Wow! Time sure flies when you are having fun. We are now in our marina slip in San Diego. Since our last report, we have been in Santa Barbara, the Channel Islands and Catalina Island. We sat on the hook at Coho Anchorage for an extra two days before sailing down to Santa Barbara. Coho is indeed a wonderful anchorage as a first stop after Point Conception. The wind dies down every night at about 18:00 with hardly a breeze overnight. Overnight is quite comfortable considering you can see Japan on a clear day. The mornings are wonderful. Almost calm seas, no wind, and the rhythmic sound of the surf as the waves gently reach the shore. The action picks up about 10:00 when the gentle waves caressing the shore start to turn into surf-able waves. The wind and waves begin to pick up again and before you know it, several surfers have shown up to challenge the waves. Apparently the point at Coho Anchorage is well known for its surfing waves. There is no road access to this beach so the surfers turn up in all sorts of vessels. Zodiacs, car toppers, small power boats and even jet skis with surf boards attached! Each day we were treated to surfing displays all afternoon.

We stayed for a couple of days before an easy sail to Santa Barbara where we spent a couple of days in the marina and exploring the town. Good restaurants. Good shopping (as per Rebecca). Nice weather. We stayed at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club dock and took advantage of their bar television to watch the finals of the FedEx Golf Challenge. Golf just isn't the same without Tigers last day charges. Oh well. I convinced Rebecca to have breakfast at Sambo's restaurant. Yes, that sounds like a controversial name, but its actually made up from the first names of the original two owners. Sam and Bo, who's grandchildren still run the restaurant. I know it sounds corny, but breakfast at Sambos is my most lasting memory of Santa Barbara. Second was the Irish, peanut shell covered floor bar, we stopped in to watch the end of Saturdays golf (after a stressful days shopping). Two draft Guinness equals one afternoon shopping. That works for me.

After Santa Barbara we had a gat sail over to Santa Cruz island where we spent a few days at various remote anchorages. The large swells and lack of actual bays made our nights in the Santa Cruz area quite uncomfortable but not so much so that we didn't sleep. You tend to brace yourself and get used to it. Kind of like being in a cradle but rocked by someone in a bad mood. The water visibility was incredible. We could see the anchor set in 35 feet of water with fish swimming by. Lots of kelp, lots of dolphins, lots of seals and sea lions. All in all, a tremendous variety and quantity of sea life. Once again, well done State of California.

From Santa Cruz we motor sailed the sixty miles to Two Harbors on Catalina Island. Catalina Island is about twenty five miles off of Los Angeles so we were expecting the worst. In order to accommodate the thousands of boats from the Los Angeles area, there are hardly any bays without mooring buoys. Although you are able to anchor in these bays, you must keep three hundred feet from the nearest mooring buoy which often leaves you in over one hundred feet of water and quite exposed to the swells. The mooring buoys are VERY close together. They can get about three hundred boats into an area not much bigger than Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. They are able to accomplish this by having you tie up fore AND aft. It works great leaving you about twenty feet from your next door neighbor, and about forty feet from the fellows ahead and behind you. Sounds terrible doesn't it? No privacy right. Who wants to go there? Well several thousand Los Angeles boaters LOVE it there, and surprise, so did we. We arrived at last light on a not so busy Thursday. The harbor patrol came out to escort us to a mooring that Rebecca managed to get us to (I was on the bow ready to do the fore and aft mooring thing). Our buoy was about thirty feet from a cliff in about fifteen feet of water. Picking up the bow mooring was no problem although we DID have a bit of difficulty picking up the aft mooring. Rebecca was in desperate need of a glass of wine as soon as we were secure. Seems that "maneuvering the boat" is harder than it looks. :-)

The next morning was the first day I really felt like we were getting there. Sunny. Warm. Crystal clear water. Palm trees on the beach. Cacti trying to make their way in the cliff face. Tropical fish all around us. It felt as though we were anchored in a aquarium. We rested in Two Harbors for a couple of days. Restaurants. Hiking with the buffalo. SNORKELING in a bathing suit! Paradise, and you quickly forgot that you had so many neighbors. Everyone wants their peace and quiet, and they have very strict after hours noise regulations. The Harbor Patrol made sure no one sped through the bay and no gensets or engines running after dark. What an incredible place to come to, especially to escape from the crowds of Los Angeles ... and then we went to Avalon. Oh well. Avalon is the largest harbor on Catalina Island and by far the busiest. There are several Fast Ferries serving the mainland to Avalon route. Tourist city. WAY more mooring buoys and WAY more cheesy tourist shops. At least one good restaurant although the others looked pretty sketchy. I'm glad we saw Avalon, but I'm really glad we went to Two Harbors first. No comparison. If Avalon were my only cruising choice from Los Angeles, I think I would sell my boat.

Two nights in Avalon was one too many and we were glad to leave. We left our mooring buoy in the early morning darkness for the crossing to San Diego. About an hour out, we picked up a large radar target that turned out to be a Carnival cruise ship heading for Avalon. Now THAT was good timing! I can't imagine Avalon with the addition of a full load of Carnival cruise ship guests walking the streets. Yuk!

We had a quiet motor trip to San Diego which worked out well. We had done some damage to our mainsail in the winds of Santa Cruz, and my white duct tape repairs packed it in on the way to Two Harbors. Along the way we were entertained by the radio chatter of War Ships warning off pleasure craft from their practice areas just outside of San Diego. San Diego is the home of Americas largest naval fleet on the west coast. About fifteen miles out of San Diego we played a game of chicken with War Ship 54. Since we had been on our course for over fifty miles and they had just started theirs, I was adamant not to be intimidated. They were still five miles away, but apparently on a collision course. Rebecca felt maybe we should give way even though we were in the right. Something about common sense versus valor. Anyway, it turned out they knew not to mess with us Canadians as they altered course with a mile to spare. It's amazing how much navy traffic we hear on the VHF radio. Practice makes perfect. They sound so young, yet very courteous and professional although sometimes exasperated by the lack of same from some of the pleasure craft in their practice areas.

San Diego. Just before dark. Tied up and secure in the Kona Kai marina. Champagne. We made it! It wasn't as hard as we thought although for sure we were challenged. Time to relax. Time to make some repairs. Time to varnish the floor! Our marina already has some Ha Ha boats. Apparently there will be about thirty of us here before the end of the month. Sunny. Warm. Paradise.

Talk to you soon.