Astoria, OR 7/21/04

We had a cool trip down the Columbia River to Astoria from Longview. (Sunday it was hot and muggy.) We stayed at Tongue Point just east of Astoria, a great place to anchor out of the wind. Ray Brown and Anne Thompson were already at anchor there with 2 other boats from Rose City Yacht Club. This morning we went for a long dinghy ride around the islands in the delta area, probably up the west end of Pioneer Channel which goes all they way up to Cathlamet. Returning when the water got too rough, we went up the John Day River until it got too shallow. It was narrow and just deep enough for shallow draft boats. Some fishermen live on this river in boat houses on either side. Some were quite nice, most were pretty crumby. Returning, we decided it was not our choice for real estate. We saw hundreds of Canada Geese, cormorants, and numerous blue herons and Caspian Terns.

Arrived in Astoria around 4:00 p.m. at which time George decided to trouble shoot the problem with the macerator. The motor works, but nothing comes out. We figured there must be a clog somewhere, but couldn't find it easily. Finally, with my help crawling into the hold behind the head, we got the hose off between the macerator and the holding tank. It had a little hole in it. Unfortunately, we didn't have any extra hose of that particular size. So we'll head for Englund Marine tomorrow morning as soon as they open. Hopefully the macerator will work properly again once we get that hose replaced. If not, we'll address the problem when we get to San Francisco. We can still use the head as long as we can find pump-out stations to empty the holding tank.

I got the storm sail set up on the bow, ready to hoist just in case we need it since we expect winds a little stronger than we experienced coming down from Barkley Sound. I also lubed the roller furler and lead lines, fixed a line on the wind vane that popped off one of the pulleys, and offered moral support to George who was sweating heavily, cramped in the head with tools and mattresses slung all over the interior. It's so nice when we get everything put back together so we can move around the salon once again. We had a quick dinner meant for our night on the ocean. We'll have to have freeze dried for dinner tomorrow night after all. It's easy. I had planned leftovers, but we needed to eat them tonight instead.

We're planning to leave Astoria tomorrow morning around 9:30 a.m. to cross the Columbia River Bar at slack, 10:50 a.m. We need to travel at least 6.0 knots per hour in order to get to Coos Bay during the flood tide 30 hours later. If we can't, we'll stop in Newport for a half day and head down to Coos Bay in time for flood tide the next day. With heavier winds behind us as well as the north-south current, we think we should be make it OK.

Coos Bay, OR 7/23/04

Well, it was a 35 hour trip from Astoria to Coos Bay. Winds were 20-25 knots. The Monitor auto pilot handled it well. I am finding that my lead lines jump two of their sheaves when the paddle is at each extreme. Butch didn't think this one through. But it manages in spite of this. The last 6 hours the winds died down, and we ended up motoring in with the mainsail up for stability. We came in at max ebb after calling the Coast Guard, and getting a 'no restrictions on the bar' report. It was a little bumpy, but not bad.

We took 'Zoom' into the South Estuary, a nature preserve next to the port of Charleston that serves Coos Bay. The key sighting was a flock of 30+ whimbrels. They must have been passing through, because the Interpretive Center said that they are 'uncommon' in summer.

Saturday, we're headed from Coos Bay to Eureka. We're listening to an 'Oldies' radio station, and the songs are all from California. We talked with a motor cruiser, Bob from ‘Orca’, who pulled in on the transient dock after 5 years in Mexico. He gave a brain download to us about his favorite spots and lessons learned. It’s so great to have help from those who have been there!

Eureka, CA  7/28/04

We left Coos Bay in a pea soup fog with several recreational fishing boats trolling in their favorite fishing spots along the channel. Radar was showing so many contacts, I wondered who had called the convention. In the midst of the mist a large ocean freighter came over the bar and down the channel between the jetties blowing its fog horn. We let the air horn blow twice on about three occasions. Once past the outer buoy we left the fishing boats behind, and headed out to the 50 fathom line, and then turned south to go around Cape Blanco. The Cape was blowing 10 knots, and only after our passing it did the winds pick up to 20 knots. We tried sailing with our jib only this time, and Monty (our Monitor) handled it famously. We pulled into Eureka after checking with the local US Coast Guard on the bar condition. It was 32 hours of ocean work. The last 13 hours were with the 'iron genoa' since the wind had died down during the night, and didn't return sufficient to sail.

Today we rented a car from Enterprise, and drove north to the Redwood National Park where we walked and gawked at the Lady Bird Johnson Grove. What magnificent, friendly giants these redwoods are -- some pre-dating the Christian era!

We then stopped at the Arcada Wildlife Sanctuary, and saw our first black-shouldered kite and marbled godwit. The eight avocets were a close third, and the least sandpipers were running in-between the greater yellow legs! What a kick! More birding tomorrow. Then we head south on Wednesday to Drake's Bay.

We enjoyed the Old Town section of Eureka for all the Victorian home restoration that has gone on. The city can be proud!

Drake’s Bay and Entering San Francisco Bay, CA 7/30/04

This morning I sit listening to a classical SF radio station, playing some choral cathedral music. We're moored at the Alameda Marina Village with some 900 other loved boats (no forgotten boats). Last night son Ted and Christine brought a Japanese California-roll type dinner on board.

Three nights ago we were at Drake's Bay by the Pt. Reyes National Seashore and antennae farm. We wanted to go ashore in our dinghy to make a few phone calls and do some birding. Had binoculars, camera, lunch, etc in a dry bag. Our mushroom anchor was also aboard. We wore our inflatable life jackets. Well, we knew about dry landings and wet landings. And even though we tried to time our arrival, we found ourselves upturned and underneath Zoom. I stood up in two feet of water and sand. Sue's vest had inflated. We grabbed an oar that was getting away, and the dry bag, and unceremoniously pulled the dinghy ashore and up beyond the tide line. As we stood there dripping wet, we laughed, and said that probably wouldn't be the last time! Unfortunately it was a learning experience. We learned you have to tie things into the boat. We lost the mushroom anchor even after a surf search. And Sue was wearing her vision glasses and lost them in the dump. We needed to think "what will we lose if we dump the boat?"

Saturday morning, July 31, we headed for the Golden Gate 25 miles away. The VHF report was talking about 20-30 knot winds, so we battened down the hatches, secured everything in sight, double-reefed the mainsail, and set out in 2-3 knot winds motoring.... At 12:30pm we were motoring under the Golden Gate with less than 5 knot winds. Oh well! It was still a thrill. What culture shock! There were boats everywhere. 50+ fishing boats outside near the Potato Patch. Hundreds of sail boats trying to sail inside the Bay, as the wind was finally starting to pick up, made navigation a challenge. After rendezvousing with Ted and Christine for lunch at anchor, we let them off ashore, and took off in the promised 20+ knots of wind. Double-reefed, we sailed at hull speed 7+ knots across the Bay past Alcatraz and Treasure Island on a starboard tack so we didn't have to worry about right of way!

What a playground! So many boats to watch and play with.

We had a wonderful sail on the Bay with Sue's parents Saturday. Wonderful means 10 knot winds building to 25 knots in mid-afternoon. Double-reefed, close-hauled going into the wave chop with a steady 4.5 knots. The fog bank cloaked The Gate, the lower part of Angel Island, and part of Alcatraz. There were a gazillion boats out, most of them in races. Sloops of all sizes in their different races, multi-hulls flying here and there. Throw in tourist boats, rec fishing boats, and an occasional piloted ocean container ship, and you make a soup for a paranoid boat skipper. The fog reminded me of a lenticular cloud on Mt. Hood where the cloud is constantly forming on one side, and dissipating on the other side, as the wind travels at 40 mph. From afar it looks like the cloud is standing still, but it's a living, breathing entity.

Saw the SF Giants play the Chicago Cubs Friday night. The stadium was sold out with 42,500 inhabitants. We got our right-center field Arcade tickets from a scalper. Jason Schmidt pitched his 100th career win for SF. The crowd certainly loved him. The paper indicated that he had 20+ wins this year already, and that SF is in the wild card hunt because of him.

Sue and I were treated to a trip to Yosemite National Park with our son, Ted, and his wife, Christine. Initially we hiked up Lembert Dome in Tuolome Meadows for a great view of the high meadows. Secondly, we hiked through an old forest to Elizabeth Lake where we had lunch at the foot of Unicorn Mountain. On the third day we went down into the valley where we saw the famous Half Dome, El Capitain, The Sentinels, and others. These were especially delightful to see, since we never were able to visit while we were into rock climbing in the 90’s. Our last hike was up the steep trail and steps to the top of Vernal Falls. The Park was a highlight of our stay in San Francisco!

After two weeks staying at Alameda Marina Village Yacht Basin, we motored over to the Berkeley Yacht Club Monday afternoon. Sally and Todd Draskovich would be joining us for an evening of sailing on the Bay. Sally, one of my bridesmaids from Principia College, has kept in touch with us through the years and had helped me explore various marinas during my visit here in late February. The Yacht Club graciously let us stay at their dock even though Portland Yacht Club doesn't list reciprocal privileges with them. Staying outside the locked gates of the marina, we had access to the restrooms and showers used by marina residents and boat owners.

Sally and Todd were waiting for us when we arrived. So we took off almost immediately, raising the sails as soon as we passed the breakwater. Winds were a little lighter than usual, 15-20 knots. With one reef in the mainsail, we easily made it over to Angel Island for dinner in the calm waters over by Tiberon. George quickly discovered that the windlass wouldn't operate in the pulling up direction, so we grabbed one of the mooring balls over by the ferry terminal. Sally had brought Chinese Chicken Salad, drinks, sourdough bread, and a lovely flan dessert. She even brought paper cups, plates, and silverware and napkins based on our last outing in a chartered sailboat. Of course, things are a little more comfortable than that aboard Dream Chaser. Hot water for dishes, etc.

Sailing back to Berkeley in the dark as the lights went on all over the City as well as Oakland and surrounding communities and the bridges, we were awed by the beauty. With just the jib pushing us along, against a 2 knot current, it took us about 1.5 hours to sail from the end of the Berkeley Jetty to the breakwater. Nobody minded the time since it was warm, the wind was at our backs, and the lights sparkled all around us.

As we said good-bye, we noticed a raccoon sneaking across the parking lot. Next morning, his dirty footprints were all over our boat. Having entered by the open gate, a number of them snooped around, probably hoping to find some leftover food spilled on the deck or a bag of garbage left out. I picked up trash on the shore in front of the yacht club while George cleaned up after the 'coons. What a difference in management between this marina and Alameda!

Tuesday afternoon, we left Berkeley and sailed in a nice stiff wind up to the Richmond Yacht Club. They were able to put us in a space vacated for the night by one of their members. We could see why this yacht club had reciprocal privileges with PYC. Lots of nice boats, an active group, and a lovely building on shore for club activities including nice showers. As we sailed behind this breakwater, we witnessed a number of little sailboats double reefed, heading out into the choppy waters. These sailors wear wetsuits to keep warm as the waves splash frequently into their little boats. It's no wonder they need showers when they return. With a warm welcome here, we enjoyed an evening talking to various people while cleaning the salt spray off the boat. George even scrubbed the metal railings and repaired the windlass wiring.

Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m., Ted took us for a wonderful tour of the Richmond Bridge, including a trip on the work boat that takes men from pier to pier and from job to job as needed along the water. Ted needed to examine work done by the divers at the bottom of one pier where water was getting into the cement around a bolt. They were cleaning out all the packing material to redo the grouting. Most interesting was to see that they had a decompression chamber on board the barge. Apparently, the divers periodically need to get into it when they have spent several hours under the water. They wear helmets and dry suits and breath through a hose with air pumped from a compressor on the barge.

Those who worked with Ted, repeatedly said they would really miss him and hoped he would return to Cal-Trans. One fellow said he was the best of the 90 or so engineers on the job including some managers. They especially liked his easy manner, never losing his temper, and his ability to work with the contractors, resolving differences. As we accompanied him around the job site, we could see that he was well liked and respected from the smiles and pleasant greetings from everyone.

Returning to Dream Chaser by 11:00, we sailed under the Richmond Bridge towards San Pablo Bay and the Delta region. Reading our guidebook for the region, Suisun Slough up to the city of Suisun looked like an interesting adventure. Winds were light so we motored with the current up to the Carquinez Strait, under the bridges, and up to Benicia where we could pump out and hopefully get some ice cream. It was HOT east of the Oakland hills. Well, no ice cream until the week-end, so we took off. We saw 3 white pelicans sunning themselves along with gulls and snowy egrets. The water here, out of the shipping channel, is pretty shallow, so we watched the depths carefully. As slipped into Suisun Bay, grasslands surrounded us and we expected to see more wildlife. We passed a huge mothballed fleet of US Navy ships and then followed the navigational aids into Suisun Slough.

The cruising guide recommended we take Montezuma Slough to Hunter's Pass, but we found ourselves heading up Suisun Slough instead since it was marked. As we motored along, watching the depth sounder with one eye, we flushed out a number of Black-Crowned Night Herons and a lot of egrets, both Great and Snowy. But we experienced the same problem with depth that the writers of the cruising guide found: much shallower water than marked on the chart! Watching our chart plotter very carefully and staying in the middle of the channel, we felt confident as long as we had 7 feet of water. But at the point where another slough flowed in, we figured there would be silting at its mouth and hugged the opposite shore. Before long, Dream Chaser slowed to a crawl. At 5.2 feet on the depth sounder, we could feel the keel dragging through the mud. And this was high tide! At 5.1 feet, she stopped. So we put the engine in reverse to back out. Ever so slowly she moved backwards. 5.0, 4.9, 4.8, 4.6. Yikes, the wind was pushing us further into the shallows. We tried putting up the jib sail to give us more power to turn the bow to the left. But it tipped us over slightly, digging the wing of the keel further into the mud. When we rolled it up again, Dream Chaser stood straight up with the bow higher than the stern. The keel was digging itself into the mud further as we backed! But now we were able to move backwards again, ever so slowly. Soon we began to see the depth increasing and we were off. I wanted to turn back, but George thought we should try the other side of the slough where there were docks and houses on the shore. Sure enough, we found 15 feet of water over there, so we continued up the slough.

As we approached the Hunter's Cut, the slough became very shallow again. We actually saw the depth sounder go down to 5.1 feet a couple of times, but we didn't get stuck. We slowly entered Hunter's Cut and headed over to Montezuma Slough and headed back out to Suisun Bay once again. In this slough we found 12-15 feet of water all the way out, even into the bay where we expected to see even shallower water than Suisun Slough. Who knows. Maybe if we had come in this way, we could have continued all the way up to Suisun City. But we weren't going to take the chance now that the tide was beginning to go out again.

Soon enough we found 25+ feet of water so we unrolled the jib and sailed easily along eastward, skirting islands of grass, but seeing no birdlife, sadly. We anchored in 12-14 feet of water as 17 knot winds blew constantly. Anchored in very solid mud/muck, we spent a peaceful night and decided to head all the way to Antioch and the Delta tomorrow morning. Glad to be floating freely again. In the morning we tried the Pacific Northwest Boater's Net on the HAM radio. We were barely able to hear Aaron, the net control. We could tell our call number was no longer on the roll call. Listening carefully, we heard Aaron call for later nets (new respondents or those who missed the roll call), George called in and someone heard us. The person who heard us relayed George's response to Aaron who could repeat where we were to everyone else. We heard him say, "You're down by the river now", meaning the Sacramento. So we knew that someone was able to hear us clearly and relay that information on. All these voices are so familiar to us now. We hate to be out of contact with them, but it's time to move onto another Hamnet and make new acquaintances as we head south.

Cruising in San Francisco Bay contains adventure in its description. One trip took us a little ways up the Sacramento River and into terrific headwinds on our return. But at least we got to see White Pelicans and lots of wind surfers. The beat back to San Rafael in time to pick up Ted and Christine got to be tiresome, especially in San Pablo where the waves kicked up to 3-4 feet. We finally had to turn on the engine, and even then we only made 3.4 knots over the ground.

The entrance to Loc Lomond Marina in San Pablo was narrow, but just deep enough, and well marked. The marina suggested we stay at the gas dock which had just closed at 5:00 p.m. until Ted and Christine could get there , just northeast of the Richmond Bridge, in Friday's 5:00 traffic. Arriving at 7:00, we quickly took off, knowing that we had at least 2 hours of traveling before we could wet down the anchor, and it gets dark at 8:30 here now.

We set the sails right away, even as we exited the narrow, 50' wide channel, and headed back down San Pablo Bay. By now the tide was going out, so once again we fought current. The sun went down long before we even saw the entrance buoys to the channel leading into the Petaluma River. But with our chart plotter working full time for us, Ted at the helm had no trouble seeing where to go. The channel into the river curved around with only one the red channel markers lit. The green ones, on tall posts, could only be seen as a silhouette against the horizon, lit by city lights ahead. If we strayed out of the channel, we would immediately go aground in the mud, not a happy thought with the tide still going out. Little by little, we crept along the 100' wide channel, finding the next red channel marker and using our 800,000 candle power light. Once Ted found himself only 15 feet from the green marker when it suddenly loomed up in front of him as a big shadow in the night. Other times, as George briefly shined the light out to the side, we could see mud or sand bars 6" above the water level. The last red light stuck out of the mud askew, out of the water as we passed by, a new marker with a confusing quick flashing red light kept us in the channel.

The railroad bridge became our next obstacle. The cruising guide mentioned it always stayed open except when a train passed over it. It stood open at an angle, part of the turn into the Petaluma River. Thank Heaven for that big light to show us the way through this obstacle! But we only had a little further to go before putting down the anchor: just a few hundred yards under Highway 37 with its 70' vertical clearance and the river would be wide enough to anchor out of the channel. Anchoring in 14' of water about 50 yards from shore, we all climbed into bed for a good night's sleep. What a day! zzzzzzzzzzz........

Awaking to a cloudy morning, Ted and Christine stayed in bed a little longer, probably not as comfortable on their narrow bunks. I baked cinnamon rolls and cut lovely California cantaloupe while they packed up their sleeping bags and neatly packed their belongings away. Before long, George had the engine going and we were on our way. The "D" Street Bridge in Petaluma would open for us at 11:00 so we could get into the Turning Basin and the city docks of their Old Town.

Motoring slowly along at low tide, we just stayed in the middle and found plenty of water. The mud banks, however, were hunting grounds for lots of birds we hadn't seen before: Greater Yellow-legs, 2 Black-necked Stilts (rare birds), Long-billed curlews poking their long beaks into the mud for grubs, willets, and a green heron which was quite small and skittish about our staring at him through our binoculars. Of course, we saw lots of Great and Snowy Egrets, Blue Herons and California Gulls fishing along the way too. George also spotted a Marsh Hawk flying over the tulie grass, and lots of turkey vultures milled around on both sides as we went along.

At 10:25 we reached the "D" Street Bridge which opened for us like a giant raised arm. Bells rang along the street to keep the traffic at bay. After tying up, we needed to find where to pay since our packet of information sent to us by the Visitor's Center got left behind in Oakland. George and I walked for an hour along the newer part of the city, about 2 miles from the boat to find the Visitor's Center. It was tucked behind the Petaluma Marina 1.5 miles down the river. After getting our information packet, we took a taxi back to meet Ted and Christine at Chicago Pizza for some of the best pizza we've ever had. We bought fresh produce at the farmer's market in the park during the afternoon and enjoyed window shopping in the town until dinner. Christine's mother who lives in Navado, not far from Petaluma, joined us for dinner at Dempsey's Restaurant across the foot bridge from our boat. By then the Turning Basin was full with 10 other boats tied up around us.

Although the town of Petaluma has lots of charm with its Victorian houses and the old buildings in town beautifully restored, we were disappointed in the lack of facilities for boaters. It had been 4 days since we had showered, and the public rest rooms were closed at night. A more obvious sign on the back of the Petaluma Yacht Club would have prevented our 2 mile walk in the heat of the day along the highway too. By morning our holding tank was full, so we went under the "D" Street Bridge early with 2 other sailboats who had made arrangements earlier. When we got to the Petaluma Marina, we pumped out and went on our way, floating with the current with our jib out. We ran up onto the sand once when we got too close to shore, but were able to back off quickly. Quietly slipping along, we were able to see even more of the birds we had seen on Saturday, especially the allusive Black-necked Stilts. Motor-sailing out the channel into San Pablo Bay, it wasn't long before the winds came up and we began tacking, against the winds and currents once again. We finally made it into San Rafael by 5:00 p.m. Whew! Good thing we started at 8:30 instead of 10:00 that morning!

Back at Loc Lomond, a fishing boat had just returned with their catch. Cleaning up at the gas dock, the birds hovered around the boat, enjoying handouts of fresh herring. We took lots of pictures of a Black-Crowned Night Heron and several Great and Snowy Egrets hanging onto the boat's railings. The fishermen said they were all well fed and would let you get quite close, even eat out of your hand.

George and I continued sailing into San Francisco Bay on a beam reach, arriving in Emeryville by 8:30 p.m. Christine had arranged for her brother, Tim and 2 boys and Kathy, her mother, to go sailing with us Monday morning on the Bay. Oh boy! No time to rest! George gave the boat a quick washdown while I prepared dinner and we hit the sack!

Monterey  9/01/04

We had a wonderful time in Monterey. Except for the sea lions who kept us awake on and off all night 100 feet from where we were moored at the marina, we loved Monterey. With sunny weather, George and I enjoyed the Aquarium, riding a free trolly around town to go to an outdoor market and grocery shopping, and renting bicycles for all day yesterday. We rode along the shore to the 17-Mile Drive. When we got to Pebble Beach Golf Club, we watched a tournament for about an hour, the 2nd hole and the 3rd tee close to the ocean where you can see sailboats anchored off shore. George recognized the names of a few of the men. The tournament was called The First Tee Open. Don't know if it was televised, but there were sure a lot of security guards around.

We left Monterey at 11:30 this morning headed for Morrow Bay. Winds were light and eventually died, so we've been motoring most of the way. We are presently just past Pt. Sur and Big Sur National Seashore. Just as we passed Point Sur, we spotted a pod of cetaceans, not sure what they were. George didn't even think it was anything more than the waves breaking on rocks close to shore. But then another group came very close to our boat. They were Risso's Dolphins, about 25 of them. You'll have to look them up on the Internet or in a book, if you have one, on Oceanic Dolphins. They have a blunt nose and a fin almost as big as a female orca. They were grey spotted, or at least that was how they appeared. Much fun to see them porpoising along.

Morro Bay to Santa Barbara 9/05/04

We have been royally entertained by Jim and Mary Talbot while in Morro Bay. Jim had been George's captain on his first Navy ship while serving in the US Navy.   Jim and his wife, Mary, were exceptionally gracious, taking us to lunch, dinner, furnishing free tickets to the Hearst Castle Tour #1, and to a wildlife preserve for bird watching. Their home in a suburb of San Luis Obispo was quite large, beautifully furnished, and nicely landscaped on 2 acres of land with a view of the ocean.  We had an exceptional time with them, talking about all sorts of things and finding lots in common after all these years.

Departing Morro Bay Yacht Club (the only place in town with guest moorage available) at noon today, we expect to arrive in Santa Barbara tomorrow about noon. We're going to stay with reciprocal privileges at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club for one night. Hopefully we will be able to get parts for the dinghy oars that fell into the drink while we were here, and have them sent to Santa Barbara. The parts are under warranty, so all we have to pay for is shipping. Inflatable Boating Center in Portland is working with us on this since they know exactly what kind of oarlocks we have on our dinghy. The weather is sunny and calm, with only 10-15 mph winds expected in the next few days. So going around Point Concepcion shouldn't be a problem. Winds often can be quite strong from Pt. Concepcion to Santa Barbara between the Channel Islands and the mainland. I suspect we will motor all the way once again, but we'll keep our fingers crossed. We're hoping to do a little SCUBA and snorkling around the Channel Islands in the next few days, then head down to Newport Beach. I picked up a shorty wetsuit here for swimming in cooler water, but I don't think I can use it in the Channel Islands. The water will still be too cold.

The Hearst Castle is something else. Having been to Europe to see all the castles and cathedrals there gave us an appreciation for what we were seeing. Ted and Christine, thanks for telling us a little about this after your visit there. We had no idea such a castle existed in the US. We could have been in Spain or Italy somewhere. The opulence reminded us of Ludwig's Neustchwanstein Castle in Austria, all new, hardly used or restored to its original state (for this castle had been lived in for 30-40 years unlike Ludwig's castle). Wish we could have bought the coffee-table book available in their gift shop. Jim and Mary had it so we had an opportunity to pour over it at their house after our tour.

Channel Islands 9/15/04

Sue and I went on a scuba diving trip with Truth Aquatics out of  Santa Barbara.  We were delighted with sunny weather. 

The trip took a couple hours to get over to the NE side of the island. We anchored bow and stern. No kelp beds. I was diving solo. Only 8 scuba divers on board, and Mom was snorkeling with one other woman who was pregnant. One of the scuba divers was an 11 year old girl who had certified recently in Hawaii at the encouragement of her Dad who was with her diving on this trip.

The two morning dives were great. I took my time going down the stern anchor line to the designated area. I am still taking my time to go down, releasing ear pressure by dealing with my hood and my mask alternating. Once down I was fine, and roamed around looking at all sorts of stuff, and regularly checking my air left and my rented computer.

First dive: saw a lobster staring like a frozen deer looking into car headlights, it was under a couple of rocks that formed a small cave; I moved my light for a bit to see some fish and what not, when I looked back the lobster was moving away, but then I saw an octopus that looked to be about 24" long in the water, so about 18". No ink. It swam into view, then crawled across some of the rocks, and out of sight! Cool. My first octopus. Lots of Garibaldi's and Senoritas.

Second dive: highlight was seeing a California Scorpion fish. It's head looked like a Cabazon's , but its coloring was orange and gray blotches, and big pectoral fins out looking like he had just done his push-ups for the day.  He was 17".

Marina del Rey 9/18/04

We came into Marina del Rey yesterday in 25-35 knot winds and 8-12 foot seas under a double-reefed main, no jib. The winds were directly astern. So the boat was going from 6.5 to 8.0 knots as we were surfing along. The scary part was coming in around the breakwater. Huge surf was breaking on to the breakwater, and I didn't want to be part of it. But it was only 35 feet deep and the waves were building even further. I didn't want to be pushed ashore either. Pretty tense. A large 15' wave started to break, but we scooted by it thanks to God, our Father. Once we got past the breakwater, the waters were calm, the wind was still howling. We saw another 36' sailboat blown over on the jetty getting assistance. So we knew we were still needing to be vigilant. I didn't realize how hyped up we were until 15 minutes later we were still jittery, high-fiving each other after taking down the mainsail, and seeing a crazed look in each other's eye which didn't subside until about 10pm.

So we moored in the California Yacht Club slip given to us, with winds howling through the marina. It was good to be safely moored. It was a pleasant night. I'm afraid our boat is a guppy compared to these 50-70 footers! It looks like a show room floor for mega-yachts.

Having family come visit is always a special memory for us. Our daughter Jenna, son-in-law Steve and granddaughter Elaine came to visit us while we were in Newport Beach. Disneyland drew us ashore, and gave us all an enchanted time as only it can do. Elaine at four years old was ready and willing to take in the experience. Her favorite focus however was gathering autographs from the Disney characters. The princesses were at the top of her ‘must’ list with Princess Ariel (the mermaid) taking top honors. The Winnie the Pooh characters, Jessie from Toy Story II, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofey, Flick (The Ant), and many others autographed her memory book. Rides that interested her were the Tea Cups, The Lady Bugs, It’s a Small Small World, Heimlich the Caterpillar, and others. Jenna and Steve took in adult rides during the evening while we stayed with Elaine. It was great to catch up with each other.

The beach at Newport Beach lured us in, from walking the Balboa Pier, to riding the Carousel and Ferris Wheel at the amusement park, to running into the surf and writing in the sand. Renting bicycles and roaming the boardwalk relaxed us, and gave us an appreciation for the community, attractive but crowded homes, landscaping, and fabulous view.

It’s unusual to be attached to a mooring ball in front of a row of beautiful, but diminutive homes, all worth millions, and all having boats at their own private docks. During our stay, we would leave our boat, dinghy ashore, drive the rental car to Jenna, spend the day with them, then come back to the boat for the night. It was wonderful to have ‘wheels’ to go where we wanted to.

We're anchored at Santa Catalina Island for a few days. I wouldn't say it's "The island of romance" as it goes in the song. At least we haven't been ashore to see what would be so romantic. The island is brown with a little green with some green bushes and low trees. Not the lush green hills we remember from the Northwest. And with light winds from the NW, we rock and roll a little even with a stern anchor set, trying to keep our bow facing the swells. The Buccaneer Days Festival has just ended and so lots of boats are heading home this Sunday afternoon. When I say lots of boats, I mean hundreds of boats. This is the only place to go to anchor away from the city from Malibu to San Diego, and there are literally thousands of boats, motor and sail over 35 feet, capable of ocean sailing in the area.

Yes, we are relaxing now in Two Harbors, but we are still working at how to do that. The best relaxation was: snorkeling in the shallow waters near the shore; hiking up Cass Mountain, the high point in the area for a pretty view; meeting other cruisers going to the Baja Rally; getting whipped at Scrabble by Mom....

At the same time, we are replacing zincs on the shaft and prop, replacing oil in the watermaker pump, varnishing the outside woodwork, and developing a final list of preparations for San Diego's jump to Mexico.

It's interesting how the time usage still focuses on preparation and readiness even while enjoying our current port and its amenities. They say that Cruising is ‘repairing your boat in exotic places’!

Yesterday morning, we awoke to clouds and fog just offshore from a YMCA camp. About 150 junior high aged kids filed down to the docks after breakfast a proceeded to load onto a boat in two waves, half of them wearing wetsuits and bound for a snorkeling adventure just around the corner. The other half piled into sea kayaks, and two-by-two paddled behind the snorkelers to a sandy beach they told us about. They were noisy, having a wonderful time. We wondered how they could be out of school during the week, but here they were. Maybe an outdoor school type adventure.

So, as soon as the kids were all gone, we jumped into our dingy and headed over to the wall where we thought the snorkeling would be great. One of the adults from the camp told us the kelp forest made snorkeling there especially nice. No sooner had we put down our little anchor than a dive boat showed up and anchored nearby, giving us reason to believe this was going to be good fish viewing. And it was. We saw soooo many Garibaldis, the California state fish that is protected, a giant bright orange angelfish. They came out of their little holes and hiding places to see who had come for a visit as we swam on the surface. The visibility was at least 30 feet, so we had no trouble seeing all the way to the bottom. The kelp beds were varied in color and texture. Some looked like beach grass, very thin, long strands of light green. Most of the kelp forest was made up of brown-leaved trees that grow as much as a foot per day when the conditions are right. We were careful not to get tangled up in the tall plants. Next time George will bring a knife just in case. Other fish we saw were the little Senoritas, Opaleyes, Calico Bass, Smelt, Sardines by the hundreds and other tiny fish in large schools. We especially liked seeing a tiny red and blue fish with iridescent colors. Palm kelp, a few sea urchins, red turban limpets and snails rounded out the other types of things we saw.

we gently motored to Avalon and circled a huge cruise ship anchored outside the breakwater. It was a Norwegian ship, "Monarch of the Seas", equipped with a climbing wall on the top deck next to a circular structure with windows, probably a bar or restaurant.

By now the sun was out, and Avalon looked beautiful and green as we entered, passing around about 100 boats to find our assigned mooring ball close to the beach. The casino and a few other buildings are typical Spanish style, reminding us of Del Coronado in San Diego. The hills are lined with homes, and trees (especially palms) have been planted everywhere.

After looking into all the shops and studying the menus of the restaurants for this evening's dinner, we ended up down the shore where all the water tours and bicycle rentals were. Prices looked much more reasonable than in Two Harbors, much to our surprise. We had seen the submarine in the harbor for underwater viewing, and decided to take their last trip of the day. We had done this in Honolulu the last time we visited the Hawaiian Islands. This sub, however, never went under water. But we had such a good time! We motored out of the harbor and around to the east for a short ways where no diving, fishing, or snorkeling are allowed. For a little extra money, you can feed the fish. You push a little button by your seat and food is shot into the water. Well, the fish saw us coming and knew that they were about to be fed, so they came by the hundreds and thousands, crowding around our windows. They were mostly the Opaleyes and some Garibaldis. But Calico Bass and Smelt hung just behind them in large numbers as well. And we have never seen such schools of Smelt and Sardines. At one time, before we began the feeding, we must have seen a million of the small bait fish swimming in schools around the kelp. The Opaleyes were big and fat. They came right up to us, looking into the windows with their blue eyes. They are very cute: grey bodies with little white circles on the tops of their backs. Blue eyes and yellowish tails complete their colorations. But unlike the Cabazons, these aren't ugly fish like so many are, with teeth and spines. We'll look forward to seeing their smaller cousins again as we do more snorkeling. In the pale distance, huge trigger fish waited at the bottom.

We decided to spend another day here in Avalon after a nice dinner ashore at The Blue Parrot Restaurant. I enjoyed a pasta bar. We also found a bakery in our wanderings!

Their botanical garden turned out to be a great place to do some birding. We saw about a dozen Acorn Woodpeckers working over the underbranches of the palm trees, some mockingbirds, and others we couldn't identify. We enjoyed the various kinds of cacti in their display. One tree looked exactly like our Tamarack or Larch of Eastern Oregon. But it was a Cedar! They had some Incense Cedars too. Of course everything was from dry, arid countries like Australia and South Africa or Central America. Conspicuously missing was the Saguero Cactus of Arizona.

Avalon has a jazz festival going on during the week-ends bringing in scores of people from the LA area right. We took a tour and found out it has never been used for gambling! It is a fabulous dance hall that was used in the 30's and 40's for the dance marathons and Radio City Music Hall-type recordings, broadcast live every Friday and Saturday night on radio with the great big bands and voices of the era: Kay Kaiser, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller, etc. It's a very popular place to go for boaters around LA, in fact, the only place to go. The Catalina Conservancy is keeping Avalon as pristine as possible, not allowing sprawling development, except in Avalon. Even there, however, most of the little cottages behind the city look just as they probably did 70 years ago. This is the hope of the Wrigleys (of gum and Cubs fame) who bought the island originally and are still guardians of 99% of the land.

Boats are converging on San Diego that are involved in the Baja Ha-ha Rally. Ahwanee (Tom and Kathy Edwards) are holed up in Monterey with a bunch of other Ha-ha boats, unable to get out of town. The low pressure systems have reached all the way down there. Last night as we came in to the Harbor Patrol on Shelter Island, we met a couple on a catamaran from Whidbey Island, WA. They were tied up next to Transcendence (Jim and Kay) from Portland. We were instructed to tie up at the Customs Dock for the night. At 3:00 a.m. a French boat tied up on the other side of the dock. Well, there went the neighborhood! It was a 63' cutter-rigged sloop, no dodger, 10 winches, navy blue hull, 10' bulb keel, etc. etc. Takes 4 to sail her. I had the opportunity to talk with the owner this morning who told me about being out in 75 knot wind storm between Marseille and Lyon. He had been in the harbor when the winds came up. Rather than riding it out in 5-10 foot seas in the harbor, he took "Boreal" out to sea, jibed as he rounded the jetty, and rode out the storm with triple reefed main and staysail, heading downwind for 200 miles. They came up from Ensenada last night, tacking and making 10 knots in 12 knots of breeze. Thin and tall, she must really move!

The weather is sunny but rather cool for summer down here. Today we're going to a seminar at Downwind Marine where we'll get a lot of our questions answered about Mexico. And it's a potluck, of course. Should be fun.

Today I was trying eight ways from Sunday to dislodge a stainless bolt from the aluminum toe rail and stanchion base. First the hex wrench, then the Aerocoil spray, then after stripping the hex head, the hacksaw cut across the head to use a large screw driver turned with an industrial sized wrench, then heat gun to help break the dissimilar metal bond, then more Aerocoil spray, then using Channellock pliers on the head along with more Aerocoil spray...The Father was testing me on this one, and finally okayed the release of that tenacious bolt into my thankful hands. All of this was for taking the stanchion and brace to the local SS welder to re-weld everything back together. They said it was much easier...for them... to bring the mountain to Allah instead of bringing Allah to the mountain. Ugh!

This afternoon Sue and I played on the San Diego bus system. We walked a country mile to the bus stop. Finally found it, got on the bus, went downtown, and had just enough time to go to a Starbuck's for an afternoon cup of Joe and a chocolate chip cookie.

This weekend we rented a car for errands. Friday we picked up Tourist Visas, Mexican liability insurance, and Mexican fishing licenses. We made runs to Costco and REI. Today we went to Office Depot and Von's (grocery). Tomorrow we will put some final errands out of the way before the car goes back.

Monday we will have a rigger looking at the wires holding up the mast, and take care of any replacements necessary. The remainder of the week I will be upgrading my bilge pump.

We have a number of cancellations to take care of on health, boat, and personal liability insurance policies that won't cover anything as we leave the country. We have put into place a worldwide health insurance policy for catastrophic whatevers. The boat will have liability insurance required by Mexico, but otherwise we will not have boat hull insurance. This is not unusual for a boat our size with only two crew. Since we no longer have a home, the personal liability insurance cannot be written, so it will go away.

The Verizon phone contract will also be cancelled once we leave San Diego. Our contact with you all will be via phone from land when we are in port. And of course e-mail as we go.

I need to update the website again with pictures, etc.

The feeling at the moment is like October 25th is roaring towards us like a freight train. Before we know it, we'll be in Mexico. Whew!