlight of my travels. There is also lots to see and do on Catalina – the Catalina Zip Line and the many boat tours are my personal favourites.
Overall, I can’t recommend the program highly enough. I had the best summer, made friends for life and learned a lot about the hospitality industry. You definitely won’t regret applying for the Santa Catalina program!
 
If you want to have an incredible summer like Adams, then click HERE for more information and to apply for our J1 Work and Travel Program on the Santa Catalina Island.
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