For a first plan, allow roughly 40 nautical miles each way from Marina del Rey to Avalon. At a sustained 20 knots, that is about two hours underway; at 8 knots, about five. The route takes you out of Santa Monica Bay, clear of the Palos Verdes headlands, and across San Pedro Channel to Catalina Island's mainland-facing shore.
The distance is manageable for many cruising boats. The decisions that matter are the weather window, a safe track past Point Vicente, crossing commercial traffic, and having enough fuel and flexibility to get home comfortably. Here is how to put that plan together.
How far is Marina del Rey from Avalon, and how long does it take?
About 40 nautical miles is a rounded planning allowance, not a measured route for your boat. Your slip, choice of harbor exit, clearance around coastal hazards, traffic crossing, and assigned mooring all affect the total. Measure the legs on your current chart before finalizing fuel and arrival time. Forty nautical miles is about 46 statute miles; make sure your display and fuel calculations use the same units.
For a 40-nautical-mile example, the basic calculation is distance divided by average speed over ground:
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| Average speed over ground | Underway time for 40 nautical miles |
|---|---|
| 6 knots | 6 hours 40 minutes |
| 8 knots | 5 hours |
| 10 knots | 4 hours |
| 15 knots | 2 hours 40 minutes |
| 20 knots | 2 hours |
| 25 knots | 1 hour 36 minutes |
These are steady-speed passage times. Add the slow trip from your slip to open water, any fuel stop, time spent adjusting for traffic or sea conditions, and the wait for an Avalon assignment and pickup. A boat that can cruise at 25 knots may need to run much slower in short, steep seas.
For a sailboat, use your expected passage speed and allow for tacking or motoring in light wind. An optimistic boat-speed reading for one leg is a poor basis for promising a dinner reservation ashore.
Plan the route in three parts
Use current nautical charts and read the relevant U.S. Coast Pilot 7 mainland guidance. Check Coast Guard Local Notices to Mariners for changed aids, work areas, and restrictions. Review the entire plotted track at a useful chart scale, including any route generated by your navigation app.
1. Leave Marina del Rey through the marked entrance
Marina del Rey has a detached offshore breakwater in front of the entrance jetties, with an opening at each end. Identify your intended opening and the marked channel before departure. At night or in haze, the outer breakwater and inner jetties can be harder to distinguish than they look on a sunny afternoon.
The Coast Pilot describes the entrance-channel lane arrangement: boats under power, including motorsailing boats, keep the "No Sail" regulatory buoys to port when entering or leaving. The center lane is for boats operating solely under sail in either direction. Watch for small sailboats, paddlers, and vessels joining from the basins.
The county's navigation and regulations page gives a 5-knot maximum and no-wake requirement inside the harbor. It also warns of shoaling near both jetties: stay clear of the marked shoal areas and account for tide and draft. For current entrance information, the county lists the Marina del Rey Sheriff's Station at 310-482-6000.
Clear the entrance and surrounding traffic before accelerating. Use the first part of the trip to confirm normal temperatures, oil pressure, charging, cooling flow, and steering under load. A new vibration or rising temperature deserves attention while returning to the marina is still straightforward.
2. Give Palos Verdes and Point Vicente proper clearance
Your southbound route needs to clear the Palos Verdes headlands, including Point Vicente, before continuing toward Avalon. A direct line drawn between two harbor icons is not enough to establish that clearance.
NOAA describes heavy kelp extending offshore near Palos Verdes Point and a rock awash southwest of Point Vicente. Use the charted hazards, depths, and the actual kelp edge to choose your track. Give yourself maneuvering room for other boats and changing conditions; hugging the headland saves little time.
Also review the charted El Segundo offshore oil terminal, tanker berths, and associated regulated areas along the mainland portion of the route. Keep clear of terminal operations and observe the applicable restrictions. Do not treat the water between a tanker and shore as an obvious shortcut.
3. Cross San Pedro Channel toward Avalon
Once clear of the headlands, the route continues across open water toward Avalon's harbor entrance on the mainland-facing side of Catalina, near the island's southeastern end. You may encounter cargo ships, tankers, Catalina ferries, fishing boats, and other recreational traffic along the way.
Plot how your chosen track relates to the Los Angeles/Long Beach traffic separation scheme and nearby approaches. Plan that encounter before reaching the lanes. The island appearing clearly ahead does not mean the water between you and it is empty.
Choose the weather window for both directions
Start with the NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard marine page and the PZZ655 coastal-waters forecast, which includes the inner waters from Point Mugu to San Mateo Point and Santa Catalina Island. Read the marine forecast discussion and warnings, then inspect conditions along your particular route.
Pay attention to four things:
- Wind direction, speed, and gusts. A wind that helps on the outbound leg can make the return harder.
- Wave height, period, and direction. Closely spaced wind waves can force a much slower passage than a longer-period swell of the same height. Mixed swell and wind waves also affect comfort.
- Visibility. Fog can conceal traffic, the entrance, and the island even when the wind is light. A daylight first crossing is easier when visibility is good; leaving before dawn is not automatically the better choice.
- The forecast through your return. Include the time aboard at Avalon and the trip home, plus room to change your departure day.
A morning departure often gives you a chance to get ahead of an afternoon sea breeze, but use the actual forecast. NOAA describes prevailing west and northwest winds in the region and coastal fog; those patterns are context, not a promise of a calm morning.
The Santa Monica Basin buoy, station 46025, provides useful regional wind and wave observations. It sits well west of this crossing, so its readings are not conditions at your bow or inside Avalon. Check station location and observation time when comparing buoys with the forecast.
Take a northeast or Santa Ana wind forecast seriously for Avalon. The Coast Pilot describes limited protection there from northeast Santa Ana winds. A mooring assignment does not establish that the harbor will be comfortable or suitable for the weather ahead.
Set limits your boat and crew can handle before leaving. Postpone if the forecast exceeds them, visibility exceeds your navigation capability, or you have no suitable return window. The absence of a Small Craft Advisory alone does not make a crossing appropriate for every boat.
Crossing shipping traffic
Make someone responsible for a continuous lookout while the skipper navigates. Look behind as well as ahead. Ferries cross between mainland ports and Catalina on routes that differ from the cargo-ship lanes, and a ship can cover a surprising distance while your crew is distracted.
Where your route requires crossing a traffic lane, Navigation Rule 10 calls for a heading as nearly as practicable at right angles to the general direction of traffic flow. It also says a vessel under 20 meters, or a sailing vessel, must not impede the safe passage of a power-driven vessel following a lane. The other collision-avoidance rules still apply.
Use a safe crossing opportunity and make any necessary avoidance action early and clear. Avoid trying to squeeze across a ship's bow. Do not stop to fish or drift in the lanes.
AIS and radar can help identify and track traffic, but keep a visual and listening lookout. Some boats will not appear on AIS, and a target's course or closest-approach estimate can change. Keep an appropriate VHF watch; channel 16 is for distress, safety, and calling, with routine conversations moved to a working channel.
Fuel planning: include the slower trip home
Use your boat's measured fuel burn at the speed and load you expect, with both propulsion engines included. Tank capacity, fuel aboard, and usable fuel are different quantities. Add generator use if it draws from the same supply, plus harbor running and any planned side trips.
Here is a fictional twin-engine example using the 40-nautical-mile allowance:
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| Leg | Time and fuel calculation |
|---|---|
| Outbound at 20 knots, 24 gallons/hour total | 40 ÷ 20 = 2 hours; 2 × 24 = 48 gallons |
| Return at 10 knots, 16 gallons/hour total | 40 ÷ 10 = 4 hours; 4 × 16 = 64 gallons |
| Passage subtotal | 112 gallons, before harbor use, generator use, diversions, or reserve |
Those burn rates are made-up inputs, not estimates for your engines. The example shows why lower hourly burn can still use more fuel over a slower passage. Measure or conservatively establish your own burn at the relevant speeds.
Check each leg separately: an easy run over can consume less than the rougher return. Add harbor running, generator use, and diversions before deciding how much usable fuel you need. Do not reduce the calculation to twice the outbound fuel.
A reserve is fuel you intend to have left when the planned trip is complete. For example, if you choose to keep one-third of your starting usable fuel in reserve, the planned consumption can use at most two-thirds: divide the consumption estimate by two-thirds. The 112-gallon passage subtotal would require 168 gallons of usable starting fuel under that assumption, before accounting for the other running above. Simply adding 33 percent to consumption would leave a smaller reserve. Choose a margin that also covers your boat's realistic contingencies and alternate destination.
Top up before departure when needed. The county lists Del Rey Landing as Marina del Rey's fuel dock. If your plan depends on buying fuel at Catalina, confirm the destination dock's current operation, fuel type, and hours before crossing. Have enough fuel for a workable alternative if refueling is unavailable.
Prepare the boat and crew before leaving the slip
Work through the boat maintenance checklist, especially leaks, automatic bilge pumps, steering, fluids, batteries, and unresolved alarms. Complete a local shakedown after significant work before committing to the crossing.
For this trip, also prepare:
- Navigation and communications: current charts available offline, a backup means of navigation, charged devices, and a working marine VHF. Consider a registered EPIRB or PLB as part of your offshore emergency equipment; a mobile phone should not be your only way to call for help.
- Crew readiness: properly fitted life jackets, a briefing on falling-overboard response and calling for help, accessible water and snacks, and seasickness preparations appropriate to each person. Secure loose gear before the water gets choppy.
- A float plan: boat and passenger details, intended route, expected arrival/return, and what your shore contact should do if you are overdue. Update that person when the plan changes and close the plan when safely back.
- Arrival gear: clear bow and stern cleats, a boat hook, gloves, and an agreed helm/line-handler arrangement. Have crew headsets ready if you use them.
Use your engine-hours log to check whether the round trip will carry a service task past its hour limit. A four-hour round trip at fast cruise can become much longer if conditions force you to slow down.
Arriving at Avalon
Visitor moorings are first come, first served. Check the city's availability page before leaving, but remember that its estimate does not hold a space while you cross. Summer weekends and holidays can fill quickly.
Approach the main harbor entrance, stay clear of the fairway and ferry movements, and meet Harbor Patrol in person for an assignment. Tell the officer your boat's size, intended stay, and whether you need pickup help. Routine Avalon Harbor assistance uses VHF 12; calling ahead does not reserve a mooring.
Avalon's bow-and-stern setup involves securing the bow hawser, pulling up the submerged sand line as you work aft, and securing the stern hawser. Read our Avalon mooring guide with your line handler before arrival. It covers the pickup step by step, finding your number, current fees, dinghy docks, and the VHF 9 shoreboat.
If the inner harbor is full, Patrol may offer an outlying mooring such as Descanso Bay. Consider its exposure and the longer trip ashore. The approved anchorage is deep and requires suitable gear and conditions; confirm the location with Patrol rather than anchoring among the moorings. Decide on a practical backup before leaving Marina del Rey.
Plan the Avalon-to-Marina del Rey return separately
The return heads generally north or northwest, so prevailing west or northwest conditions may put wind and waves farther forward than on the outbound trip. Expect the ride, sustainable speed, and fuel use to change as you leave the island's shelter.
Recheck the forecast the evening before and again before departure. Assess what you are seeing on the water, recalculate the slower-speed fuel case, and leave time for shipping traffic and the harbor approach. Avalon's normal mooring checkout is 9 a.m.; arrange any extension with Patrol beforehand. Checkout time should not force you into unsuitable conditions.
If the trip is becoming uncomfortable or a fault develops, act while you still have good options. Returning to your departure harbor or diverting to a suitable harbor may make sense depending on your position, weather, fuel, and available access. King Harbor at Redondo Beach is one mainland option to study in advance; it is not a guaranteed berth or an all-weather solution.
On reaching Marina del Rey, identify the entrance and marked channel again, reduce speed for the no-wake area, and watch for traffic near the breakwater. Back at the slip, check for leaks, record each engine's hours and actual fuel use, and tell your shore contact you are back. Those numbers make the next Catalina plan more useful than another generic range estimate.
Sources and scope
- NOAA U.S. Coast Pilot 7, Chapter 4: Los Angeles/Long Beach traffic arrangements and ferries; Point Vicente and Palos Verdes; El Segundo terminal; Marina del Rey entrance, lanes, and King Harbor. Reviewed the September 13, 2026 edition, especially printed pages 223 and 231–233.
- NOAA U.S. Coast Pilot 7, Chapter 5: San Pedro Channel, Avalon's exposure and harbor arrangements, and regional wind/fog context. Reviewed the September 13, 2026 edition, especially printed pages 245–247 and 252.
- LA County Beaches and Harbors: Marina del Rey navigation and regulations and boater supplies and services.
- National Weather Service: local marine forecasts, PZZ655 zone forecast, and NDBC station 46025.
- U.S. Coast Guard: Navigation Rules and Local Notices to Mariners.
- City of Avalon: about the harbor and mooring availability.
- BoatUS Foundation: trip planning and preparation: crew briefing, weather, route preparation, and leaving a float plan with a responsible person ashore.
Sources checked September 14, 2026. The distance is a rounded initial planning allowance; the time and fuel examples are calculations, not surveyed tracks, vessel performance claims, or a live passage forecast. Build your actual route with current charts, notices, conditions, and your boat's capabilities.