OK, let's see, where did I leave you?...oh, yeah...the egg calamity...nuf said.

The last 24 hours was motorsailing...cold-ish & dark....but alas, 4 days & nights & 453 nm I arrive at Avalon, Catalina Island. The process is you lay off the harbor until a small red boat that says Harbor Patrol or something like that comes out and asks for documentation info and your credit card...you tell them how many days you want and like magic get a your tab and a "slip assignment" which means mooring ball. Of course I say, "never been here but watched a few youtube vids on how to do this deal...but I'm solo, can you give me a hand?" He's like, "nope, i can just show you where the ball is and hang back and give you tips if you need them" , cool dude, no problemo...!...One tip he did say was, "come up directly behind the BIG mooring and come to a FULL STOP!, otherwise you could run over the mooring line...and that would be bad for you." I'm thinking silently, Jesus man..u think I'm an idiot? well, thankfully it went smooth as silk, you grab a float with a mast on it, lay it on the bow, grab the line attached and pull like a mother until a loop comes up..drop that loop on your mooring cleat then pull like a mother for a second time on the attached line called a "sand line", seems easy, yes? Well, boats never stay still...but thankfully it was calm and relatively no wind.....pull on said line as you walk aft..then another loop comes up and that one you drop around your stern cleat...easy peasy!...but can you imagine the gross gooeyness on that line because it lives below the surface....no amount of simple green took that smell off my hands.

Decided since it was late in the afternoon, I just would take in the surroundings and cook a steak, drink some wine & finish myself off with a Pendleton or 2 on the rocks! I slept like a seal on a hot rock....

Day 2! Time to launch the dingy, put on the outboard & go explore. This place literally look like the Med, very Greek. Found the dingy dock, had some fish tacos, (thanks Deb for the tip!) then went for a long walk (oh, did I say with 2 crisp cold IPA's?!?? about half an hour later I stumble upon an obscure little Mexican joint...totally empty and decide, ah, what the hell...one beer couldn't hurt! Sit at bar, meet Raphael the bartender, learn about island life & costs thereof...oops...beer #2 (or 4 if you are counting) and then after careful deliberation and texting a pic of the tequila bottle to my friend Howard and say, do or dont do? Well, u can guess his answer because I had 2 shots, one for me and one for him!....Me & Raph stood outside and watched in awe as this dude flying a jet helicopter like one you would see in a James Bond movie, maneuver around all the buildings and land...He says, "Good meeting you Pelon!! send friends!" I stumbled back to the boat, messing with all the golf cart rentals...lots of laughs and one guy yelled at me to get back on the path! Party Pooper.

Back at boat, just chillaxed that night!
Next night met up with a cousin of my friends from Anacortes, Mark & Jackie, a studly surfer looking dude named "Koa" yes, like the wood. He was super fun to hang with, took me to the hip venues, more alcohol consumed...met tons of super cool people including a pro football player who I did not ever hear of, a model, some ex hollywood producers, a worldsailor and on and on it went....stumbled back to my dingy in the dark...see a pattern here?!??...
Next day rented a golf cart for 3 hours and met some cool ladies from Lake Havasu at lunch. Saw the island from the inside out...and came home to the boat to drink as it is harshly frowned on if you get caught drink and driving electric vehicles on the island...yeah, serious!!!

Next day harbor patrol came by to extract more of my hard earned cash, so I paid for half a day and left at noon for San Diego....enough was enough. here's a couple pics of the place....pretty cool :)