What is the Catalina Carousal


It began ostensibly as a scuba diving/ beer drinking debauch; a three-day horror in which buddies from all over California got together during the Spring Break to wreak havoc over the island known as Santa Catalina. Much revelry ensued, with diving taking the back seat to beer-drinking games and general merriment. The diving was excellent, but so was the bar-crawling and the daily passing-out-under-the-sun. That was March of 1986, and now, in 2024, we prepare to celebrate our 39th consecutive riot of sun, fun, and cocktails.

The Carousal (as it is formally know) is based on the principal that, no matter how sick and twisted things have gotten, you can still smile through it all and order your pal another drink. There's nothing quite like the Group Buzz, that is, the feeling of camaraderie one has when one sees his buddies-for-life slamming kamikazes and talking about the next day's dive or golf tournament, or how wonderful the legs are on the young lady tending bar.

We live for loud music and, in our Peter Pan-existence of denying the burden of age and responsibility, we take time-out, just for a few days and nights, and return to the children of excess that we once were. We decorate our drunkenness with mirth and dance. We consume everything, drive ourselves to new heights of athleticism, and hit our nadir once the bar has closed for the night, upon which time we must slither back to our bomb-wrecked chambers like wounded dogs, cringing from the thought of the next day's hangover. But we do fight again, rising alongside the new sun with a greater resolve, and a Bloody Mary in our trembling mitts.

The Carousal has been, and will always be, a rallying cry for those who need a shiny beacon through the stormy days of reality; a light at the end of a cold and damp tunnel. Now, we come from all over the World, once a year, crawling towards a common goal. The promise of warm weather, a swaying hammock, and a perspiring bottle of brew is not something to take lightly. Once a Carouser, always a Carouser. It should not, and cannot, be denied. Cheers!

- Peter B.



Carousal Main Page