Santa Catalina Island is one the Channel Islands of the coast of California.  Santa Catalina Island is known as Island of the Blue Dolphins in the book by Scott O'Dell.  There are three main camps for tourist and schools Toyon Bay (where my class was), Cherry Cove, and Fox Landing.  Catalina is a desert island home to many types of creatures like the mule deer, heron, bison (which are not native but were brought over for the filming of a cowboy movie and escaped), harbor seals, sea otters, dolphins, sea lions, kelp bass, and many others.  Catalina is also home to many different types of plants.
    Catalina Island actually used to be two islands that were separated by a thin, shallow strip of water.  On opposite sides of the water way were two hills.  Over millions of years the hills were eroded and the eroded muck filled the water way and the two islands became one.
    CIMI is one of the programs that runs on Catalina Island.  CIMI is an education experience designed especially for schools.  The main focus of CIMI is to provide students with first hand knowledge and experience on marine biology and island ecology.