Sherry
07/09/2012, Marina del Rey

July 6 - 9, 2012: Thanks to the generosity of Larry & Sue of M/V Beverly S we have been guests at the California Yacht Club. It's a lovely yacht club with all the amenities you ever need or want. Our 46 mile transit from Newport Beach across the busy harbor of Long Beach was uneventful and void of much boat traffic; but the radio chatter was something else.

Ever since getting back to states and especially around the San Diego area, channel 16 on the VHF is alive with vessel hailing, radio checks, Coast Guard and Navy radio traffic. Never fails that some poor schmuck is getting chewed out by the Coast Guard for asking for a radio check. Seems to me calling for a radio check is like hailing someone ... besides you need to know if your radio transmits on channel 16. It was amusing one time listening to one Navy warship call for a radio check ... and got his reply from another naval vessel all the while the Coast Guard remained silent. Apparently now you can call on channels 26 & 27 for an automated response on your radio check.

The group of us bashing up the Baja were hailing on channel 22 (the Mexican hailing channel for cruisers) while in Magdalena Bay and getting scolded by the Coast Guard for chatting on their frequency even though we were hundreds of mile south of them. Go figure!

When first cruising around Mexico we asked the question ... "why?" a lot since we couldn't figure out the logic behind how the culture/government/society worked compared to the USA. Well now that I am back home, I have to question the over abundance of rules and regulations here. I guess it's the price we pay for technology and safety.

We can't seem to pass by Marina del Rey without having to buy a Westerbeke engine part. Sure enough after Bob changed the oil he discovered an oil leak which required a new part. The problem is now solved but it's amazing how fortuitous we have been discovering these issues before they created a monster of a problem. Hopefully we can pass thru Santa Barbara without Bob landing in the hospital like two years ago.

Tomorrow we continue our trek north. It is so alluring to settle into a southern California port on a permanent basis with easy living and great weather. Oh my!

Comments [3]

Sherry
07/07/2012, Mission Bay, Oceanside, Newport Beach

July 5, 2012: It's onto Newport Beach Harbor, another new place for us to see. We were a little concerned about the public anchorage area being shallow and full so we opted for a mooring buoy. What a mistake that turned out to be. First of all, we had to tie up at the Harbor Police dock to check in, pay and get our assigned buoy. That wouldn't be so bad except the length of the dock was so short we barely managed to fit. And compound the problem with lack of cleats to tie to.

We got directed to mooring field A, mooring ball 52; it wasn't too hard to find once we could identify the number thru the marine growth and it wasn't hard to snag the mooring line. From there it went to hell. It was not a well maintained buoy and the line was full of marine growth, mud and little critters. Bob worked his way down the line to the loop that ties off to the bow. Now we had to attach the stern. It was not a pleasant task sliding your hands down the line from the bow to the stern to find the aft loop. First time didn't work since the line was getting hung up on the rudder. Okay, now to Plan B. We shifted our focus to running the line to the port side of the boat. I managed to reach the whip that was attached to the line via a long boat hook and we found the loop for the stern tie. Success, we are now properly tied bow to stern and spaced correctly between the other boats.

After much cursing, we assessed the mess these lines made on our boat. Mud is everywhere and little sea creatures are running around on the bow while the "whip" is beating up against the boat. I have fiberglass splinters in the palm of my hand from grabbing onto the whip that now hurt like hell. Besides all this we were hungry ... never a good idea. Once I made lunch and Bob got the mud cleaned off it was nap time for me. How can something so simple like tying to a mooring buoy cause so much stress? I like the PNW buoys where you just tie off your bow and swing with the wind. We paid $25 for this fun.

Newport Beach Mooring 33°36.033N 117°53.292W

July 3-4, 2012: Luck was on our side for a change and we were able to tie up to guest moorage at the Oceanside Yacht Club for the 3rd & 4th. Sometimes life does work out very nicely as we got to enjoy front row seats to the 4th of July decorated dinghy parade with cruiser friends Mike and Julie from SV Slacker. Later that night we watched the Camp Pendelton fireworks that delighted us and well as the surrounding crowd. The show was on par to the well known 3rd of July fireworks in Poulsbo, WA.

Oceanside Yacht Club 33°12.589N 117°23.764W

July 2, 2012: With sadness we untied the lines and departed San Diego for Mission Bay. We really enjoyed SD each time we have visited mostly due to its great climate, the ease of getting around and our ability to see family. But times are a changing and we must move on to achieve our goal of getting back to the Pacific Northwest.

Mission Bay is a new stop for us. There is only one spot for us to anchor and that's in Mariner's Basin. It sure was filled with numerous "private mooring buoys" that left very little room for transient boats. We were too lazy to lift the dinghy and motor off the mother ship for a dinghy cruise so we decided one night was enough since the weather and seas were calm to keep moving. At least the fireworks at Sea World were fun to watch.

Mission Bay 32°45.903N 117°14.864W

Comments [0]

Sherry
07/01/2012, San Diego

June 18 - July 1, 2012: These two weeks have gone by so quickly. It seems like a lifetime ago we were bashing up the coast of Baja let alone cruising around Mexico. The check-in to U.S. for us was quite painless probably because it was Sunday and Father's day. No exit paperwork is required from Mexico for US citizens to check back into the states and no one came below to check out our food supply. The two agents just asked about alcohol, tobacco, firearms and fresh fruit.

The municipal police dock is now as pricey as other marinas. It was $1/ft vs. the $10/night rate just a couple of years ago; so much for hanging out here for 10 days or so. I called around and got moorage for 2 weeks at Harbor Island West Marina. It is easier to walk to the airport, jump on a rental car bus and get to a car agency from this location.

Once we moved the boat, the next order of business was getting "connected" to the world with U.S. phone and internet service. Thankfully we kept Bob's phone and our USB stick for internet access and with one phone call we were back on-line, of course, with a modest reconnect charge. Once on-line I could arrange a plane ticket for Dick, check emails, order Bob's meds and catch up on other business.

We hooked up with a few boats that bashed up the Baja together for dinner one night. Crew from Journey (Jeff & Dori), Wendaway (Mark & Wendy), Beverly S (Larry & Sue), Dick, Bob & I enjoyed drooling over the American menu but choked on the American prices. Man ... welcome home to high prices! This part of being home is discouraging.

We bid Dick farewell; what a great help he was especially with the night watches. I would highly recommend having a 3rd person on board. Having the extra amount of sleep made such a difference especially in the rougher parts of the passage. We worked on desalting the boat and doing the basic chores you always encounter after long trip. The laundry facilities are very nice here so I was able to not only clean our clothes but also tackle the bedding, blankets and rugs.

We took a break one day and toured the Midway aircraft carrier that is now a maritime museum moored on the San Diego waterfront. Goodness, we paid for 4 hours of parking and still didn't see the entire ship. It was very interesting along with all the airplanes that were on display on the flight and hanger decks. We toured the bridge, Admiral's & Captain's quarters, ready rooms, forecastle, mess, enlisted men's quarters, galley, engineering and many other areas too numerous to name. I wished I was 40 years younger, trim, fit and in good shape with good knees. Oh well, nothing like some Advil and lots of wine couldn't cure.

It was exciting being back in U.S. grocery stores. Who would ever guess grocery shopping could be so much fun? First thing we bought was fresh fruit, vegies and Triscuit crackers (I love these). A Costco run was also in order and we stocked up good candy (which means chocolate) of all things. I don't have that anxiety feeling anymore worrying about stocking up and having as much as possible on the boat to survive. That part is nice about being home although we were far from starving in Mexico; everything you need is available just not everything you want. However, drooling over the nice cuts of meats was very thrilling and we indulged ourselves with pork and beef tenderloins. And ohhh yeah, the wine selection is great.

The biggest reason for our long stay in San Diego really centers on our niece Rachael and her family. Her husband Adam has been transferred to Okinawa for a 3 year stay. So they are packing up the kids, renting the house, mucking out the household goods and farming out the cat and dog to other family members so they can meet their 2000 lb weight limit. This is no small task and takes many months. It's like moving from a 2500 sq foot house to a 47 ft sailboat, bah humbug!

We pitched in and helped where and when we could. Most likely our biggest job was keeping the 3 kids entertained and occupied. Disney flicks sure come in handy and have been a good babysitter for the 3 & 5 year old. The 12 year old is at the awkward age of too old for a little kid but too young to hang out with adults. The most fun we had was hauling the kids and Aztez, the golden retriever, to the local park to burn off energy and play. Even Aztez was happy to jump about and run free for a couple of hours. He chased the kids around the jungle gym, followed the kids up to the slides but chickened out coming down.

Wasn't long before they were bored and hot so we shuffled them off to the picnic table and shade, fueled them back up with juice and water. The beautiful butterflies caught their attention and shortly they were running themselves ragged chasing them around the park. I felt a good old fashioned water fight was in order to cool these little critters down so I instigated water wars. I refilled the water bottles and soaked them good ... yeah, they really suffered as they were yelling ..."get me auntie, get me". Turnabout was fair play, I got a good dousing myself thanks to Allie, the 12 year old. Bella & Tristan were more interested in soaking poor Aztez. Aztez was just too tired himself to avoid the little ones so he just laid there taking it all in. Tristan, Bella & Aztez took a 2 hour nap once we got home after our ice cream treat. It was a good day in the neighborhood.

Saying goodbye wasn't so much fun, too many tears. Three years isn't that long but long enough for little critters to grow up far too fast. We watch all the kids in our families struggle to mature and have the benefits of an adult. Little do they know life does not get easier as an adult just more complicated.

It is time to move north as we adults struggle thru our next challenge - getting the boat and ourselves back to the Pacific Northwest. Oh to be 3 years old again!

Comments [2]

Sherry/Lovely cool weather w/sun!
06/18/2012, San Diego

We are safely in San Diego as of June 17th around mid-day; tired but happy to be in the good ole USA.

More later ....

It's now later and here are a few stats for all of you to ponder. Our trip from La Paz to San Diego was 949 nautical miles (or 1091 statute miles) in length. It took us 19 days of which 3 days were waiting out weather. We had 4 overnight passages.

In total, we traveled 6,152 nautical miles while in Mexico during the past 19 months. It's has been an adventure!

We will rest for a couple of weeks and then start our trek north.

Comments [7]

Sherry
06/16/2012, Turtle Bay to San Diego

June 15 -16, 2012: An early morning departure was in order again Â... yuck! But at least Dick & Bob let me go back to bed after we got safely underway. Once I can get over my early morning stomach woes, I usually can do reasonably well at sea. This passage was 169 nautical miles and we did it in 28 hours averaging 6 knots. What a nice change from our bashing earlier on this trip. By going to San Benitos we had a nice angle to cut across the large span of water as we worked our way to Ensenada.

Our watches have been 3 hours on and 6 hours off which allowed for good sleep time. Dick has been a great help to have along. It makes a big difference on the fatigue factor. We have several days of good weather so we want make tracks.

We stopped at Bahia Colnett for about six hours to shower, eat and rest for awhile. We decided to bypass Ensenada and continue on to San Diego, about 120 miles from Colnett. We can get there in 20 hours and arrive mid-day on Sunday. That gets us ahead of the anticipated weather change.

Bahia Colnett 30° 57.814N 116° 16.813W

June 14, 2012: The Baja Bash fleet was leaving at first light this morning to move north. Three boats decided to pass Cedros Island on the east side and anchor to position themselves for the next jump across a large bight of water. We took west side of Cedros and worked our way up to San Benito's Island 56 miles to the north for our jump off point.

It was another long day pushing against large swells, wind waves and wind on our nose. Once we arrived I was not pleased with the looks of the anchorage. Large kelps beds lay across the entire area and you could see the swells rolling in. We did have a whale greet us, along with a large colony of sea lions barking away to their heart's content.

I couldn't believe there was an actual fishing community located on this desolate island out in the middle of nowhere. The citizens of Mexico have a very hard life Â... and the fishermen are amazing.

San Benitos Island 28° 17.909N 115° 34.592W

June 12 - 13, 2012: The weather wasn't looking so hot and neither were the seas so we decided to hang out a couple more days here in Turtle Bay. We were invited along with the rest of the cruisers in the anchorage for a yellow fin dinner prepared by Ruben & his wife Anabelle, one of the local fuel providers. He really enjoys the cruisers and has built a nice restaurant overlooking the bay. Couldn't ask for a better deal, he provided transportation to and from his place, gave us a bottle of wine to take home and the meal was only $150 pesos including food & liquor. We enjoyed the company of 12 other cruisers while dining family style; it was a fantastic evening showing Dick some Mexican hospitality.

Wednesday I booted the boys off the boat to make a garbage run and stretch their legs. Beside I wanted them out of my hair while I prepared a couple more dinners and breakfasts. I got no argument out of either one since they knew it was a way to keep their bellies happy while underway.

We have been watching the Horatio Hornblower British Naval series which has added some entertainment to our evening hours. One night we had the benefit of our boat rocking in the waves and the wind howling outside just at the same time the sailboat in the movie was experiencing the same conditions. It quite eerie!

Comments [1]

Sherry
06/12/2012, Turtle Bay

June 11, 2012: Today was another 54 mile day, the last leg to Turtle Bay where we could refuel the boal and rejuvenate our bodies. This was a real pleasant day with reasonable seas, sunshine and good speed. Today we averaged 5.8 knots and made the passage in 9 hours.

We were greeted by the fuel panga drivers eager to sell us fuel. In December 2010, when we first arrived here, we were very wary of these guys and didn't know what to expect. Now, we feel like veterans and welcomed their offer. Fuel is brought by a panga and they use a portable generator to activate the pump. Interesting operation Mexican style but very effective.

Time to kick back for a day or so, watch the weather and catch up on a couple of chores. Bob is changing the engine oil, Dick is hand washing laundry and I am preparing meals for our next stint of passages.

Turtle Bay 27 41.016N 114 53.354W

Comments [1]