San Diego and Off to Cabo

We have spent several days here in San Diego enjoying the weather and sights. Most days were spent "boat related" in preparation for our voyage to Cabo. The day has finally arrived and we will be sailing out at 8AM Monday, October 27th.

Today we attended the kick off cosume party for the Baha Ha Ha.. We went as Bees and hung out with the Blues Brothers, a Nun, Popeye and Olive Oil and many other creatures and people.

We will be limited for a bit in our ability to update the blog but we will do it when possible.

San Diego has much to offer with a world class zoo, Balboa Park, many museums, Old Town, the Gaslight District, waterfront parks and the beautiful Coronado Island. All of this plus every marine/boat supply store in the world!

Baha Ha Ha Countdown

Well here we are, in San Diego. Our adventure down to Cabo starts in 10 days, on Monday, October 27th.

We have been busy doing boat projects and we should be ready to go. Michael and Judy Stouffer will be here Friday the 24th and we will do our last provisioning and attend a few parties. Our costumes are ready for the Halloween Event the day before we leave.

Next week we will be tourists and see the sights in San Diego.

Dana Point

We arrived in Dana Point safely, after a bumpy ride the first two hours from Catalina. It looks like we picked a good time to leave Catalina as the Santa Ana winds picked up significantly after we left, and it was not nice then!

Dana Point is a nice spot for a break for a couple of days. Our friends on Kat Den Rie were already there as they met one of Jay's lifetime friends there, Tom. He took us all to breakfast Monday morning in San Clemente. You don't have to love Richard Nixon to love this town.

Tuesday morning, early, off to San Diego. We will be there as you read this, so more later.

Catalina Island

What a great few days we had on Catalina Island. We moored in the "Fourth of July Cove". It was peaceful and private. The first three days the weather was perfect, the last two were not. Big winds and big swells. After two sleepless nights constantly checking on what needed to be tied down and the many usual checks of making sure we were staying put, we decided to move on to Dana Point for a restful day or two. We did not leave too soon as our friends on "Eager Dreamer", John and Rosie, called us. They are still there, enduring 30+ knot winds. Hopefully they can get out tomorrow (Tuesday) and catch up to us.

After the first sleepless night, we boarded our dingy to go to shore (coffee of course, our new pot broke) only to find a 14' dinghy and it's 50 HP outboard sitting ON the dock. Another was totally upside down, propeller standing tall. We were greeted by the Harbor Patrol asking, "how was your night". They were out patrolling all night. They were kind enough to stand by our boat when we were leaving as another boat was moored close to our Starboard side.

Oxnard and Beyond

So, we had a nice 10 hour motor/sail to Oxnard from Santa Barbara. We stayed there for 4 days, relaxed, re provisioned, walked the beach and went to their Farmers Market. Not much else to say about Oxnard. Beautiful new marina and Vons was a scenic 30 minute dinghy ride.

We are off to Catalina Island for a few days starting October 6th. That will be fun.

Santa Barbara

Today is October 1st and our last day in Santa Barbara. It has been a wonderful layover and we were going to leave 2 days ago but, that nasty water leak showed up again. I finally have it under control. Not to panic, it is a fresh water leak so we are not sinking. New parts await us in San Diego so I can make a permanent fix before we are off to Mexico.

Our new friends from Monterey, Richard and Marci, "dropped by" for a surprise visit a couple of days ago. What a great surprise. They even drove Sue and Katherine to Ralph's for provisions!

It has been warm here and we have done plenty of walking. No Peet's coffee but the Santa Barbara Roasting Company is great.

This evening we went to the Santa Barbara Yacht Club for a glass of wine and a beer. They had their Wednesday evening races and it was fun to see all those spinnakers out there.

Off tomorrow to Santa Cruz Island, specifically Smugglers Cove where we will meet up again with Jay, Katherine and Kensey on "Kat Den Rie".