Santa Barbara and Oxnard Family (plus Trisha who was visiting Santa Barbara)

Maggie, Paula's sister, with Jack in the background












Trisha, Paula's sister












Orion, Paula's nephew, at the helm












Paul, (Maggies husband) with Trisha












Michael, Paula's brother

While in Marina Del Rey we were blessed with the opportunity to visit with family and friends. We spent some nice evenings and days with Tricia, Stan and Jack and appreciated their hospitality and opening their home and hearts to us. Dana and Howard and the crew, Sydney, Carl, Molly and Matthew, joined us on the Suzanne2 for a Sunday night feast which they provided. Carla, from San Francisco, who may be in-luuvv, also joined us that evening. We rented a car and drove to Lancaster (not on the ports of call list) to stay with Ken’s sweet mom for a few days. We also visited with Steve, one of Ken’s longtime friends, who we had not seen in almost 20 years.

Thank you all for adding to the many memories and special moments we are gathering on this amazing journey.

Hello San Diego! We will be staying here (actually, we are moored 5 miles south of the city in Chula Vista) for two weeks. Melaina is flying down to spend a week with us. Yea!!!

We have completed the first major leg of our journey, Olympia to San Diego, which covered about 1,500 and took 82 days. “No Hurries No Worries”

For those boaters and dreamers among you, here is a list of the ports, bays, coves and islands we have visited.

In Washington: Gig Harbor; Port Townsend; Port Angles; Neah Bay and Grays Harbor.

In Oregon: Astoria; Garibaldi (Tillamook Bay); Newport; and Coos Bay.

In California: Crescent City; Eureka; Shelter Bay; Fort Brag; Point Arena Cove; Bodega Bay; San Francisco Bay, (Oyster Point, Alameda, and Angel Island); Half Moon Bay; Santa Cruz; Capitola; Monterey; San Simeon; Point San Louis; Coyo Bay; Santa Barbara; Channel Island Harbor; Santa Cruz Island (Smugglers Cove); Anacapa Island (Fish Camp); Marina Del Rey; Catalina Island (Isthmus Cove and Avalon); Oceanside; San Diego (Glorieta Bay and Chula Vista).

Our next stop, Ensenada Mexico, are we having fun or what?

I’ll be adding new pictures soon.

Fair winds and smooth seas to all.

This is the whale that threatened our boat. He came alongside, moved toward the bow, splashed his tale, crossed in front of the boat, splashed again and then stayed stationary with his tale in the air as the boat, under sail, moved forward. He waited untill his tail was next to the cockpit and then slapped the water again, sending a spray across the cockpit and me. I could have reached out and touched him if I'd been on the toerail of the boat. After that he just swam away.

We have seen many whales and this is the only time one has behaved in this manner. We hope it is the last.

After leaving Santa Cruz in the late afternoon we spent the night on anchor at Capitola which is a well sheltered cove from northwest winds with a nice view of the colorful shore. Left Capitola in the early morning fog to arrive in Monterey. We enjoyed Monterery so stayed a few days, walking around town.

On Friday, August 25, we left Monterey in the early morning darkness for a long 14 hour day at sea to arrive in San Simion. This was a beautiful anchorage with the Hearst Castle towering above us on the nearby hillside. We stayed here a few days relaxing, dinghy exploring and enjoying life.

We left San Simion on Sunday morning and had a great sail across Morrow Bay with porpoises swimming with us along the bow of the boat and lots of whales. In fact, one whale was so close it smacked us with it's large fin and totally soaked the back of the boat and Ken who was at the helm. Now, that was a bit too exciting! Spent that evening on anchor at Pt San Luis.

Left San Luis eary morning, so dark that the horizon faded into the night. It was a nine hour day but we sailed a lot until the winds picked up to 30 mph and seas well over 10 feet as we rounded Pt. Conception (called the Cape Horn of California). Once around the Cape, we headed due east and noticed a change in the weather and seas. It has been much smoother sailing and calmer seas since. We spent that evening on anchor at Cojo Anchorage. It was a bit of a rolly night as the swells were breaking off the shore.

We arrived in Santa Barbara the next day, Tuesday, and stayed visiting Maggie, Paul and Orion and Paula's other sister Tricia and son Jack for a few days. It has been a treat having the opportunity to see family.

We left Santa Barbara on Friday, September 1, for a short cruise to the Channel Island Harbor to visit more family, Paula's brother Mike. It was a great down wind sail in 15 knts of wind, 5 feet seas until....that darn shaft came off again! This time not at the dock but at the entrance to the harbor being pushed toward the breaking surf. We quickly reefed the sails and headed into the wind which of course had picked up to 25+. Paula held the helm while Ken tried to grip the shaft on long enough to limp in out of the swells and to the nearest dock. Ken had it fixed by six pm. Thank goodness for Ken!

Other than that we enjoyed our stay in this harbor which was very scenic and had a nice visit with Mike. On Monday we headed to the Channel Islands where we spent a few days and nights in Smugglers Cove on Santa Cruz Island and a night at East Fish Camp on Anacapa Island. Smugglers Cove was great for fishing, swimming, hiking and exploring in the dinghy..and reading and relaxing in the warm sunshine.

We arrived in Marina Del Rey on September7 and will spend a week here visiting the last of the California family (Tricia, Dana and Ken's Mom). Also we will have the boat hauled out of the water to replace the cutlass bearing which was threatening a mishap at sea.