Epic Catalina!!
All fueled up and leaving the lagoon, we headed West, to Catalina. The air was warm and thick. Hardly a whisper of wind, so Mike cranked the engine and we were on our way. Miss Q headed immediately down to her little safety bed. She heads straight there as soon as she hears the engine. She knows the difference between the engine and the generator too! She hardly blinks at the generator, yet crank the engine up and she is off like a shot in the dark to her little safety bed. I usually check on her at least a couple of times an hour to make sure she stays hydrated and isn't getting sick all over herself. Sometimes she just doesn't do too well. I went below to check on her and she had left her safety bed and was laying in her potty box, looking pretty green. The seas had picked up, the wind started to pick up and we were doing some pounding now, on our way across. The further off land, the bigger the swell. I decided to bring her up top with us and fix her a secure bed in the cockpit. It was cooler up top and she needed some fresh air. Poor baby, she was really sick on this crossing. Thank goodness it wasn't going to be much longer! This trip over was quiet of marine life and somewhat disheartening. There were no Dolphins, Whales or Sea Lion's, not even a Bird?! A little unusual. The good news was, there was no stray pollution of plastic bags or Mylar balloons to pluck out of the Ocean either?! It was eerily absent of any activity?! Usually we have music playing, for what ever reason, we didn't have that on either. The quiet crossing was okay though. I think just listening to our boat talk to Mother Nature was just fine. She was in tune, plugging along with some water over the bow. Stroking Miss Q every once in awhile to reassure her that the world was not spinning off its axis.
Ahhhh, the Harbor was in sight! Good news for Q!
The Harbor Patrol met us at the Harbor entrance, assigned us our favorite spot and we pulled right in. Q had not moved a muscle. Usually if a stranger shows up, she runs below. She could barely open her little eyes, I was feeling so bad for her. As soon as Mike cut the engine, she decided to try and make her way down below to her food station (I call it Kitty Cafe). She was pretty wobbly and I didn't want her to hurt herself going down the stairs of the companion way, so I gave her a lift down below. We got some water in her and a couple of bites of food, then off to her bed. She snored SO loud the rest of the night, but she slept good and hard. Mike and I settled in and watched the stars. It was a beautiful night, with the gentle rocking of the boat in the warm breeze. It was so great to be back here in Catalina!
The next day, Q was her old self. Everything was fine. She decided she liked the Harbor Patrol, because when he came over the next morning to drop the dye pellets in our head, she actually came up to sniff him. She did a couple of tight figure eights around his pant legs and there was even some purring going on there! Go figure?!
Mike got the dinghy put in the water and I did the morning chores in the cabin. We had made plans to go for a good hike up the hills on the North end. Mike jumped in the shower, but not before he fired up the generator and it started purring along! I was finishing up some last minute cleaning, when I heard one of the Harbor Patrol boats pull up. Thinking that maybe there was confusion, if we had had our head taken care of with the dye pellets? Thinking, no, we already got a dye pellet tossed in the loo.

Of course the generator had to let us know it was back there and still dominating our attention! We were just about to shut everything down, the water maker was doing nicely, my Electrolux was charging (desperately need my Electrolux! With my OCD self...) Life was good! Then a knock on the hull, "Hello Freebird!!" So I do my best impression of "prairie-dog'en" out of the companion way, "oh hey!" It was the Harbor Patrol; "looks like your Gennie is running a little hot!", as he pointed to the stern of the boat with a big frowny-face. I came up to look over the side, to where he was pointing. Yep, a bit smokey, she was!
Oh Mikey!!! You're up dude! Thank goodness it was minor. The sea water strainer was all mucked up and gross. So pulling up part of the floor to get to the problem, cleaning the strainer, back together again and now it was two hours later. We had to wait until the generator had cooled down first, before we did the check run on it. Okay, not so bad. Once it was cooled down, Mike started it back up again...Yay!!! We were on our way into town.

Last night could quite possibly be a whole story in itself, at least a Katy Perry song from the "Teenage Dream" album?! It started off innocently enough...
A hike up the hill on the North end, maybe see a Buffalo or something cool. The Santa Ana winds were here. It was hot and dry. A thin layer of fine desert like dust seemed to creep into our eyes, nose, ears, even the cracks between our teeth were gritty! We got up to the top of a hill and were denied access. It was some private road, whatever! We had worked up a burn'en thirst! We had the Military march going on, to the nearest watering hole! Amazingly enough we found one. Just a little patio bar on the end of town, live music and some fun peeps! Dennis, the musician, is a new friend!
* wedding at theater in period theme! back door wedding, paparazzi, lame!
Well, one song turned into three sets, one drink turned into....hmmmm, I forget?
Time to leave. My good intentions were to go back to the boat and make some good food. Well, good intentions, is what we left with? The "all of the sudden amazingly long walk back to the dinghy dock" was too much to bare and the aroma coming from the Chinese restaurant was a sudden detour! Oh yeah!! It was a great experience. The service was amazing, food was excellent and we had now taken a deep breath of that "Second Wind"!!

Off to the Marlin Club! This place is geared to the liver impervious-non-destructo, local-indigenous party animal! Drop your kidney's in the recycle bin, on your way out the door club! Somehow, I remember almost everything, I think? I remember making new friends with an ex-Nun named Mary Frances and her now, husband Tom. (Why does that old joke with, Tom, Dick & Harry come to mind?) I remember these two locals playing pool with these two Preppie Chaps from Gawd knows where and it taking for freaking ever, for them to finish the game. I remember Preppie boys date, not being able to keep her strapless dress top in check! I remember having a great time and then the infamous game of "roll the ball" game came out...
There was a chant that started at the head of the bar, slow and a little muffled at first, "roll the ball, roll the ball, roll the ball". It steadily got louder and louder. Before I knew it, the Que-ball was placed in my hands and I was ordered to, "roll the ball"! There is a trough that goes down the bar, takes a sharp turn, then hooks it to roll almost up, the other side of the bar. I have rolled the ball one time before this night and knew, this was critical in its execution! It is an art in itself, or just pure dumb luck. Crap, the pressure was on! I took a deep breath and gave it a roll that only us women will know of finesse ;) At first I wasn't sure that the ball was going anywhere, then it took off, then I thought it was going to fly off the end, then it almost stalled out, then it did an almost death shake, then it slowly straightened out to turn the corner in an excruciatingly painful execution of success!! Whoop whoop!! Shots came over and then..."I'm sorry your Honor, I do not recall?!" It must have been good though, I woke up safe and sound, (Mike is an Angel) and I had prizes of Beer Cozies, someone had wagered some serious coin on the roll that went to an animal rescue cause, and there were two comped guest tickets to go Zip Linning the following week, plus.... The next day, Ex-Nun Mary Frances calls us and wants to know if we will join them for dinner!
Oh Man! We felt a new life friend approaching!