Well today is Wednesday and we are still sailing down the coast of Mexico. Let me regress....

Thur We had a very smokey trip to LA to pick up Dave. It was quite exciting for us, as is anything from home. I guess we are all Kiwis at heart. We were able to see smoke of the fire damage that closed the Freeways and I guess when the fire is on both sides of the freeway, that is a good reason to close the road. Dave was a little late getting out, as his flight was late. We ended up stopping at Fry's in San Marcos for Dave so he could drool all over the floor, just like Paul does. I now know why they have concrete floors in those places; easier to keep clean. Of course he off loaded some of his cash in there, as Paul. We ate out for tea at Applebees, again a while since we had done that too. We have been so good lately, eating at home. Arrived at the boat and showed Dave his hotel suite while imbiding in a few celebratory drinks.

Fri Up early and off to customs for us to clear the boat. Thank goodness there was a guy there who didn't quite know what he was doing so we were able to direct him and get the right paper work for a change. It was all so simple, especially after the hassles we had at several places down the coast. We then dropped Dave off to get his Mexican visa and we were off shopping for the day. Dave wanted to go to places like Rei and the like. We ended up at Mervyns where we got some matching shirts to wear to the fancy dress. Don;t know if I will wear mine again. We went as the tropical Kiwis. Didn't win a prize of course. Any way back home after a long day out.

Sat Took Dave back to Mervyns to change some stuff and then off to the post office so he could post some stuff back. I then dropped him off at the Midway aircraft carrier while Paul stayed behind to clean the boat and start packing up. I went back to Mervyns to buy some more pants and a couple of tops. I went back and helped Paul then we were off to pick up Dave and then drive to Coronado for lunch. We went to the Coronado Del, a very huge old (1888) hotel that was really magnificent. I could of spent longer there but we had to off for more shopping for Dave. I did get to stop at Trader Joes and get some last minute stuff.

Sun Paul went to the skippers meeting while Dave and I went to do last minute Laundry. Met some people from the baha there so it was fun chatting. The people you meet in Laundromats. I reckon they are the latest and greatest place to hang out. It was rather busy as a few people had the same idea as we did. While we were there, this Mexican couple came in with what looked like all the laundry from a motel/hotel, expecting to get to use the machines. They didn't look too happy at having to wait. I guess nobody told them what was going on. After dropping off the laundry and changing into our trendy tropical shirts, we headed off to West Marine to find Paul and attend the party. It was quite good. It was free for Paul and I and $10 for Dave. It was a good meal though with free beer and wine. Can't complain. The weather was very nice. Some people went to a lot of trouble. They only thing that I could see was that whatever costume these people had they then had to stow away on their boat. That was what put us off fancy dress. Never the mind. There were some great prizes to be had though and worth a thought if there is a next time. It did drag on a little late though. Once the party was finished, it was off to the supermarket for last minutes fresh stuff. Dave forgot to buy beer so when we were half way home we had to go back. Argh well. Back to the boat to stow stuff, yet again, we are getting good at that. Given that we had been using the spare cabin for junk, that junk now lives in our shower. Pauls excuse for a bigger boat..... Last minute tidy up and we were ready.

Mon Up early and off to the shower for our last one for a few days. Of course every one else had the same idea but it was fun chatting while in line. A sign of things to come I am sure. We cast off the lines around 0930 and headed out to the bay. We hung around at the back of the fleet as we didn't want to get too close to other boats and we were off at 1100... Finally. Amazingly enough not long after the start the Ronald Reagan came out. It didn't come too close to us initially but I had to wonder at his brains in coming out of the harbour at the same time as 177 sailing vessels. As we were blithely sailing along, it returns and came up close and personal I could see all the personnel standing on the lower deck, flight deck and tower. Really an amazing sight. Never could we get so close to the largest aircraft carrier in the world. We then settled down and got into the sailing groove.

The next few days were a very pleasant sails. We started out with our ASS (asymmetrical spinnaker) but doused just before dark on the 1st night. Good thing we did as the wind came up - gusts to 30K. We seemed to handle it rather nicely though. We didn't put it up after that at all as the wind never really dropped below 10-15knots.

We had frozen lasagna for the 1st 2 nights and actually ate rather well. I was queasy a couple of times but drugs took care of that for me. Paul also was a little queasy but he didn't want drugs as he was worried about it upsetting his stomach. Fair enough. he did ok though. Sleep was difficult at times but we managed. We had an latitude that was the finish line for leg 1 and we set our goals on that. We reached it around 1930 on the 3rd day but it then took us all night to actually get to the anchorage at Turtle bay. The 3rd day was also Pauls lucky day - he caught a fish and he only had the line out for 30 mins. It was about 15lb yellow tail tuna. Guess what was for tea. That night we had a gourmet meal - the first I have done en route. Life is grand.