When we come into a new harbor and are busy taking sails down, getting mooring gear ready, and piloting the boat in, we often find other things also strive for our attention. In Santa Barbara we were escorted by a dolphin and a seal playing in our wake as we came into the harbor. In Long Beach we were followed closely by a container ship. But as we approached San Diego we got another kind of distraction: The BMW/Oracle racing trimaran, which was going at least 20 knots faster than we were as its 90 feet of brand-new carbon fiber passed our 30 feet of 30-year-old fiberglass 100 feet away. This is the boat they plan to compete with in the America's Cup in 2009. If you want to see a big sailboat close up, check out the Photo Gallery.

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At San Diego we hope to have dispensed with To-Do lists. So readers expecting to be regaled with tales of petting tigers at world-famous zoos or being splashed by friendly orcas or sipping cocktails at the Hotel Del Coronado or fighting marlin from the back of a speedboat are advised to look elsewhere. Instead of these excitements our to-do lists dominated the nine days we spent in San Diego, tied up to the Police Dock at the end of Shelter Island.

One always has things to do aboard a boat, and unless one is of a less obsessive mind than ours, has a staff, or ignores the situation, there are always things to do. And like many cruisers we figured that San Diego's yacht chandleries would be better equipped than Mexico's--they're a bit famous as the last outpost of American consumerism before the barren wilds of Baja.

So here are some of the things we got done:

- Plumb saltwater hand pump so we can wash our dishes in salt (and rinse them in fresh)
- Replace 30-year-old Chinese ("Grand Deer" brand), corroded hot-and-cold water tap with cold-only Chicago faucet (though we have pressure water we don't use it, and where we're going we figure cold is plenty)
- Replace equally ancient hand water pump with foot pump
- Adjust propellor shaft packing gland (arcane item that keeps water out)
- Change engine oil
- Change transmission oil
- Install automatic tuner for SSB radio (so we can waste time fiddling with the radio)
- Install grounding system for SSB radio
- Pick up from store and test out new downwind pole (which helps us sail downwind by holding the jib open so catches lots of air)
- Purchase 300 pounds of groceries and find places in the boat to stash them
- Finish rainwater catchment system (this consists mainly of some plumbing parts to adapt hoses to one another)
- Buy speakers (so that we can listen to music instead of humming to one another, which has begun to lose its appeal)
- Figure out wooden fenders (to protect our precious hull from marauding Mexican docks and pilings)
- Figure out head pumpout system for offshore (if you don't know what this is, you probably don't want to)
- Find a spare oar for our dinghy
- Get another jerry jug for diesel (I think we can motor 700 miles now--fun)
- Shop for spare parts

I guess it makes some sense that all this took us nine days. Getting the galley plumbing done was an enormous improvement: We feel as if we have a whole new room. The radio items make it possible for us to exchange email while we're in remote locales (tell us on the blog if you want the address--we can't post it here because spam is a killer). Shopping is addictive and spare parts make one feel secure. Thus we can move on to maintenance, which is undoubtedly different from to-do lists.

There were some pleasurable moments during our stay, however:

1) We got to see some friends. Last summer we helped Jen and Bob sail their Tayana 37--which looks suspiciously like a larger version of Mariposa--from Sausalito to San Diego, a 10-day trip that we very much enjoyed. They are still in San Diego (in a house) and have a baby and a dashing grey Jeep Cherokee that they lent us. The car made us believe we had to shop, so we drove all over doing just that. We also had a lovely dinner with Jen, Bob, and one-year-old Maya at a really good Thai restaurant. It was great to see them and if we hadn't been so obsessive over our list we would certainly have seen more of them.

2) My mother's husband Richard called us on our last evening there and said, "The sign says I'm 65 miles from San Diego. Can I see you?" Diplomats that we are, we said, "Hold on, we only have dinner fixings for two, even though you've just driven 500 miles to see us, so can you try again later?" Richard had come down to go camping or backpacking somewhere with his friend JT who lives in La Jolla, and it occurred to him to rendezvous with us. So we did! We finished our dinner, and he and JT and Shelly appeared at the police dock at the end of Shelter Island, and we went to a Mexican restaurant and had another dinner and told exaggerated tales of our sailing adventures. Richard got to eat hot carrots, his favorite food. It was sad parting ways after only a couple of brief hours, but what an out-of-the-blue treat!

3) We stayed at the Police Dock. This is not a euphemism for jail, but a very sociable place, full of cruisers and locals who actually use their boats. Many marinas tend toward boat museums, full of shiny boats with nobody on them, but the Police Dock has people passing through as well as local liveaboards, working on their boats and chatting and helping one another with this or that. We met several very nice folks there--lots of Canadians--and I'm sure we'll keep in touch as we move south together. One clever Canadian helped us out at the supermarket by giving them her fictitious "club card" number--867-5309, believe it or not, but don't tell anyone--an act that saved us $25.85.

Beyond all the provisioning I think we also stayed for nine days because, well, with the next leg of our journey we leave the United States with our boat for the first time. That border crossing will be another major symbolic leap, and we cling to the security of home.