There are more rules in California for where you can anchor or dock and for how long than I can believe. Although San Diego is much more pleasant than Orange County about their rules they still require paying attention to.

Right now we are anchored in La Playa which the rules are that you may only anchor here for 72 hours and only on the weekend, unless you luck out and there is a holiday on either side of the weekend in which case you get an extra day tacked on. Since today is Veterans Day so we lucked out. To increase the shuffle, it is required that there be one night stay at the dock between the two anchorages so although you can stay in Glorietta Bay for 72 hours if you are here for any length of time it makes more sense to only stay 48 hours and get in the required night at the dock before moving back to La Playa. So the dance looks like this--La Playa, Dock, Glorietta Bay, Dock, La Playa, Dock, Glorietta Bay, Dock, etc (imagine doing this to the tune of ‘you put your right foot in, you take your right foot out’ ;-)). They also issue permits for the anchorages to control the number of boats. If the anchorages fill, then you have no choice but to dock at either the public dock or public mooring buoys if there is space, or they help you find additional moorage at whatever rate is charged at that particular marina. One of the places we called when we first got here charged double the price of the public dock so we have been careful to ensure we have permits to anchor! There are also rules about how many nights you can stay at the dock in a 40 day period but hopefully we won’t have to pay attention to that.

We are in San Diego for at least another 5 days as our other boat has finally sold and we want to stick around until closing and the funds have been wired. This is just to be on the safe side in the hopefully unlikely event there are problems. That means we get to do the shuffle a few more days. For Kevin it meant he doesn’t need to worry about maintenance on two boats. To me it means we get to go buy an inflatable kayak and a few other things that we put on the back burner since they weren’t necessary to a safe trip. I love to kayak so this makes me very happy.

Our friends Marc and Lorrie, who made this trip last year, told us that they didn’t see a drop of rain from October until they got back into the Pacific Northwest. Not true for us. It has poured, rained, spit and been beautiful since we arrived in San Diego although the forecast is for rain this weekend. One consolation is that the forecast is for rain in La Paz as well, where we are hoping to be to by Thanksgiving, but at this rate we may need to change our plans. That is one of the joys of cruising though…the luxury of being able to change your plans!

The picture is of rain in San Diego...because I know everyone back home feels very sorry for us!