March 12, 2010

After a lazy morning we decided to clean the boat of sea lion hairs, night bird droppings during our crossing, and general grime. We used the new pump that Steve had installed on our saltwater faucet in the galley, attaching to it a water hose with nozzle. It worked great! It was much easier than pulling buckets of water from the side of the boat which is back aching work. With four of us doing the work, it went quickly after which we plunged into the water to cool off. Sea lions are seen swimming by, probably checking out our swim steps. We don't mind the little ones that rest on the steps just so long as they don't come into the cockpit!

In the evening we joined the Leu Cat crew for dinner at Rosita's Restaurant. There are 5 of them: their son and girlfriend who will crew with them to the South Pacific and their daughter. They are leaving tonight to sail to Santa Cruz Island where they have reservations on a cruise ship that will take them to most of the islands. Their daughter is visiting for only a short while and a cruise is a good way to quickly see the other islands.

As we exited the water taxi in the dark onto Dream Caper and Steve stepped over the protective wall, he was greeted by a large barking sea lion who had been disturbed from his cozy bed amongst our cushions in the cockpit. Portia who had just stepped onto the swim steps immediately jumped back onto the water taxi, afraid the sea lion was escaping by coming over the wall and down the swim steps. Instead he chose to waddle to the front of the boat and sat on the trampoline, his weight causing him the trampoline to sag. He contentedly sat there lit by our deck lights until David chased him away by clapping with two large swim fins. He easily waddled forward and fell the 4' to the water. We tried to track from where he had gotten past our walls. We found his short hairs on the back of the dinghy pontoon near the steps. We think he had climbed up onto the dinghy from the swim steps, a span of 3', then under the lifeline wires away from the swim step wall, onto the back walkway and then into the cockpit. Before going to bed, we hung bath towels on the life lines with clothes pins. This effectively continued the wall although it was flimsy, but perhaps this would be enough discouragement. These cute sea lions are becoming less cute every day.