We’ve had a busy couple of weeks.
We spent five days in Mexico before casting off the lines and sailing to San Diego. We left before dawn and made it before nightfall. We don’t like going into places in the dark.
The next day was my birthday and our good friends Chris and Linda Brubaker joined us for lunch and a walk out to Point Loma where we were rewarded with stunning views of the San Diego Harbour and beyond.
On our trip up from Ensenada, I realized our house batteries were done. In Australia, I knew they were not in good shape but I had hoped to get home to Canada before replacing them. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. They needed replacing as soon as possible.
We arrived in San Diego on a Saturday so first thing Monday morning I made several phone calls and found a technician that was available to work with us at the city of Oceanside. That was great news as we’d planned to leave the boat at Oceanside Harbour and stay with Chris and Linda for a few days. We left San Diego that day and made it to Oceanside late in the afternoon. The approach was tricky as we’d sailed into thick fog just a few miles out from the harbour’s entrance. As we entered the harbour we could just make out the breakwaters on either side of us. I mentioned earlier that we don’t like to arrive to a harbour in the dark. I think I prefer the dark over fog.
The next day the electrician met us at the boat. After some testing we agreed that the batteries needed replacing and he set to work finding some new ones.
We spent the next few days enjoying Chris and Linda’s company, buying lots of groceries–we couldn’t bring any fresh produce or meat from Mexico into the US–and picking up a few things for the boat. During that time, we met up with Nicki and Russell Long whom we’d taught with in Beijing as well as Bob and Jan Voruz whom we taught with in Indonesia. It was awesome to catch up with everyone.
After a few days, our new batteries were installed and it was time to move on. It was tough saying goodbye to Chris and Linda because we don’t know when we’ll see them next but we will definately make a point of getting together again in the not so distant future.
Now we need to get home which is not easy. The predominant winds and currents run from north to south so we are like salmon swimming up stream. Okay, that’s probably a bad analogy to use because salmon die once they get upstream. We don’t plan on dieing anytime soon. Let’s just say, it’s a lot of work to travel north up the west coast.
In order to make the trip as easy as possible, we want to travel when winds are light or from the south and the swell is low. Right now we have three or four days of those conditions.
From Oceanside, we motored to Santa Barbara. It took us about 24 hours and we arrived in time to enjoy an afternoon walk on the old pier. We stopped in Santa Barbara two and a half years ago on our way south. It would have been nice to spend a few days re-exploring the city but we couldn’t waste this weather window.
We left the next day aiming for Morro Bay. We passed Morro Bay early this morning. This weather is just too good to waste, so we’ve decided to push on. We are aiming for Halfmoon Bay which is just south of San Francisco. We’ll be there by midday tomorrow. (Wednesday)
Cormacks On Cambria 