Sorry it’s been so long since I have updates this blob. Since leaving Northern California we have had a very hard time finding a wifi signal. We have an antenna that we raise up the mast and usually can access any open “hot spot” within a few miles. Up in our slip in Alameda there were usually about a dozen open signals, even at our house in Vacaville, out in the country, there were two to three. Coming down the coast we found good hot spots no matter how small the area but once we got south of Ventura there’s been nothing, zip, zero! I’ll continue to write this blog and hopefully I can find something...
We spent several days holed up in Ventura. The marine weather reports said it was pretty rainy and windy outside but other than a few good deck washing rains, we were snug and comfortable. We spent a few days bicycling around the area between the rains, provisioning at a local market, doing laundry (things like shopping and laundry take much longer on a boat) and relaxing and reading in the boat. I’m going through my books way too fast; hopefully I’ll be able to find more as we go along.
On 10/15 the front passed and it went from howling wind and rain to dead calm. We motored down to Marina Del Rey, one of the largest man-made marinas in the country. This marina is essentially surrounded by Los Angeles and its neighboring cities. In the marina I saw the water equivalent of a street sweeper. There was this boat operated by the harbor patrol that had a ramp in the bow with a moving belt that scooped up any floating trash. Despite the efforts of the harbor patrol, there was a tremendous amount of trash in the water. Perhaps since this was an artificial marina and there was no water source coming into it to “wash it out”, the floating trash just stayed in the marina until it was scooped up by the harbor sweep.
On 10/18 we’d had enough of being surrounded by high rises and decided to go out to Santa Catalina Island. The forecasters were predicting north winds 10-15 knots, which would make for perfect sailing, but once again we only had variables and mostly from the south so we motored over. We picked up a mooring in the Isthmus and enjoyed a nice dark night with gently lapping swells. The next day we decided to hike around a bit, we got directions for what should have been a relatively easy hike overlooking the bay opposite the Isthmus. We must have taken a wrong turn because the trail kept going up and up and was going the wrong direction! Luckily the day was pretty cool and cloudy, good for not getting overheated but not great for pictures. After awhile we turned around and headed back but had some great views. Here is the Isthmus harbor from way up. My legs were aching by the time we got back!

That afternoon the harbor patrol started asking all the boats in the harbor to turn around on their moorings because they were predicting a strong North swell and wanted the boats to be facing the swell to minimize the pressure on the moorings. Catalina moorings have attachments at both the bow and the stern so the boat is pretty much tied in place and they can fit more boats in the harbor (the Isthmus is very busy in the summer). It sounds simple to just rotate the boat around, but at almost 23 tons, it’s not so simple. We were trying to muscle Sunny around using the motor for assistance when we heard the dreaded THUNK, we had gotten the mooring line tangled up in the prop! With the help of several cruisers in their dinghies we got the boat secured to another mooring and worked on getting the prop freed. Tom dove on it but it was too wrapped up for him to free. We ended up having to call a diver to cut us free. It was a very tense time and a bit expensive but in the end the only damage was to the mooring line. We were lucky; we could have bent the shaft or otherwise damaged the engine. Here’s our $200 nylon mooring ring (this was wrapped around our shaft, the diver cut it off):
That night the swell wrapped around the harbor and made the boat rock back and forth rather uncomfortably, neither of us got any sleep that night. The next morning we decided that even though the forecast called for calming seas, we wanted to move on.
On 10/20 we had a wonderful motor-sail from Catalina to Newport Bay. There wasn’t quite enough wind to turn the motor off but enough to get the sails up which helps smooth the ride. We saw lots of dolphins and pilot whales but couldn’t get any of the dolphins to come play on our bow.
We spent 5 wonderful nights in Newport Bay. We really like this bay, there’s always lots going on but as there’s a 5 mph limit in the bay, there a usually very few wakes to rock the boat. We’re surrounded by multi-million dollar homes and fancy yachts, yet moorings are only $5/day. Our cat Ginger enjoyed the peace and quiet:
Almost every afternoon there were dingy races in the channel right next to our mooring. Some of the kids look like they’re only 5 or 6, but they handle their boats well and could probably sail circles around either of us.

Newport has a big problem with sea lions. While the tourists might think they’re cute, they’re also loud, can be dangerous, and have in the past sunk boats in the bay. Most of the boat owners try to make their boats inaccessible by putting up plastic fencing on the rails and chairs, buckets, etc on the swim steps, the sea lions still get up and when they do they make quite a mess:

One of the days we were in Newport we took the bicycles and made a big loop out to our first apartment after college in Huntington Beach and our first house in Westminster. The house was a disappointment; it has not been maintained well. The Pepper tree we planted as a little sapling though has grown to be a big tree so that was nice to see.
Another day we went out to the pier and watched the surfers:

On 10/26 we left Newport and motored to Oceanside, they were forecasting some big winds and since we’re meeting my Mom and brother on Thursday, we wanted to be safe in a slip before the winds hit. We’re currently snug in Oceanside while the winds howl over our heads. I have heard that the Oceanside library has internet for visitors so will try to post this. On Friday we’ll head to San Diego for a few days then onto Mexico! - Carolynn