Riding Above Avalon Harbor With Catalina's Former Museum Curator
A private golf-cart loop of Avalon, narrated by a former curator of the Catalina Island Museum and shaped around your questions.
Catalina Curated Tours is John Boraggina's business. In a reply to one review he calls it a small, one-man operation, and he is the guide on the cart. He is a former curator of the Catalina Island Museum; a 2012 Los Angeles Times story on the museum's archives names him as its curator.
John builds each loop around what your group wants to hear, from Tongva history to Hollywood names. The booking is private, so the cart carries only your party.
As of October 15, 2026, the booking calendar showed departures at 10:00 AM and 12:15 PM on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with no Tuesday or Wednesday dates. The listing stops taking bookings an hour before the start time.
Avalon Golf Cart Tour Led by Former Museum CuratorCatalina Curated Tours. Private golf-cart tour of Avalon with John Boraggina, about 110 minutes, priced per cart for up to five travelers.www.viator.comPick the Story: Tongva History, Grave Robbers or Hollywood
The operator's topic list reads like a museum's back catalog: Tongva history, Hollywood tales, UFO sightings, grave robbers, legends of giants and smugglers. Its site adds Catalina's World War II role, which it describes as training some of America's first special forces, and the island ties of Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood and John Wayne.
The operator links two of those threads to his curator years: ancient human remains that shed light on the island's earliest history, and documents on its wartime training role. The 2012 Los Angeles Times story backs up the first. It opens with him searching a museum storage room for World War II exhibit material and finding leather-bound journals and old photographs of freshly unearthed skeletons.
In the listing, John promises the truth behind myths that get repeated as fact.
He Asks What You Want Before the Cart Moves
Reviewers describe the same opening. One family, in on a cruise, wrote that from the start John asked what they wanted out of the tour, then mixed island history with stops for photos. They compared it with shipmates who were trying to navigate the island in their own carts.
Another group said he tailored the tour and the discussion to their interests, and that the headsets made his narration easy to hear. The operator also pitches him as a source of local tips on where to eat and drink, and the cruise family planned to return and stay at hotels he recommended.
One Cart, Up to Five Riders, Priced Together
This is a private tour for up to five travelers, priced per group. One traveler pays the same total as five, and every rider counts toward the five, whatever their age. According to the listing, infants must sit on an adult's lap, service animals are allowed, and the tour is suitable for all physical fitness levels. You ride the cart between stops at viewpoints.
Meals are not included, so eat before a 10:00 AM start or plan lunch after the 12:15 PM one.
Meeting John on Crescent Avenue
The listing places the pickup on the water in the center of town, at a loading area in front of a restaurant. The operator's own booking page names the spot: Metropole and Crescent Avenue, in front of the Bluewater Grill. The restaurant lists its address as 306 Crescent Ave.
When you meet John, confirm the full name of the person who booked the tour. For questions or help, the listing asks you to call him. Keep in mind that getting to Catalina is up to you, as the tour begins on the Avalon waterfront.
If you book through this listing, you can cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund, and the tour may be called off for poor weather.
Bring a phone with plenty of storage. The listing promises scenic viewpoints and coastal views, and many of the operator's own photos are taken from the roads above the harbor, with Avalon's moored boats spread out below.