And Miles to Go Before We Sleep...

Oceanside Yacht Club,CA
The charming David, our OYC host, welcomed us at the dock for the Baja Ha Ha Rendezvous, a group of cruisers all heading south to meet up with another 168 boats who plan to shoot around the Baja together October 24th. There we met other HaHa'ers, Gilly and John on Destiny and several Vancouver and Seattle cruisers. Oceanside is a very small but active sailing club that certainly lives up to its reputation as the friendliest yacht club on the Pacific coast. The weekend opened with a tasty pancake breaky, and man-overboard presentation, with happy hour and Mexican dinner later in the chartroom, thanks to Les, Judy, Lee and the OYC crew. On Sunday we joined in a race around the buoys and flew the spinnaker, with myself, Cathryn, as Skipper and Daragh as crew. Yes! Chantey got the OYC trophy for fifth place! Which really isn't that great considering there were only five boats in our category. We also received a beautiful framed photo of Chantey, compliments of Judy the club photographer. Sadly, the party ended and we were off Monday morning for Mission Bay.
San Diego Bay
Well we made it! The first leg of the journey is over, and with 1500 miles behind us we slipped into Mission Bay, San Diego and dropped the hook in the pristine bay beside John and Gilly on Destiny from San Francisco. They shared many interesting cruising stories with us about life in Puerto Vallarta, their new home. We awoke to the unfamiliar sound of rain on the deck, as we haven't seen rain since we left Victoria, and beat a hasty retreat out of the bay, winding our way through a sea of crab pots and kelp beds around Pt. Loma to San Diego Bay. The sky opened up and poured buckets as we hunkered down for a wet night. Next morning sun filtered in through the portholes and we recalled the San Diego of our former visit, all drenched in sunshine. So here we are in sunny San Diego where we will relax and chill out, and prepare for the long trip down the Baja.

One of the Irish lads, and good friend, Ivor has called by, and has taken us out for a delicious dinner at 'Island Prime', with a panoramic view of the magnificent SD skyline at night, a real luxury after boat life. Ivor invited us to stay with himself and Deann at Rancho Santa Fe for an evening and delectable steak BBQ on the deck.





Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' gal,
The Skipper brave and sure,
And one Westie set sail that day,
For a one year tour,
A one year tour...
'Gilligan's Island'