We arrived in San Diego

Posted 15 September 2010

The anchoring at Santa Catalina Island was great. We made up the lost sleep, had a shower, cooked a nice supper and was ready for the overnight trip to San Diego. Dinis was full of beans and did a 5 hour watch, which was great for me. There was not much wind so we hook up our little automatic tiller pilot. During Dinis second watch he noticed that the boat was heading into a different direction. On closer inspection Dinis noticed that we finally lost the little arm of the tiller pilot. What a drag…we had to hand steer for about 7 hours.

We made it through the night, had tons of traffic, but the night was clear and you could clearly see the lights. Again the AIS and the radar outdid itself. What a blessing !! The only problem is these fishing boats steaming towards you, just to change course in front of you. I suppose they scan the ocean for fish and follow that.

We saw some dolphins approaching San Diego which is fantastic. They either welcome us or sending us on a save trip at every port we arrived or departed so far. I hope this continue for our circumnavigation.

We arrived yet again in fog on Sunday morning 12 September, they say this year is the worst as far as weather is concern. We tied the boat to the police customs dock to get info for where to dock the boat and also for me to let Customs and Immigration know that we had arrived. What a great welcome we had. The people is very friendly and we felt at home. We also got our anchoring permit.

We did not much exploring as yet, but done all the boat chores. All the sails and lines are washed, it is amazing the amount of salt that accumulates. Monday our friends Greg and Joyce from S/V Otter came to visit and we spend the day with them. Today (Wednesday) we are going into town so that Dinis can get the tiller pilot sorted out and a few other things that are on our to-do list.

I lost 9 pounds since we left Vancouver...can fit into all my clothes much easier now. Dinis did not loose any weight, but lost about 2 cm around his waist. Been tossed like a salad I suppose has it benefits :)