Santa Catalina Island

If you would like to be under the sea, perhaps in an octopus' garden, head to Sea Trek, Santa Catalina Island's newest attraction. No yellow submarine required. Intrepid wanderers need only don a wetsuit and a diving helmet before walking off the beach of the Southern California resort island onto the ocean floor. The guided excursion meanders among forests of kelp, where schools of anchovies, mackerels and other underwater denizens lurk. The brightly colored garibaldi, California's state marine fish, frequents the waters off the coast of Catalina.

Zsa Zsa Gabor's longtime Bel-Air estate is listed for sale at $15 million. The French Regency-style mansion sits on a 1-acre gated promontory with views of downtown Los Angeles, Santa Catalina Island and the ocean. The 28-room home, built in 1955, features a formal sitting room with an antique French fireplace, an oversized dining room with city views, a butler's pantry off the kitchen and staff quarters. There are four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a half-bath in the house's 6,393 square feet.

Here's a birthday gift that takes you somewhere -- for free. The Catalina Express ferry service is marking its 30th year by offering a free pass for a round-trip ride to Southern California 's Santa Catalina Island to customers on their birthdays. The deal : To get this deal, start by registering online. You will then receive an e-mail confirmation for a free birthday pass . Once you get the pass, you can make boat reservations leaving from San Pedro, Long Beach or Dana Point on the mainland and arriving at Avalon or Two Harbors on the island.  You must begin travel on your actual birthday; you can stay as long as you like, up to 30 days.

Alison Wrigley Rusack stepped off the porch of an old house on a private ranch on the rugged southwestern edge of Santa Catalina Island, where her clan once raised Arabian horses. Under sunny skies, she cast an appraising eye at the surrounding peaks, lush ravines and aging structures of El Rancho Escondido. It was a favorite family gathering place, passed down by her great-grandfather, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., who bought Santa Catalina Island Co. ? which owns all the developable land on the island ?

TV director Michael Caffey has listed an island off Santa Catalina Island for sale at $875,000. White Rock Island, also known as Bird Rock, sits on the north side of Catalina about 1,500 feet off the mainland side of Isthmus Cove. The popular dive site is home to a variety of birds and has been used as a location for film shoots. The 1.3-acre island has been privately owned since the 1920s. Plans for the site have included a casino and a yacht club, but none ever came to fruition.

A stately Queen Anne home on Santa Catalina Island known as Holly Hill House has a 120-year history as colorful as its signature cupola. In addition to the towering red-and-green-striped dome, the three-story home is distinguished by steep gables, quirky interior spaces, antique furnishings that are included in the purchase and multiple porches. It was built by Peter Gano, a transplanted Ohioan and civil engineer who had helped develop the water systems for Pasadena and Altadena.

The ocean seems to fill each room of this airy three-story 1928 home in Avalon that's as much a landmark on Santa Catalina Island as the nearby casino and yacht club. Floor-to-ceiling arched windows and sliding glass doors that wrap the main floor of this Spanish Colonial Revival capitalize on views of sky, water and island cliffs. "You can see anything and everything going on in Avalon," says Kathleen Elliott, 48, of Glendale, who as a young girl spent summers at the house nicknamed La Casa Gaviota, or Sea Gull House, that her family bought in 1972.

Two people died Thursday in two Southern California plane crashes, one of which sparked a small brush fire on Santa Catalina Island. At Penmar Golf Course in Venice, a small plane crashed near the eighth hole shortly after 6 p.m., officials said. The pilot of the single-engine Cessna 152 was pronounced dead at the scene, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. No one else was on the plane and no other injuries were reported. A law enforcement source said the pilot may have been practicing landings at nearby Santa Monica Municipal Airport when the aircraft apparently developed engine problems.

Nope, it's not a dolphin but a fish — a flying fish that can reach heights of up to 30 feet and glides for distances as long as a quarter-mile. This especially mobile life aquatic is the cause of celebration at the Flying Fish Festival, a four-day jam of activities and exhibits including sand sculptures, marine touch tanks, private tours, kayak racing, theater, a boat-building competition and more. Various locations in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island. Thu.-Sun. http://www.catalinachamber.