Santa Barbara:
Santa Barbara looked like a beautiful place.
But after cleaning up we were too tired to do anything except go for dinner and watch the fishermen bring in their catch. The most interesting was the sea urchins - they looked cool but it is mostly the Japanese who are interested in them.David tried them once and was not impressed.
We called Homeland Security and we received mixed information about checking in - again! - as to what is required when checking in from one district to another. San Fran told us that we would not have to check in again until San Diego. LA says we have to check in at Long Beach if we wanted to go to Catalina Island - which we tried to explain is a 60 mile trip one way and at an average speed of 5 knots we were looking at a 24 hour detour.The phone was being passed around to 3 officers and none of them could agree as to what the protocol is. After a lengthy discussion and David's diplomatic demeaner we were able to come up with a compromise. We could stay at Santa Barbara for 48 hours and then sail down to Ventura where they would meet us and clear us in for Santa Barbara and Catalina and clear us out for both places as well. Of course they wanted $19 for each so we shelled out another $76. Because our boat is licensed in Washington State and registered in Canada it does not qualify for a cruising license which would eliminate all of this so they treat us as if we are a commercial vessel and are required to check in and out of every port we enter at $19 a pop. Oh well - I guess it is still cheaper than paying all that duty which we avoided by not bringing the boat into Canada.
So once that was settled we decided to enjoy Santa Barbara and walked down to the pier and then into town to get some fresh fruit and vegetables.
Then we came back to the boat. I did a large laundry - which was a bit of a hike just because the marina is so big but it was clean and you could use your credit card instead of trying to find $10 dollars in quarters.
When I got back to the boat it was a pleasant surprise to see that David had cleaned the boat inside and out and it looked great. Then I cleaned out the fridge - something you tend to do more often on a boat. And I am pleased to announce that there has been next to no spoilage of food on this trip so far. Part of it has to do with planning meals around what is thawed and ripe, not overstocking and finding better ways to store things.
Below are some things that I have found to be successful and you may even start considering them in your own homes. Keep different types of vegetables packed separately as the acids that they give off will cause things to ripen faster. This is especially true for bananas. The use of vacuum packed bags or those Debbie Meyer greenbags (as seen on TV) are fantastic. Tightly wrapping your cheese in tin foil also works - I bought a 5 lb loaf of chedder in Bellingham and I never had any mold on it and just finished it this week. Wrapping apples and potatoes in foil also seems to work.
I also took inventory of the freezer and the few things that I had left from stocking in Bellingham were still frozen solid. I believe that vacuum packing those things also helped. Also putting your bread at the top of the freezer as this part does not get that cold prevented the bread from going moldy - which was always a problem when I just kept it in the hanging baskets.
Made sandwiches for the next day - mixed the mayo and cranberries and diced roasted chicken together like chicken salad and then put that in between 2 slices of bread. Very good. And as a note - when you get into Mexico and Central America you will find lots of chicken and maybe even some turkey but you will not frind cranberry sauce!! Prepared a beautiful porketta roast with the last pork tenderloin along with potatoes and carrots, put it in the oven and then went over to Dave & Michelle's boat along with Al and Sandy for happy hour!
0915 October 17: sunglasses and sunscreen on already but flat calm. Oh well - I guess you cannot have everything.
1000 to 1130: passed 6 more production platforms - A, B, C, Houchin, Hogan and Henry
You can see Santa Cruz Island, Santa \rosa and San Miguel to the south.
1350: Tied up at the Harbor Patrol in Ventura after a day of motoring.
1415: Border Patrol showed up and cleared us in and out and in and out and in!There was a Yanmar dealer (our motor) next to the building and we were able to pick up a fuel filter for the engine.
Ventura: 34*14.77 N 119*16.30W
We made use of our Tuktayuktuk Yacht Club membership and stayed at the Ventura Yacht Club for 2 nights - $30. David and the boys had made it an official club in the days when they were working in the Arctic. He told the guy at the marina that it was probably the most northerly club they would ever hear about! The guy welcomed us in and invited us to the Prime Rib buffet that evening. We met some great people and one couple showed up to our boat the next day with the keys to their car so we could go get supplies. The town is beautiful with lots of canals with beautiful houses all along them. As we were driving into town we went past fields of lemon trees and avocados and strawberries. I had the windows down and the air actually smelt like lemons. It was glorious. Sorry I did not have the camera with me so no pictures - just the ones in my head.
We stayed the extra day just because it was such a beautiful place.
0606: departed Ventura with a slight breeze and a 2-4 foot swell.There was the silouette of pelicans against the rising sun as we departed.
We were noticing the occasional drop in rpm's in the motor and David figured that it was time to change that filter. We would keep our ears opened if it continued.
0703: sunrise
0752: BLT for breakfast.Just past Gina Production platform. Low lying clouds on the hills on shore and on the islands but it will probably burn off. The main sail and jib are up but we have to keep the motor running to keep them full.
Live fire exercise going on by the military by Santa Barbara Island - it is a little out of our way but you are required to stay 10 miles distance out of the area. Similar to the exercises that they carry out in the Whiskey Gulf area north of Nanaimo.
0818 Full sails and we are are cruising at 6.5 knots.
Sail Lesson: Sometimes I use the name jib and sometimes I say genoa - well a genoa is just a big jib. And it is the sail at the bow of the boat. Our boat is a cutter so we also have a smaller stay sail that sits just behind the genoa and before the mast. It helps to stabilize the boat. The main sail is the big sail that is attached to the boom. And it is the combination of the direction of the wind and the amount of wind that determines which sail you put up. The general rule is the more wind you have the less sail area you put out. When it is blowing 20-25 knots we usually put a reef in the main which means we lower it a little bit and fold the bottom of it on the boom to reduce the sail area. When it is really blowing then you take all your sails down and put up a storm sail which is about the size of a diaper (okay maybe a tad bigger) to help keep the boat stable but prevent it from healing over too much.
0823: Abeam Pt. Hueneme.
We are into the main stratus clouds which means that the sun is not getting through but at least there is no fog. In fact we have been extremely lucky so far as we have had next to no fog - something that the entire west coast is known for and only that one hour or so of rain up in Washington. This is a restricted area because it is a military and container port for the US Navy and naval Construction Battalion Center. The commercial terminal supports cargo vessels, commercial and sport fisheries and oil support vessels for the many offshore rigs.
0900: coffee break and dolphin sighting. 30+ came over to the boat to play. We are in the middle of the Channel Islands. 8 in total over 130 miles from San Diego to Point Conception. They are relatively natural and the only one that has moorings is Catalina. In the South are San Clemente, Santa Catalina, San Nicolas and Santa Barbara and are separated from the mainland by San Pedro Channel. In the North are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa and are separated from the mainland by Santa Barbara Channel.
1408: abeam of Los Angeles but the marine clouds are preventing a clear sighting of the shore.
1445: motor rpm's decreased again so I pulled back on the throttle a little and of course the captain immediately appeared - he is like a mother who wakes up any time her newborn baby cries! The wind has picked up so we decided to hoist the sails.
1505: we are on a beam reach and cruising at 6.3 knots with the motor running at 1200 rpm's. We usually have it running about 1700. David makes the decision to change the filter. So we turn the motor off and our speed reduces to 5 knots. Upon changing the filter David notices that the secondary filter has been removed for some reason which means the fuel is only getting filtered once at 10 microns before going into the engine. This is not good practice. We are not sure if the guy who did our engine overall did this or not. Anyway we were at a comfortable point of sail and the filter change went quite well. That is - until we tried to prime the engine and restart the motor. We tried everything with no success. We were afraid if we continued to try bleeding the lines that we would burn out the starter. So we had to make a change of plans and cancel our visit to Catalina because you can only hook onto a buoy and we did not want to go into a place like that with no motor. Oh well - probably just a lot of shops that do not really interest me any more and restaurants - well I can cook just as well. So I found some Mulligatawny soup instead.
It is 95 miles to San Diego and the winds have decided to die down and our speed is slowly dwindling. This could be a very long sail into San Diego.
2013-10-21: passing abeam long point light on Santa Catalina island, about 7 nm offshore. The lights of Avalon in sight and the winds are light 1-3 knots.3 Cruise ships passing ahead - inbound to LA.
0330: Pod of dolphins playint at the stern for 20-30 minutes
0600: BA up and it is flat calm. 0.0 knots. I got excited when I had a puff of wind and made it to 1.8 - well at least we were going forward. It is really difficult trying to keep ones eyes open. I guess this is good practice for the Doldrums. I Better put some music on.
0712: more dolphins and the sun is up. We are dead in the water and have been looking at Catalina Island all night.
1010: Captain is up and decided to make one more stab at getting the motor started. Disconnected all hoses from the injection pump to the primary filter and filled it with diesel from a paper cup. After 3 attempts we finally got it to turn over. Kisses for the Captain.
1050: I made some fresh coffee and banana pancakes with maple syrup. No boat rules today - I also did the clean up. Regardless, David says that it should not be that difficult to prime the engine so we will get someone to look at it in S.D. and come up with a solution.
Shorts are on. Sunscreen is on. I am wearing Debbie's purple hat. And last night is behind us. Part of the experience. We will focus on the lessons learnt and the beauty of the moment and go forward - at this time we are just happy to be going forward. We may not have had wind but we stayed out of the shipping lane and there was no traffic and the moon was out and the stars and lots of dolphins.
1258: David did not have a great sleep as his brain was working overtime trying to figure out how to get the engine started. So he has gone to bed to get caught up.
Now I know this is a long blog but just think of us being out there for the last 12 hours just since the motor died and we have not gone anywhere. And we are still 18 hours away from S.D. And we had been on the water 24 hours before that started!!And we are still smiling!!
1304: Motor sailing but do not want to test fate and turn the motor off even though the winds are strong enough. Seas are rippled with a 2 foot swell with winds from the SW at 5-10 knots.
1430: The sun is like diamonds on the ocean. The engine is purring like a kitten. Wind has picked up to 10-15
1858: sun is setting and it is as beautiful as ever. I wonder if we will ever get bored with beautiful sunsets?
1950: Main is down and it is time for tea and cookies. No Stuart - no heated tea pot and no china cups today. But it still tasted good!
2020: Moon is up.
2200: Entering into San Diego Harbor around Point Loma. I am out on the bowsprit with a flashlight helping David to avoid the many lobster traps. It is like driving through a mine field but you sure do not want to snag one of those in your prop.
2330: tied up at he Police Dock. Phoned into Customs and they said we could check in in the morning. So we plugged in and I climbed into bed. Fell asleep immediately. Then 5 minutes later David woke me up telling me that we could not stay on the dock in case there was a Police emergency so we had to go find the quarantine mooring buoy. I do not think that I was laughing!! I said to David - didn't you tell the cop that we were the emergency?
0012: 2013-10-22 Finally we are in bed and sleep for the next 9 hours solid. Tomorrow is another day!
Santa Barbara looked like a beautiful place.
But after cleaning up we were too tired to do anything except go for dinner and watch the fishermen bring in their catch. The most interesting was the sea urchins - they looked cool but it is mostly the Japanese who are interested in them.David tried them once and was not impressed.
We called Homeland Security and we received mixed information about checking in - again! - as to what is required when checking in from one district to another. San Fran told us that we would not have to check in again until San Diego. LA says we have to check in at Long Beach if we wanted to go to Catalina Island - which we tried to explain is a 60 mile trip one way and at an average speed of 5 knots we were looking at a 24 hour detour.The phone was being passed around to 3 officers and none of them could agree as to what the protocol is. After a lengthy discussion and David's diplomatic demeaner we were able to come up with a compromise. We could stay at Santa Barbara for 48 hours and then sail down to Ventura where they would meet us and clear us in for Santa Barbara and Catalina and clear us out for both places as well. Of course they wanted $19 for each so we shelled out another $76. Because our boat is licensed in Washington State and registered in Canada it does not qualify for a cruising license which would eliminate all of this so they treat us as if we are a commercial vessel and are required to check in and out of every port we enter at $19 a pop. Oh well - I guess it is still cheaper than paying all that duty which we avoided by not bringing the boat into Canada.
So once that was settled we decided to enjoy Santa Barbara and walked down to the pier and then into town to get some fresh fruit and vegetables.
Then we came back to the boat. I did a large laundry - which was a bit of a hike just because the marina is so big but it was clean and you could use your credit card instead of trying to find $10 dollars in quarters.
When I got back to the boat it was a pleasant surprise to see that David had cleaned the boat inside and out and it looked great. Then I cleaned out the fridge - something you tend to do more often on a boat. And I am pleased to announce that there has been next to no spoilage of food on this trip so far. Part of it has to do with planning meals around what is thawed and ripe, not overstocking and finding better ways to store things.
Below are some things that I have found to be successful and you may even start considering them in your own homes. Keep different types of vegetables packed separately as the acids that they give off will cause things to ripen faster. This is especially true for bananas. The use of vacuum packed bags or those Debbie Meyer greenbags (as seen on TV) are fantastic. Tightly wrapping your cheese in tin foil also works - I bought a 5 lb loaf of chedder in Bellingham and I never had any mold on it and just finished it this week. Wrapping apples and potatoes in foil also seems to work.
I also took inventory of the freezer and the few things that I had left from stocking in Bellingham were still frozen solid. I believe that vacuum packing those things also helped. Also putting your bread at the top of the freezer as this part does not get that cold prevented the bread from going moldy - which was always a problem when I just kept it in the hanging baskets.
Made sandwiches for the next day - mixed the mayo and cranberries and diced roasted chicken together like chicken salad and then put that in between 2 slices of bread. Very good. And as a note - when you get into Mexico and Central America you will find lots of chicken and maybe even some turkey but you will not frind cranberry sauce!! Prepared a beautiful porketta roast with the last pork tenderloin along with potatoes and carrots, put it in the oven and then went over to Dave & Michelle's boat along with Al and Sandy for happy hour!
0915 October 17: sunglasses and sunscreen on already but flat calm. Oh well - I guess you cannot have everything.
1000 to 1130: passed 6 more production platforms - A, B, C, Houchin, Hogan and Henry
You can see Santa Cruz Island, Santa \rosa and San Miguel to the south.
1350: Tied up at the Harbor Patrol in Ventura after a day of motoring.
1415: Border Patrol showed up and cleared us in and out and in and out and in!There was a Yanmar dealer (our motor) next to the building and we were able to pick up a fuel filter for the engine.
Ventura: 34*14.77 N 119*16.30W
We made use of our Tuktayuktuk Yacht Club membership and stayed at the Ventura Yacht Club for 2 nights - $30. David and the boys had made it an official club in the days when they were working in the Arctic. He told the guy at the marina that it was probably the most northerly club they would ever hear about! The guy welcomed us in and invited us to the Prime Rib buffet that evening. We met some great people and one couple showed up to our boat the next day with the keys to their car so we could go get supplies. The town is beautiful with lots of canals with beautiful houses all along them. As we were driving into town we went past fields of lemon trees and avocados and strawberries. I had the windows down and the air actually smelt like lemons. It was glorious. Sorry I did not have the camera with me so no pictures - just the ones in my head.
We stayed the extra day just because it was such a beautiful place.
0606: departed Ventura with a slight breeze and a 2-4 foot swell.There was the silouette of pelicans against the rising sun as we departed.
We were noticing the occasional drop in rpm's in the motor and David figured that it was time to change that filter. We would keep our ears opened if it continued.
0703: sunrise
0752: BLT for breakfast.Just past Gina Production platform. Low lying clouds on the hills on shore and on the islands but it will probably burn off. The main sail and jib are up but we have to keep the motor running to keep them full.
Live fire exercise going on by the military by Santa Barbara Island - it is a little out of our way but you are required to stay 10 miles distance out of the area. Similar to the exercises that they carry out in the Whiskey Gulf area north of Nanaimo.
0818 Full sails and we are are cruising at 6.5 knots.
Sail Lesson: Sometimes I use the name jib and sometimes I say genoa - well a genoa is just a big jib. And it is the sail at the bow of the boat. Our boat is a cutter so we also have a smaller stay sail that sits just behind the genoa and before the mast. It helps to stabilize the boat. The main sail is the big sail that is attached to the boom. And it is the combination of the direction of the wind and the amount of wind that determines which sail you put up. The general rule is the more wind you have the less sail area you put out. When it is blowing 20-25 knots we usually put a reef in the main which means we lower it a little bit and fold the bottom of it on the boom to reduce the sail area. When it is really blowing then you take all your sails down and put up a storm sail which is about the size of a diaper (okay maybe a tad bigger) to help keep the boat stable but prevent it from healing over too much.
0823: Abeam Pt. Hueneme.
We are into the main stratus clouds which means that the sun is not getting through but at least there is no fog. In fact we have been extremely lucky so far as we have had next to no fog - something that the entire west coast is known for and only that one hour or so of rain up in Washington. This is a restricted area because it is a military and container port for the US Navy and naval Construction Battalion Center. The commercial terminal supports cargo vessels, commercial and sport fisheries and oil support vessels for the many offshore rigs.
0900: coffee break and dolphin sighting. 30+ came over to the boat to play. We are in the middle of the Channel Islands. 8 in total over 130 miles from San Diego to Point Conception. They are relatively natural and the only one that has moorings is Catalina. In the South are San Clemente, Santa Catalina, San Nicolas and Santa Barbara and are separated from the mainland by San Pedro Channel. In the North are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa and are separated from the mainland by Santa Barbara Channel.
1408: abeam of Los Angeles but the marine clouds are preventing a clear sighting of the shore.
1445: motor rpm's decreased again so I pulled back on the throttle a little and of course the captain immediately appeared - he is like a mother who wakes up any time her newborn baby cries! The wind has picked up so we decided to hoist the sails.
1505: we are on a beam reach and cruising at 6.3 knots with the motor running at 1200 rpm's. We usually have it running about 1700. David makes the decision to change the filter. So we turn the motor off and our speed reduces to 5 knots. Upon changing the filter David notices that the secondary filter has been removed for some reason which means the fuel is only getting filtered once at 10 microns before going into the engine. This is not good practice. We are not sure if the guy who did our engine overall did this or not. Anyway we were at a comfortable point of sail and the filter change went quite well. That is - until we tried to prime the engine and restart the motor. We tried everything with no success. We were afraid if we continued to try bleeding the lines that we would burn out the starter. So we had to make a change of plans and cancel our visit to Catalina because you can only hook onto a buoy and we did not want to go into a place like that with no motor. Oh well - probably just a lot of shops that do not really interest me any more and restaurants - well I can cook just as well. So I found some Mulligatawny soup instead.
It is 95 miles to San Diego and the winds have decided to die down and our speed is slowly dwindling. This could be a very long sail into San Diego.
2013-10-21: passing abeam long point light on Santa Catalina island, about 7 nm offshore. The lights of Avalon in sight and the winds are light 1-3 knots.3 Cruise ships passing ahead - inbound to LA.
0330: Pod of dolphins playint at the stern for 20-30 minutes
0600: BA up and it is flat calm. 0.0 knots. I got excited when I had a puff of wind and made it to 1.8 - well at least we were going forward. It is really difficult trying to keep ones eyes open. I guess this is good practice for the Doldrums. I Better put some music on.
0712: more dolphins and the sun is up. We are dead in the water and have been looking at Catalina Island all night.
1010: Captain is up and decided to make one more stab at getting the motor started. Disconnected all hoses from the injection pump to the primary filter and filled it with diesel from a paper cup. After 3 attempts we finally got it to turn over. Kisses for the Captain.
1050: I made some fresh coffee and banana pancakes with maple syrup. No boat rules today - I also did the clean up. Regardless, David says that it should not be that difficult to prime the engine so we will get someone to look at it in S.D. and come up with a solution.
Shorts are on. Sunscreen is on. I am wearing Debbie's purple hat. And last night is behind us. Part of the experience. We will focus on the lessons learnt and the beauty of the moment and go forward - at this time we are just happy to be going forward. We may not have had wind but we stayed out of the shipping lane and there was no traffic and the moon was out and the stars and lots of dolphins.
1258: David did not have a great sleep as his brain was working overtime trying to figure out how to get the engine started. So he has gone to bed to get caught up.
Now I know this is a long blog but just think of us being out there for the last 12 hours just since the motor died and we have not gone anywhere. And we are still 18 hours away from S.D. And we had been on the water 24 hours before that started!!And we are still smiling!!
1304: Motor sailing but do not want to test fate and turn the motor off even though the winds are strong enough. Seas are rippled with a 2 foot swell with winds from the SW at 5-10 knots.
1430: The sun is like diamonds on the ocean. The engine is purring like a kitten. Wind has picked up to 10-15
1858: sun is setting and it is as beautiful as ever. I wonder if we will ever get bored with beautiful sunsets?
1950: Main is down and it is time for tea and cookies. No Stuart - no heated tea pot and no china cups today. But it still tasted good!
2020: Moon is up.
2200: Entering into San Diego Harbor around Point Loma. I am out on the bowsprit with a flashlight helping David to avoid the many lobster traps. It is like driving through a mine field but you sure do not want to snag one of those in your prop.
2330: tied up at he Police Dock. Phoned into Customs and they said we could check in in the morning. So we plugged in and I climbed into bed. Fell asleep immediately. Then 5 minutes later David woke me up telling me that we could not stay on the dock in case there was a Police emergency so we had to go find the quarantine mooring buoy. I do not think that I was laughing!! I said to David - didn't you tell the cop that we were the emergency?
0012: 2013-10-22 Finally we are in bed and sleep for the next 9 hours solid. Tomorrow is another day!
Hi Betty Ann...finally caught up with you...love your journal entries and love hearing about your wonderful adventures....especially enjoyed hearing you express the philosophy you two embrace..... We will focus on the lessons learnt and the beauty of the moment and go forward - at this time we are just happy to be going forward.....Thank you for that wisdom ! Happy Travels ! Linda Lee on Porto Bello
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