October 3, 2011
We left Seattle at 12:40 p.m. headed back to San Francisco. We took a hotel shuttle back to the marina. It was good to be back and see that the boat was safe.

October 4, 2011 – Oct 21, 2011
Went for walks almost every day…trying to get back into shape and relieve stress. Borrowed Michael’ car and went to Costco, Trader Joes, JoAnn’s Fabric to get yard for Levi’s blanket. Also took a trip into San Francisco. Went to a well know health food store called the Rainbow Coop. Bought lots of vitamins.

During one of the days, we worked on a problem that may have caused damage to the inverter. Michael came over and took a look. Decided we should seen it back for repair, which will keep us in SF a little bit longer.

We went on a goofy sailing trip on October 8th to see the Blue Angles. We took off around 10:30 with 6 other people on a boat (Wharram design). It is a cat, wooden decks and fiberglass cabin covers. There were two cabins, one with a bed and porta potty, the other had a galley. We had just reached the Bay Bridge when the outboard quite and wouldn’t restart. The current was strong enough to turn us around backwards, so we went backwards under the bridge. We drifted until we ran into wind and then it was blowing around 20-25 knots. We sailed down to behind Angel island passing by buildings that had been used to process immigrants in from Europe. It is call the Ellis Island of the west coast. We sailed back to the marina and got towed in by Matt and the little blue boat. We did see the air show though. As usual I didn’t take enough warm clothes with me. Having an enclosed cockpit causes me to forget how cold it can be out on the water.

October 22, 2011
We left our slip in Brisbane, CA for San Diego. We had a wonderful time in Brisbane. We met some really nice people and we cannot thank them enough for making our stay so nice. We miss Michael, Ed and Susie…..good people. We left around 10:00 and went under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was sunny this time around.

Our next harbor was Half Moon bay which is on the pacific side. Wind was calm until we came into the harbor. Tied up at the end of F dock, filled the diesel and water. Went to sleep early as we had a long day facing us tomorrow.

October 23, 2011
We left early in the morning for Santa Cruz. This was a long day for us…traveled 52 miles. We motored sailed most of the way…seas were sloppy. We made it into the fuel dock at 4 but it took another hour to cross the channel and get into our slip. It seemed that every boat in the harbor had gone out for a day sail and they picked 4:00 to come in…so we sat and watched a boat parade. I went to bed at 7:30. I was one whipped puppy

October 24, 2011 – October 25, 2011
Left early on the 24th and went over to Monterey Bay. We encountered patchy morning fog and clouds with wind from the south. This was a short day, only 23 miles. We met other boats going south. Found out we aren’t the only ones making a late crossing. We decided to stay an extra day in Monterey to re-provision. We went on a 3 hour walk into town to Trader Joes and then on to West Marine.

October 26, 2011 – October 28, 2011
Left Monterey on the 26th, which is Sydney’s 10th birthday. We had mixed seas with big swells, sun is shining. This was our first overnight passage on our own. We stopped in San Luis Obisbo Bay for a nap as we had been traveling all night. We rested and then headed out for Pt Conception. We hoped to go around it at 2:00 but actually passed by the point at midnight. It was smooth and easy and we pulled into Santa Barbara at 10:30 in the morning on the 28th. We had been traveling for 23 hours.

October 28, 2011 – October 31, 2011
We stayed in Santa Barbara for 3 days to rest up. Washed clothes in my little washing machine and walked around the marina. It was a beautiful weekend. One of the last nice patches of weather we have seen.

October 31, 2011 – November 3, 2011
We left for Channel Island Harbor (Oxnard) and stayed there for 3 days waiting on our next weather window. We found a Big Lots and went grocery shopping. We need to go grocery shopping more often as we have switched to a mostly vegetable diet. My refrigerator doesn’t hold a lot of vegetables so we need to stock up often.

November 3, 2011
The weather cleared so we left for Marina Del Rey. It is 42 miles so should take us all day. As has been our pattern, we motored all the way, again, winds were light but storm is coming so we will stay in Marina Del Rey for a bit….waiting for our next weather window. Stayed at Chace Park and walked to Venice Beach. That was a fun experience….long walk.

November 6, 2011 – November 8, 2011
Got tired of Marina Del Rey so decided to leave on a day that had a small craft advisory….won’t do that again. The weather was raining and windy with mixed seas. This was our worst sea day since the Oregon coast. We arrived in Newport at 5:00. The wind was blowing so hard we had to have the harbor patrol help us tie to the buoys. The next day was beautiful bay. This was my favorite place. We stayed 2 nights at $15 a night.

November 8, 2011
On our way to San Diego with one night in Oceanside. Tied up to a very short slip…had a hard time getting in because the wind was blowing us off the dock…finally got in and settled.


November 9, 2011
We left early in the morning and made it into San Diego Bay around 1:00. We were safely tied to a very expensive dock by 2:30. We had no wind until it was time to dock. This time we did a flawless job. The winds were calm all day with little wind. We are now sitting inside the boat, listening to hard rain coming down. We went for a walk and it started raining while we were out so we got soaked. It’s like being in Seattle but not so cold. We will stay here until Tues or Wed of next week. We ordered 4 new solar panels so we are waiting for them to arrive. We are meeting other cruising couples. We had dinner with Conner and Lenea last night. They are from the SF area, going to Mexico on an Islander 36. They have it all fixed up. It’s a beautiful boat. We also ran into Peter and Hanna today. We met them in Oxnard…they are Canadians on their way to Nova Scotia…they have two young adult daughters traveling with them. This is their second time cruising….did it the first time with the girls were little. We hope to meet up with them again before we all leave for Mexico.

November 16, 2011 - November 21, 2012

We have been in Ensenda, MX for a year...we leave tomorrow and head for Turtle Bay.