San Diego Jan 11th – Jan. 18th 2009

What a wonderful time we've had so far in San Diego!!! We've stayed at the Southwest, Silver Gate and San Diego Yacht Clubs. They were all wonderful clubs and all with great folks and amenities. We arrived first at Southwest, tied up, and went to the San Diego boat show. We ran into John, who has the Nordhavn Motorsailer we had seen previously in Dana Point, so we had lunch with him while we shared laughs and boating stories. Overall, the boat show was somewhat of a disappointment for us, since it was geared primarily towards sport fishing and trailerable boats.

The next day, we rode our bikes from Southwest Yacht Club over to West Marine and used our x-mas gift card. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) Then one day we made the mistake of doing a Mai Tai crawl. We started at the Best Western, the “Blue Wave” and they have a very good Mai Tai with excellent fruit juice and just the right amount of rum. We then proceeded to “Humphrey’s By the Bay” and the one there was not so good. We then walked to “Bali Hai” restaurant and their Mai Tai contains no juice at all, just all alcohol. That was the mistake…. the next day we were both sorry for drinking the third Mai Tai even though this was over the course of 3-4 hours…the last one was a kicker. We spent the next day just recovering. Damn, it is tough getting old.

The next day was the 15^th and we were to meet Kelli and Loe' in Los Angeles so we could see Nikki perform in the new production of Pippin. So we rented a car and off we went on our drive from San Diego to Los Angeles. We stayed at the Kyoto Hotel downtown and were able to walk to the Mark Taper Forum. We met Nikki prior to the performance and she apologized in advance, thinking as this was their first preview they might not make it through without stopping. However Nikki was great, the cast fantastic and the entire performance went off without any significant issues and was simply wonderful. We spent time after the performance having sushi with Nikki, and then took her home to Burbank, so we got to bed quite late.

The next day we headed back to San Diego with Loe' and Kelli, had a late lunch at the Yacht Club, and simply relaxed for the evening. The next day we took the boat out into the ocean and saw several Grey whales. Then later, we went to Old Town San Diego and had the most wonderful time. Thank you Kelli and Loe', it was fantastic to see you and spend time together!

After Loe' and Kelli left on Sunday, we met up with our friends Del and Trudy on their boat, Island Grace so we could plan our trip from San Diego to Ensenada. Since they had done this cruise a number if times, we felt confident traveling with them into Mexico. We would be leaving at first light on Jan. 19^th, so off to bed we went.

Mission Bay to San Diego Jan 10th, 2009

OK, so today as we cruised south the weather was a little cooler and visibility was about 3 miles, a little foggy, but not bad. As it often seems to happen when there is fog, the seas are calm and no wind, We could not make out the coast on the way down and we needed to stay out about 3 miles or so due to the significant kelp beds off of Point Loma. Fortunately, by the time we rounded the Point, the fog had dissipated.

We arrived in San Diego harbor and made our way to the South West Yacht Club, where we had a spot on their guest dock. Since we got in late afternoon we checked in at the club and just spent the rest of the evening on the boat relaxing.

Newport Beach to Dana Point - DP to Mission Bay Jan.8-9, 2009

Newport Beach to Dana Point Jan. 8^th, 2009

I know our northern cruising friends are probably tired of hearing about the flat seas and great weather…., but what can I say. We have not had a swell over 5 feet and none in less than 12-15 seconds. The wind has been perfect at 10 knots or less. And so it was today when we left for Dana Point. It was a short stay as we wanted to make our way to San Diego. The folks at the Dana Point Yacht club made us feel welcome and we enjoyed our stay.

Dana Point to Mission Bay Jan. 9^th, 2009

Mission Bay is beautiful and even though we could have continued on to San Diego, they are so close ( 1.5 to 2 hrs more at 7.5 knots) we decided to make a stop in Mission Bay. The folks at the Long Beach Yacht Club said it was worth a stop, so we did. Again we had great seas and weather and the cruise to Mission Bay was beautiful. Again we were made to feel welcome and enjoyed meeting the people there.

Long Beach -Long Beach Yacht Club Jan. 2-4, 2009

Long Beach – Long Beach Yacht Club Jan. 2-4, 2009

After spending a great new years evening, New Years day we moved into a guest slip provided by the Long Beach Yacht Club. We went to the club house, met a number of folks, and had a relaxing and pleasant New Years day.

There are great people in Long Beach that I had worked with long ago, 14 years to be exact and I decided to try and find them and if lucky, give them a call. I was very lucky!! It was wonderful to synch up with Sharon, Teri, Paul and T O’B and have them meet Alexus. What fun and what joy to catch up and share what had happened in our lives over those 14 years. On Sunday, Sharon and Teri invited us to dinner at their house. They were so sweet to pick us up and bring us back to the boat. Their house is beautiful and Sharon made a great dinner and we met some of their friends. They were a charming group and we talked and laughed the night away! We said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch via Facebook. Yea Teri and Sharon!!!

Long Beach to Newport Beach – Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club Jan. 5 -7^th, 2009

We cruised from Long Beach to Newport Beach, again lovely flat seas, little wind, and warm skies. The weather has been a Sailors nightmare and a Cruisers dream. We pulled into the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club and stayed on their guest dock. We walked all over Balboa Island and just enjoyed the warm weather, 74 degrees.

We called a broker about a boat we wanted to see. It was the Nordhavn 56’ Motor-Sailer. She is hull number one and the first entry into a motor- sailer by Nordhavn. The boat would be in Dana Point for commissioning, so we walked to the Hyatt and rented a car for our drive to Dana Point. We met the broker, Jerry and went aboard. She is some boat…and would be amazing to own. With a Nordhavn pedigree and combined sail, motor design, she will have the ultimate in passage making and blue water crossing capability and reliability. We met the owner John… he is one proud parent and rightly so..she is simply a beautiful and exciting boat! After our drive to see John’s Nordhavn Motor Sailer, we checked out the Dana point Yacht Club and made a reservation for a slip at their guest dock. We drove back to Newport Beach, returned the car and walked back to NuMoon.