Newport Beach to San Diego
21 October 2007
We departed Newport Beach under our typical windless conditions and decided to stay the night in Oceanside, which is halfway between Newport and San Diego. Upon arriving in Oceanside we squeezed our 47' boat into a 34' slip at the marina and spent the evening watching Monday night football with a few other Ha Ha boats we have met at various other stops along the way. We have been unbelievably impressed with the friendliness of the cruisers we have met thus far. We had heard it time and time again before we left that the cruising community is exceptional but we have been blown away with the friendliness of those we have met thus far. A bit hard to describe but we feel as if we have friendships instantly form as soon as we pull into a dock spot or anchorage as inevitably 2 or so people come over to introduce themselves and find out where you are heading and where you are from.
Now, Kent is the one who should really be making this entry as San Diego is his old stomping grounds but I've been tasked with writing this one so it most likely will not be as colorful as if he had written it.
Upon our approach into San Diego we managed to narrowly avoid the massive kelp beds and lobster pots off of Point Loma (both kelp and lobster pots will do significant damage to your prop and they should be avoided at all costs). When we left the danger of the kelp and pots behind we sailed into the harbor and we watched Stars and Stripes (a retired America's Cup boat that is in the photo above) sail out of the harbor. All that can be said is that it is just a beautiful boat.
We were really lucky and got a space at the transient dock on Shelter Island which has been overtaken with other Ha Ha boats. The dock is close to the Point Loma area - which means that we have been on an eating tour of Kent's favorite burrito places in the area. In between endless boat projects that have us constantly running to the many marine stores in the area, we have also had an opportunity to catch up with quite a few friends of Kent's from Mission Bay Yacht Club and had a fabulous lunch at Caf� Chloe downtown which is owned by one of Kent's friends. We also met up for dinner one night with fellow Portland boats Sans Cles and Jammin who we hadn't crossed paths with since Angel Island.
As the Ha Ha doesn't start for another week we still have quite a few days to tackle our giant to-do list, get our final orders in for parts and equipment that we still need, play tourist, and continue the burrito consumption tour!