We arrived in San Diego about a month and a half after departing Seattle with 1550 nautical miles behind us.  We got a taste of heavy weather sailing off Cape Blanco and between Points Arguello and Conception, had some nice sails south of Santa Barbara, and did a fair amount of motoring between LA and San Diego.

This completes the US West Coast chapter of our year-long voyage, and after 4 weeks in San Diego, begins the next chapter–5 months cruising in Mexico!

In San Diego, we found a marina with a pool next to the Point Loma Yacht Club.  Jacintha enjoyed swimming and Dad and I mostly relaxed.

We reprovisioned, did some boat chores, and had some fantastic fish sandwiches at Point Loma Seafood, which was recommended by a cruiser we met in Santa Barbara.  After a few days, we moved to Southwestern Yacht Club for 3 days, where my dad took off to fly back to Pennsylvania.  It’s been a blessing to spend a month cruising with him.  We harbor-hopped between Santa Barbara and San Diego, visiting 6 ports and 1 island, and covered 250 miles together.  Life on a sailboat can be physically challenging, much more so than on a motor yacht–climbing into cave-like bunks, getting on/off the boat into the dinghy (especially when my lifeline gates are blocked by solar panels), and maintaining balance while underway with the ocean swell.  To be doing that at 80 years of age is a great accomplishment!  It was also nice to see Jacintha get to spend so much time with him.  I think he really enjoyed cruising and meeting people along the way.  We hope to see dad and mom in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a visit early next year.

Varnishing–I brought some varnish along that was left over from last summer and since we  have 3 weeks before the Baja Ha Ha rally starts, I decided to use some of it.  I started with the outer cap rail and top cockpit combing since they are always in full sun.  And with all the work being done preparing the boat for the trip, most of the varnish around the cockpit was looking bad.  As usual, I’m applying 2 coats of Pettit Flagship varnish to get a mirror-like result…  Will see how it holds up in the tropics!

Jacintha’s Blog—Snap, Click, Splash, Ouch.  We were sailing and I was down in the cabin.  Poppy and daddy were up in the cockpit.  Then I saw something that looked like a giant spider in the cabin.  So I ran up to the cockpit to get daddy.  At first he did not believe me so I made him come down to see, then he saw it too.  It was not a giant spider, it was a cute crab!  Daddy brought it up with a glove and showed poppy!  Then daddy took off the glove and dropped the crab, it did not hurt him, but it surprised him.  Then we saw him breath bubbles.  At last we threw him out the boat and saw dolphins.  The end…

Oceanside is about half way between LA and San Diego.  The Oceanside Yacht Club lived up to their advertised “Friendliest Yacht Club on the West Coast”.  We joined them for a dinner buffet and Thursday night football and decided to spend Friday night as well.  Relaxed on Friday after cleaning the boat and doing laundry.  Like much of SoCal, it’s hot here and is supposed to reach 100 deg F tomorrow.   The bimini and mesh surround make it pleasant in the cockpit www.iutoic-dhaka.edu.  Jacintha came up with this idea while folding the laundry back at the boat to keep the sun off our heads….

Here’s Jacintha feeding the smelt at the dock:

We motored into a light easterly wind from Catalina Island to Newport Beach, spotting lots of dolphins along the way.  We tied to a mooring buoy from the Balboa Yacht Club for the first night, then moved to a buoy from the Newport Harbor Yacht Club for a few nights (one of the nicest clubs we visited so far).  The dinghy came in handy for making shore excursions to the Balboa Fun Zone (a touristy area with small rides, carnival food, arcades, etc.), Balboa Island (where we found a laundromat), and the yacht club (where we use the showers and eat lunch).  We also used it to stock up on groceries and get gas for the dinghy.

Three California Sea Lions were on a neighboring boat most of the day and night (for 5 days!).  Every now and then they would get upset over something and bark up a storm, sometimes in the middle of the night!  Sea Lions are differentiated from Harbor Seals by their noticeable ear lobes.

Jacintha and I rode a bus to California Adventure and had lots of fun on the rides.  Her favorite was the Grizzly River Run which we rode on twice, mine was Soaring Over California.  We both also liked the Tower of Terror and Radiator Springs Racers.  Our bus ride home was going well until our connecting bus blew by us in the dark without stopping even though we were waving it down, so we used Uber for the remaining 5 miles.

We’ve been tied to a mooring buoy for 5 days since arriving in Newport Beach, so the only charging we’re getting is via the solar panels.  The refrigerator and freezer have been working hard since every day has been sunny and warm, so keeping the batteries charged has been challenging.  The battery bank has 660 AmpHours, which means we should not go above 330 AHrs.  This morning we were at 230 AHrs, but by mid-afternoon it’s at 200 AHrs.  We’re still using only 3 of the 5 solar panels and the biggest problem is keeping them in full sun (shadows cast by rigging reduces the power output).  When we get to San Diego, I will add wiring and connectors to allow all 5 panels to be used at once.

Misc. Boat Repairs:  We noticed back in Santa Barbara that the mizzen spreaders were unbalanced (port side spreader had more upward rake than starboard side).  So today I went aloft to fix it by pushing up on the starboard spreader.  After my palm got sore, I used a rubber mallet and on the final blow something popped loose and splashed into the water.  I inspected the spreader and found it was the spring retaining ring on the spreader light.  So a little electrical tape now holds the bulb in place until we get to San Diego where West Marine has special-ordered the $5 part.  I also replaced the starboard-side diesel hose that connects the deck fitting to the tank.  I had replaced the port-side hose back in Sausalito because it was preventing diesel from flowing into the tank.  These hoses weren’t  rated for diesel and had deteriorated on the inside (the port-side hose was much worse).

Jacintha’s Blog:  California Adventure— I was at California Adventure and I saw a British lady with a cute dog wearing a witch costume!  After that I went on a ride where you went on a seat and it lifted you up and you watched a big TV and it looked like you were flying outside of a airplane!  Then we went on a ride where you went on a boat and went down tall slides and got soaked.  Then we went on a ride like an elevator and looked into a mirror and watched yourself turn into a ghost and you went super high up and a door opened so you could see how high you were and it all of a sudden dropped you and you went down so fast that your butt went off your seat.  It was like flying then you bumped into the bottom and it lift you up again!

Jacintha’s Blog: Balboa Fun Zone— I was at a game place!  I played whack-a-frog first, then I played a coin game after that I went to a fair then I went on a ferris wheel.  It went around about 30 times in one ride!  Then I went to a candy shop and got a candy container with a toy dog whose eyes could pop out!  Then I got a Sponge Bob Square Pants popsicle.  His eyes were white bubble gum with black frosting at the outside.  Then I went home.

We’re staying as guest members at the Pacific Mariners Yacht Club in Marina del Rey for 3 or 4 days.  It’s a central LA location within walking distance to Venice Beach and a long bus ride to Disneyland.  This must be the tightest docking I’ve ever done–still not sure how I fit in here….

The sail from Oxnard was nice with a steady 20-25 NW wind.  We had dolphins swimming along side getting a boost from our bow wave.  We moved along at 8 knots with only the Genoa sail and got an extra 1knot boost from the California current most of the way.

We walked to Venice Beach where dad and Jacintha were flexing their muscles in front of Muscle beach.

And competing with the entertainers….

Getting ready to go back to the boat, we walked by a place on the boardwalk that had karma pricing (pay what you want) for haircuts, and we all got our hair cut.

Jacintha was excited to reach LA so we could go to Disneyland.  Since we are in Marina del Rey, it was a long bus ride but only cost us $2.50 each way and dropped us off right in front of the entrance.  Dad said he didn’t want to slow us down and decided to spend the day at the marina where he made some new friends who invited him to their boat for dinner and drinks.  Jacintha and I arrived at Disneyland around noon and the park closed at 8pm, so we had plenty of time to get on all the rides we wanted to since the lines were very short.  We got back to Venice around 11pm and back to the boat at Marina del Rey just before midnight, but it was worth it to see her so excited on the rides!  Her favorite–Splash Mountain, where you get wet going down the steep drop.  My favorite–Space Mountain, the big roller coaster ride in the dark.

Brady arrived in San Luis Obispo to start his freshman year at Cal Poly a day after we arrived in Port San Luis.  A 20 min. taxi ride from the harbor took us to his temporary house where he is staying until the dorm opens next week (he came down early to begin diving practice).  We only had a few hours since he had a swim team meeting, so we walked around campus then went out for lunch.  He’s excited to start school and is studying computer science.  He plans to join us next summer somewhere in the south pacific.