So we leave San Diego tonight for Ensenada. John Tebbetts arrived from La Paz where it had been nearly 80 degrees. When I picked him up at the north end of the footbridge from the Tijuana Airport, the rain was coming down hard and had been for about 24 hours. Hours before he had been sipping a drink on the malecón in the sun. John has complained since he got here about the cold rainy weather.

While California needs the rain, it has been too much of a good thing, washing away houses and people near Santa Barbara where the fall fires had decimated the foliage that held the topsoil in place. It is very unfortunate that these extreme weather events are becoming so much more frequent.

We spent the day shopping for things we needed. John has some strong feelings about having adequate anchoring gear. I share some of those opinions. I purchased a much larger spare anchor in a used marine store here (a 45 pound CQR for my sailing friends). We went to West Marine and purchased about 50’ of chain compatible with my windlass. He wanted me to buy 100’ (did I mention that John has strong feelings about anchor gear?). We bought a number of other small but necessary items, shackles and line and tools and so on.

We came back and emptied the lazarette locker and found that I owned some anchors that I did not know I had. They were small but useful. As well, there was a lot of very serviceable anchor line that can be used with my used spare, about 250’ of Dacron double braid and about 300’ of three strand nylon. I also have a Danforth style anchor (good on muddy bottoms) and a small Delta (would be good for a stern anchor). I also found a small 25 pound CQR that I plan to take to the used marine store tomorrow and see if I can sell it.

We did find time to have a fine lunch at Point Loma Seafoods yesterday. We also went to Costco and found an Asian market for that all important curry paste.

Today is the rest of the food shopping, topping off the propane tank, filling the water tanks, getting a few copies made at the business center, getting a shot at Kaiser Permanente, another trip to West Marine and returning the rental car. Oh and the diver returns at 11 am to scrub the bottom of the boat and replace the zinc on the Maxprop. Then we wait for Andrew Rife to arrive and we will be off to sail for Ensenada. It might be a while until the next post. Getting these out depends upon finding good WiFi.