It was delayed for weather and circumstance many times, but on the last day of 2012 we dropped our mooring line and left Port San Luis. As we were departing, talked turned to the last time we motored away from Port San Luis back on Sept 28th, 2008. It took us 4 years to come back but this time should be different...right? At the tip of the Port San Luis breakwater we faced our choice. We could turn South, enter radio and blog posting silence and in 13 days be anchored in the La Paz, Mexico estuary before anyone knew what we were up to, OR we could turn North and have our anchor down in Morro Bay by 3PM. The crew was called, the options weighed and secret ballot vote was called using 4 flash cards. An "X" on the card was a vote for Mexico and an "O" was for Morro Bay. With agreement that Mexico needed to be unanimous, the lots were cast and counted. No hanging chads were found and the final tally was 3 votes for Mexico. No time for "cliff-like" negotiations, so Morro Bay here we come.

The story of the trip was the cold. The kids hearing the engine starting reflexively hid below and turned on a DVD for the trip, while Lori and I stayed out in the cockpit enjoying the green mount views and trying to keep warm. The "Princess" as I'm known is now back in an estuary anchorage and folks can remember just how hard it is to pry me out or a calm estuary once I've dug in like a tick. We haven't even been here 24hrs yet and I'm already calling Morro Bay home.

At slack tide today in about 30 minutes, we will pull our anchor and with Jason playing emergency tug boat with the dinghy, we will pull into our slip on the commercial fishing boat dock. Along with the dock lines and fenders, the shore power cord stands ready to light up our AC power panel to give our trusty Honda 2000 generator a rest. 2013 will start off well: continuous hot water for showers and dishes, AC space heaters, and happy batteries in float mode. I've already told Lori that this will be the life of Luxury I promised. Strange, that she doesn't seem as excited as I am, but then again the smell of fish and chip fry grease from the tourist strip 50ft away is more of an aphrodisiac to me than her.

Be determined to make 2013 the year you start what you have always said you would, but never made the time for. Happy New Year.