SAN DIEGO NEWS
Travelled all day Sunday November 1st in beautiful calm seas with a mere 5-7 knot winds……..not enough for sailing so we motored and added to the hours off running the new motor to have it serviced here Monday in San Diego. All checked out for warranty purposes. As we have been doing we had our own little “time of worship” on board and actually attracted a congregation— porpoise. Yes, I sat on the bow and sang to them, enticing them to jump. I counted at least ten of them. They are so precious…………I just love them! They make me giggle. I did take some video of them and will try to up load for your enjoyment.
MARINAS: San Diego is a huge big city with many, many marinas mooring thousands of boat of all shapes and sizes. Some of the vessels that come in are incredible! For example: one left the day after we got here, flying a South African flag and was at least 300 feet long! In comparison we are at the police dock along with a steady flow of Canadians and Americans from Washington and Oregon in ordinary 30-40 foot vessels. Everyone is very social and there is a lot of excitement as we are all basically on the same journey just different stories. It is rather fun and very affordable: the cost is 10 bucks a day and lends itself to a perfect place to fix what needs fixing, clean what is salty and there is a lot of that, prepare our papers for customs and there is a lot of that as well.
OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS: I had been needing and wanting to make an itemized list of all of our belongings, which is one of the requirements of the custom department and got that done yesterday. We are now becoming very efficient as we have the list that also tells you where on the boat it is located. You ask why? Well, amazingly even though the area that we have is small and minimal it is unbelievably difficult to remember where stuff is. One has a vague idea but many things are tucked away so it does become tedious to un-tuck to find that you were tucking in the wrong lazarett or cupboard. (In the cruising world there are many little tips and tricks. ha-ha!) We will be advising the US officials that we are leaving, which needs to be done in person so Friday we will go on a little bus trip to find customs. Claes has been studying his manual to find directions on the GPS; he has just now announced that he has located it and is now dubbed a “GPS nerd”. Our goal now is to concentrate on the Mexican requirements which include a crew list, which is called a dispatcho and include information of the vessel and our destination all of which the captain, CLAES, acknowledges responsibility for. Presented to the Port Captain upon arriving in Ensenada along with our other id and boat papers for his signature it is d then passed on to Immigrations then the customs folks. Hopefully all will be in order by Saturday, which is when we hope to leave here.
FINAL CHORES: Claes is putting the final touches on the water maker today. It has been a big project and he has done an incredible job wanting to have it completed by the time we head into Mexican waters which should be this weekend!!!!! Our domestic water pump died on us too and was too old to have a repair kits so we purchased a new one yesterday. Our jib-the front sail needed some mending after the crazy PNW winds so it is being looked after, as promised for completion today is just now being delivered. Thank You God for that………….now we can move on! Based on the fact that once we leave the US we will not have the ability with our VHF to receive Mexican weather forecasts, other than communicating with other boaters we were needing some more technology!! Ideally, we would like a SSB, which is a single side band radio but that amounts to over 2 thousand dollars so we purchased a second hand Short Wave receiver from a fella here the other day. All it needs is installing of the aerial with the computer portion of it producing faxes of the weather. That is where I come in…it is all very interesting but rather confusing right now so I have a new challenge. Should be interesting and I will keep you informed as to the progress. Another important chore is to sanitize the water tanks before beginning to use our water maker so that is what I have just now done………it will be very exciting to drink our own desalinated water. Once it has sat in the tank I have to drain it all. Feeling rather bad about throwing away all that water I have done some laundry with it.
THE WEATHER: most mornings start out very wet with an incredible amount of recovery from the night……….to the point that it drips down the windows! The last few days have been cloudy and not very warm until mid afternoon when it gets hot for a few hours with the sunset nearing 5:30…….so the day goes fast. We have been listening to our marine forecast and all is favorable for us to leave this weekend taking our time to get to Ensenada for Monday when customs are open. We will likely find a nice spot to anchor along the way as The Captain and crew are all anxious to start relaxing! Seems like every time we are at harbor we are busy working. Today it is rather warm which made our morning walk very enjoyable. We get up early, waking around 5ish and up shortly after six but then by 8:30 we are yawning! Go figure?? It is a healthy lifestyle as both of us are feeling really good and think that we both have lost a few pounds. (The pants that we nearly did not bring because they were rather tight are now fitting fine!!!) Of course the meals are becoming more stream lined as well. (When we are under sail the meals are merely snacks—small but frequent).
FRELANCE JOBS: Our Joey has been busy with his favorite occupation—hunting. Yes, in the last two harbors he has managed to find critters. Of course as is his habit he likes to bring them “home”….dead of course- thank God for that! He usually causes quite a stir around the docks anyways as everyone loves him. Claes is trying to teach him a little decorum to bring them home when no one is looking. We will let you know how that goes. He, Joey continues to be very well adjusted and comes and goes as he wishes and is becoming a very good sailor!
ADIOS for now…………………being as the internet connection here is very weak I need to go to the neighboring hotel to send this to you. We are missing talking with you all and are praying that Ensenada will provide us with that blessing early next week. Until then, take care and if you have not signed in to the blog please do so. If you have difficulty write to us or get your grandchildren or friends to help you as it is fun for us to see who is “following” us………….a picture is great as well so we can see your pretty faces!!!
PS Had a problem with the computer in the hotel I am accessing the internet from and God sent me a little angel........you bet. I attempted to extend my time and got terminated and after a phone call this nice young man reconnected me and further helped me --showing me an easier way to update this blog for you all!!
Many many thanks..............young angel who ever you are!!!!
The two crazy Sailors and their Wild Hunting Kat!!!
MARINAS: San Diego is a huge big city with many, many marinas mooring thousands of boat of all shapes and sizes. Some of the vessels that come in are incredible! For example: one left the day after we got here, flying a South African flag and was at least 300 feet long! In comparison we are at the police dock along with a steady flow of Canadians and Americans from Washington and Oregon in ordinary 30-40 foot vessels. Everyone is very social and there is a lot of excitement as we are all basically on the same journey just different stories. It is rather fun and very affordable: the cost is 10 bucks a day and lends itself to a perfect place to fix what needs fixing, clean what is salty and there is a lot of that, prepare our papers for customs and there is a lot of that as well.
OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS: I had been needing and wanting to make an itemized list of all of our belongings, which is one of the requirements of the custom department and got that done yesterday. We are now becoming very efficient as we have the list that also tells you where on the boat it is located. You ask why? Well, amazingly even though the area that we have is small and minimal it is unbelievably difficult to remember where stuff is. One has a vague idea but many things are tucked away so it does become tedious to un-tuck to find that you were tucking in the wrong lazarett or cupboard. (In the cruising world there are many little tips and tricks. ha-ha!) We will be advising the US officials that we are leaving, which needs to be done in person so Friday we will go on a little bus trip to find customs. Claes has been studying his manual to find directions on the GPS; he has just now announced that he has located it and is now dubbed a “GPS nerd”. Our goal now is to concentrate on the Mexican requirements which include a crew list, which is called a dispatcho and include information of the vessel and our destination all of which the captain, CLAES, acknowledges responsibility for. Presented to the Port Captain upon arriving in Ensenada along with our other id and boat papers for his signature it is d then passed on to Immigrations then the customs folks. Hopefully all will be in order by Saturday, which is when we hope to leave here.
FINAL CHORES: Claes is putting the final touches on the water maker today. It has been a big project and he has done an incredible job wanting to have it completed by the time we head into Mexican waters which should be this weekend!!!!! Our domestic water pump died on us too and was too old to have a repair kits so we purchased a new one yesterday. Our jib-the front sail needed some mending after the crazy PNW winds so it is being looked after, as promised for completion today is just now being delivered. Thank You God for that………….now we can move on! Based on the fact that once we leave the US we will not have the ability with our VHF to receive Mexican weather forecasts, other than communicating with other boaters we were needing some more technology!! Ideally, we would like a SSB, which is a single side band radio but that amounts to over 2 thousand dollars so we purchased a second hand Short Wave receiver from a fella here the other day. All it needs is installing of the aerial with the computer portion of it producing faxes of the weather. That is where I come in…it is all very interesting but rather confusing right now so I have a new challenge. Should be interesting and I will keep you informed as to the progress. Another important chore is to sanitize the water tanks before beginning to use our water maker so that is what I have just now done………it will be very exciting to drink our own desalinated water. Once it has sat in the tank I have to drain it all. Feeling rather bad about throwing away all that water I have done some laundry with it.
THE WEATHER: most mornings start out very wet with an incredible amount of recovery from the night……….to the point that it drips down the windows! The last few days have been cloudy and not very warm until mid afternoon when it gets hot for a few hours with the sunset nearing 5:30…….so the day goes fast. We have been listening to our marine forecast and all is favorable for us to leave this weekend taking our time to get to Ensenada for Monday when customs are open. We will likely find a nice spot to anchor along the way as The Captain and crew are all anxious to start relaxing! Seems like every time we are at harbor we are busy working. Today it is rather warm which made our morning walk very enjoyable. We get up early, waking around 5ish and up shortly after six but then by 8:30 we are yawning! Go figure?? It is a healthy lifestyle as both of us are feeling really good and think that we both have lost a few pounds. (The pants that we nearly did not bring because they were rather tight are now fitting fine!!!) Of course the meals are becoming more stream lined as well. (When we are under sail the meals are merely snacks—small but frequent).
FRELANCE JOBS: Our Joey has been busy with his favorite occupation—hunting. Yes, in the last two harbors he has managed to find critters. Of course as is his habit he likes to bring them “home”….dead of course- thank God for that! He usually causes quite a stir around the docks anyways as everyone loves him. Claes is trying to teach him a little decorum to bring them home when no one is looking. We will let you know how that goes. He, Joey continues to be very well adjusted and comes and goes as he wishes and is becoming a very good sailor!
ADIOS for now…………………being as the internet connection here is very weak I need to go to the neighboring hotel to send this to you. We are missing talking with you all and are praying that Ensenada will provide us with that blessing early next week. Until then, take care and if you have not signed in to the blog please do so. If you have difficulty write to us or get your grandchildren or friends to help you as it is fun for us to see who is “following” us………….a picture is great as well so we can see your pretty faces!!!
PS Had a problem with the computer in the hotel I am accessing the internet from and God sent me a little angel........you bet. I attempted to extend my time and got terminated and after a phone call this nice young man reconnected me and further helped me --showing me an easier way to update this blog for you all!!
Many many thanks..............young angel who ever you are!!!!
The two crazy Sailors and their Wild Hunting Kat!!!
You two's life style has truly changed. Looks good on you...Take care .We are following you every step of the way. Irene & Merv
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