SoCal Cruisin

Since I arrived in Ventura, I’ve been slowly toodling my way south, stopping to meet up with friends, and provisioning for my final departure from the states.

Channel Islands
The first order of business was a sail out to the Channel Islands (Smugglers Cove on Santa Cruz Island to be exact).  We had a great crew - Porter was in town for a business meeting, my buddy Michael lives in LA, and he brought his girlfriend, Lily, along.  We loaded up the boat early Saturday morning and had a lovely sail out to Santa Cruz, complete with mimosas, sunshine, and dozens of dolphins swimming along next to us.  There were a handful of other boats already anchored up when we arrived and we found a good spot, dropped the hook, and jumped in!  We were in about 25 feet of water and it was so clear we could easily make out crabs walking around on the sandy bottom.

We spent the afternoon swimming around, drinking beers, and exploring the island a bit.  Michael brought pizza supplies and we roasted them up to perfection in the cast iron combo-cooker.  All-in-all, a magical day and one that I won’t soon forget.

The next day was just a warm, sunny, and perfect as Saturday and we spent the day engaged with breakfast burritos, cribbage, and some snorkeling.  Porter managed to pull a few lucky wins out on the cribbage board, but the victor is far from crowned.  We were visited by a cute little baby seal that was curious about us and had apparently been tagged by some wildlife officer that also saw fit to give him a neon mohawk as well.  Bizzare.  He was especially curious about the Little Rascal and even hopped up on ‘er to take a peek around.  

Getting back and forth to the beach was a bit treacherous due to the light swell that was rolling in, and we all got trounced in the little rascal at one point or another.  Michael, who hadn’t ever rowed a raft before, actually faired the best out of all of us, though watching him row was pretty comical in the beginning.  

The sail back to Ventura was uneventful and Porter and I got a chance to enjoy a big dinner of dumplings and Chinese food before he had to hit the road back to Vegas.

Sailing South
Over the course of the following few days, I worked my way further south with a couple stops to buy parts and supplies that I’m expecting to be scarce in Mexico.  There are a couple of second hand boating supply stores that are much easier on the wallet than West Marine, a store I’m really beginning to loathe.  I got a chance to meet up with friends (new and old) and had some damn good meals aboard the rascal.  Oddly enough, and by happenstance, most of them were Mexican meals.  I guess I’m subconsciously preparing myself for the next six months of tacos, beans, and salsa.  Can’t wait!

The Catalina Ferry in front of the Port of LA

Sunset dolphin encounter!

Sunset shining on the windows of Laguna

This afternoon, I finally made it to San Diego and I’m anchored up in Mission Bay (which is free! Hell yeah!), and I’m sitting in the cockpit taking in a glorious sunset as I type this post.  The next two days are going to involve a lot of last minute provisioning and taking care of the final details of my departure from the states.  I’m hoping to check into Ensenada on Monday and then make the run to Cabo in one shot.  I’m really bummed to be missing the whole Pacific coast of Baja, but the threat of hurricanes looms large, and I want to be in the Sea of Cortez as fast as possible.

From here on out, I won’t have a cell phone and internet access will be sporadic at best.  I’ll try to keep up with the blog as best I can, but expect a couple weeks between posts while I’m sailing away from civilization in the Sea of Cortez.