Trip report
"Scott Vernon" wrote in
:
Sob sniff, sniff that is, like, sooo beautiful man! Really!
Mmm.
bertie
Scotty
"Mike" wrote in message
...
OK, so it was a milkrun of sorts. Lady Sailor, stalwart crewman John
and
I
got a ride to Ensenada from John's son Jesse, arriving about 4:00 pm
Monday.
Barely enough time to clear out, but Roger at Baha Naval got it done
while yours truly wrestled with rebuilding the aft head, changing out
the bilgepump and the y-valve for the forward head- some shi**y work
indeed! Lady Sailor and John had the more pleasant task of walking to
the local supermercado and buying some provisions. They missed all
the colorful language...
Left Ensenada about 2200 after a good dinner in town and arrived San
Diego about 1600 Tues. Was visited by Customs official named Jo Jo
who informed me I owed import duty on my 30 year old boat since I had
no paperwork showing it had ever been paid. $2,000 and it had to be
cash, plus we had
to
stay there until it was paid. I said to hell with it and we left
about
1830
after fueling up, making it to Avalon at about 1300 the next day.
Beautiful
run with moontrails on the water and shooting stars all night. Lady
Sailor
had the 0100- 0400 watch and had so much fun she took another hour!
The Reverend came out to the boat about 1830 and did a beautiful
short wedding ceremony.
Lady Sailor takes over the narrative
Just as I was coming on watch the moon was drifting into the horizon
so my watch was stars only and they gave a fabulous show shooting all
over the sky. About 0300 we were approaching the start of the
shipping lanes and
off
my port the ships were stacking up to head north. I was okay with
most of them but one stayed on a collision course with us so I fell
off and picked up some wind to avoid the big ships. It was perfect,
I was having a ball moving our Arabell across the water at 6 plus
knots while the boys slept below. The thought occurred to me that it
was my wedding day and that
made
it all the more enjoyable. I was feeling great!
I let John take over at 0500 so I could get in a few hours of "beauty
sleep"
and when I awoke we were in sight of Catalina. It was warm and sunny
and
an
absolutely perfect day. The only problem we had was the customs
officials had our boat documents and should anybody ask for them in
Avalon we didn't have a clue what might happen. But we forged on, we
had an appointment
with
the minister and it was our wedding day!
The pleasure crafts were stacked up looking for a mooring when we
arrived and that was to our advantage. When it was our turn the
harbor patrol
came
over and didn't bother with the document, he just wanted the number.
Fortunately we had that and were directed to a mooring in Hamilton
Cove.
It
was a perfect spot for a wedding. The rock wall we were moored next
to
was
leaden with flowers and we were far enough away from the town to
avoid the noise but enjoy the lights. Only bummer was it was rocky.
Every boat
that
passed by created a wake that sent our boat and all the boats around
us to pitching and fussing with the forces of the wake the passing
boats
created.
Pastor Sessions arrived on time and we were ready. I was in my
shorts and peach colored cotton blouse. Mike in his shorts and
Hawaiian shirt and John, our crew, best man, maid of honor, ring
bearer and photographer was appropriately attired in shorts and
Hawaiian shirt. All of us were
barefoot
by the way. It was perfect. As Pastor Sessions stepped aboard
Arabella
he
inquired if anybody else was aboard. No, it was just us. Mike and I
both agree that the sacrament of marriage is personal and doesn't
need a big hoo-haa. Our vows were spoken from the heart as the sun
set over the beautiful Pacific Ocean we both love. It was perfect.
That evening we found our way to the country club for an elegant
dinner
and
live Jazz. It was an excellent ending to an extraordinary day.
Great
food,
beautiful surroundings, excellent service and the music was
wonderful.
We woke up early the next morning, pulled up the dink, battened down
the hatches and headed for home at 0700. Mike kept expecting the
seas to buck us on that leg but I said my prayers to the sea gods and
it was an
unusually
calm crossing for theses waters. Only thing of interest were the
"birds
on
kelp" and dolphins. The "birds on kelp" were really just sea birds,
terns
I
think, who were resting on a big nest of kelp floating in the water.
The dolphins were great though. We could see a boil in the water
from a distance and always the dolphins were there stirring it up.
Friendly
little
critters they are, always ready to come over and say hello on the bow
wave.
As we made our approach to Channel Islands Harbor the sun was setting
and
we
were treated to the most extraordinary show I've seen in years. It
started
with a few colors and exploded from one set of colors to another and
then another and another and this went on for nearly 40 minutes. As
much as I wanted to get home I didn't want to miss any of this show.
But home we did go and gratefully so. Now it's time for me to
complete
this
post. It's late, I'm tired and Damn those computers anyway!
Mike & Lady B.
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