Santa Catalina

Leaving one California paradise for another!

We left Santa Barbara yesterday at 12:30pm. It was about 84 degrees, sunny and beautiful! I was sad to leave but excited to move forward to Catalina and beyond.

Santa Barbara Pier 

Before leaving Santa Barbara we woke up around 5:40 am and Rick, Jeff and I snuck out while the others were asleep to go find some coffee at the harbor or nearby. We didn’t have much luck. The first place we came across, The Alley, had coffee but it was cold. They sold it to us anyway. So, we walked further to a great little restaurant on the beach that Jeff said he knew about. No luck…they were closed. I enjoyed the walk anyway. Later we came back to the boat, got the others and found another place to eat that was open at the Harbor.  We also said our final goodbye’s to Mary. But…we kept her around long enough to make use of her West Marine discount again, one last time. We got all of the replacement items that we needed….at least for now.

Good time to work on a tan...

We returned to the boat and got her all situated and ready to leave.  As we left the Harbor we had 10 knots of wind and were moving through the water at about 7.2 knots. We were motor sailing most of the way. The winds really died down and the ocean turned to glass. It was so pretty! The sun was dancing on the water practically blinding us and the water…so calm.  Talk about your relaxing sail!  We had about a 20 hour sail ahead of us. This kind of sailing I can get used to!

John 

As we got closer to our destination the sun was setting to our right and the moon was rising to our left.  Enchanting.  You could see the Santa Cruz Islands and The Anacappa Islands as well. We all were in the cockpit relaxing in our cushioned chairs enjoying the views and the calm. Dinner came next prepared by Kit.  She made a rigatoni dish that everyone seemed to love and had second helpings of. 

Kit

This evening was so low key. No drama. No issues.  We got a little bit more of wind and were able to put out the Spinnaker. 

Rick and I went to sleep around 7pm thinking that our 12-3am night watch would come before we knew it and we would be tired if we didn’t sleep now.  Our shift never came because Jeff and John stayed on watch and let us sleep.  At 2:45 we heard the engine slow down. We had arrived! Rick and I jumped up and went to see where we were. We were on the backside of Catalina! Rick helped tie us up to a mooring ball. That didn’t take long, so we all headed down below and went to sleep.  Zzzzzz.

Anacapa Islands to the left. Santa Cruz Islands on the right.

When we woke up, the sun was out and almost hot. No need to put on anything other than shorts and tank tops.  

North side of Catalina Island

A patrol boat came by and asked us what our plans were and we said we were just going to stay out on the mooring for a while. He welcomed us, looked at our documentation paperwork and told us to have a great day, then left. Wow…and we were prepared for some kind of hassle.  

There are very few boats moored out here. Maybe 3. I guess that is unusual for here.  It’s apparently packed here most of the time.

We have no real plans set in stone for the day. But we would like to sail over to Avalon, take the dinghy to shore and do a little exploring.  Then in the evening we will head out to San Diego.

Not too much to report yet, but thought while I had good Internet reception I would document what I could while I can remember.

We have enjoyed sailing down here so far.  I don’t know if we just lucked out on weather, wind and waves since passing Point Conception or is sailing South just like this most of the time. 

One thing I forgot to mention…Jeff got the water maker working so we have the most cleanest water available to drink at all times! And we can use the water for showers, doing dishes and so on. This is great news!

I guess what the water maker does is takes the salt water from the ocean and filters it so finely that it turns into just plain water.

You’ll be hearing from more of us by the time we get to San Diego. 

Thanks again for following along!