10/29/2004 - We are in San Diego now!

We sailed from Avalon to San Diego (67 nautical miles) on Thursday, October 28th. It tooks us 13 hours and it was a beautiful sunny day. We didn't have much wind so it was more of a motor trip than a sailing adventure. Of course, there is always an adventure on our boat and this time it was the fact that one of our two outboards decided to quit on us so the motoring was slow. We then limped into Cabrillo Isle Harbor on the last engine and it too decided to act up on us just as we were docking. Good thing Jake is a genius at docking boats. We didn't damage the million dollar trimaran that was in the adjoining slip. We are renting a slip that is home to the Waterworld boat (Kevin Costner movie). It is currently hauled out and lucky for us as it is difficult to find an empty slip for a 42 foot catamaran. We have lots to do while we are here in San Diego to prepare for the next leg of our journey to Ensenada, Mexico. Plan to leave here on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

10/22/2004 - Frog Rock - Catalina Island, California

Here is the view of our anchorage in Catalina... Frog Rock is just a 15-minute dinghy ride from Avalon.

10/15/2004 - We made it to Catalina!

Just wanted to let everybody know we made it to Catalina on Monday, October 11th. Monday was Columbus Day and how appropriate that it was the first day we saw land in 4 days! We could not have done it without our valiant crew: Jake, Cathy, Mike, Drew and Will! Highlights of the trip... the brightest stars and Milky Way we have ever seen, sailing alongside the dolphins as they were covered in phosphorescence, whales breaching, fishing, relaxing and light winds the first day and a half. Downside, we ran into gale force winds on Saturday morning... weather forecast predicted 25-30 knots, we saw worse than that, probably 35-40 knots and seas as high as 20 feet every ten seconds. The high winds lasted for 36 hours straight. The boat nearly capsized several times. I have to be honest, we did not know if we were going to make it here alive and we never, ever want to see weather like that again. Again, we could not have done it without our brave crew. Everybody did an outstanding job standing at the helm and encouraging eachother on. We will be here in beautiful Avalon on the island of Catalina for at least a few more weeks before venturing onto San Diego. Take care everybody! --cathy