Thursday the sun came out for the first time in several days and we set out across the San Pedro Channel 23 miles to Cherry Cove on Santa Catalina Island. The day had nice sun and really nice wind, which was, unfortunately, coming from the direction of our destination. So, we had to decide to motor the first leg of our trip and arrive with a bit of light left, or sail, tacking the entire way and get there long after dark. So, motor we did. It felt like a waste of a good breeze, but practicality outweighed the desire to always use cloth rather than diesel when possible.

When we arrived, we took the dinghy over to Two Harbors only to find everything was shut down for the staff holiday party, which we could see and hear going on up the hill at Banning House. These are hearty people here in this little village as attested to by the fact that everyone who was supposed to be up at sunrise manning the cantina and general store, were up and happy.

Dinner was a nice pasta, sausage, artichokes and olives in a white wine sauce with some slightly burnt garlic bread (Oops!). Pretty darn nice galley grub!

We've put in some work this morning with a cup of good coffee, and are about to pull up the anchor and head around the west end, out into real, open Pacific Ocean. Pretty exciting!

T & M