After 91 years, flying fish but no plying boat as the Blanche W ends its Catalina Island run
Reporting from Avalon, Santa Catalina Island — The old ship backed out of Avalon’s cozy harbor for one of the last times and swung southeast to begin prowling the night waters along the eastern coast of Santa Catalina Island.
The 35 passengers aboard the Blanche W sat on gleaming mahogany benches on this cruise to see flying fish. Deckhand Maui Hernandez scanned the waves with a 40-million candlepower carbon-arc searchlight that came from a World War I battleship.
“There’s some!” she shouted.
The passengers whipped around to see dozens of wriggling black-and-silver missiles soaring over the water. One rose about 7 feet, hovered like a butterfly and landed with a splash. Another torpedoed the side of the boat. Yet another glided into the gaping bill of a hungry pelican.
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More than 1 million customers have boarded the Blanche over the last 91 years to witness similar sights. Tonight’s passengers will be among the last.
Her long run as the host of the island’s “Flying Fish Voyage” will end at the close of September.
“The Blanche is not being taken out of commercial service because she’s old and slow,” said Collier Cook, a vice president for the Catalina Island Co., which owns the vessel. “It’s because she is no longer commercially viable.”
Ticket sales have been unable to offset the rising costs of keeping the 64-foot-long wooden-hulled boat in shape for the open ocean. Tickets for adults are $30 each.
The Blanche launched nine decades ago as one of many amenities William Wrigley Jr. added to the tiny harbor community of Avalon, transforming the island into a storied getaway for movie stars and the early power brokers of Los Angeles.
The name was taken from Wrigley’s first grandchild, Ada Blanche Wrigley, who died in 2010.
Until the 1960s, when Catalina development slowed as big spenders and tourists gravitated toward newer attractions blossoming on the mainland — Disneyland, Palm Springs, Lake Arrowhead — the Blanche was among the most exciting rides in the region.
Now, the vintage vessel is a symbol of ties to a simpler time, when the Catalina Island Co. commanded a proud fleet of sightseeing boats that included the Cleopatra, the Phoenix and the Betty-O.
“Back in the day, we handed out T-shirts with big red bull’s-eyes on them to passengers who got clobbered by flying fish,” said Capt. Michael Armstrong, who has manned the Blanche’s spiked wheel for 12 years.
Flying fish spend most of their time in the open ocean but come close to shore at night to forage and lay eggs in the protection of kelp beds. The flying fish commonly seen around Catalina, which scientists know as Cheilopogon pinnatibarbatus californicus, has large scales, a forked tail and grows to 18 inches long.
They glide on extended pectoral fins that resemble wings and keep their bodies aloft until they hit the water with a splash.
Hernandez never tires of the sight. “Seeing little kids’ faces light up when they zoom past reminds me of how awesome my job is,” she said.
“So amazing,” said passenger Chris Josef, 40, of Studio City. “They’re like birds, or maybe big butterflies.”
After an hour on the open ocean, the Blanche swung back into her moorage in Avalon harbor, sharing the scene with sleek cabin cruisers, commercial fishing vessels and sailboats.
Later this month, the Blanche will be sent to dry dock for maintenance, then reassigned as a private tour boat for the Catalina Island Co.
“The Blanche means an awful lot to us,” Cook said. “We’ll always treat her with the utmost respect.”
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