The Best Little Marina Ever



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 Sun Harbor Marina had a computer/exercise/gathering room with wifi, computer and printer for resident andf guest use, as well as the most elegant  bathrooms I have ever seen.  We met a friend of a friend from Hawaii and called Barbara to tell that there was "history" in this rally.  Great restaurants nearby.  Linda came down and I got to stay across the street with her at the Best Western  - good thing as she organized the last of the shopping.  Horrible to leave friends behind!



Congestion and then some.....and sort of grim weather waiting for the start.



Our crew, Barbara, Frand and MacGregor.....



Our escort out of Point Loma Channel - he came awfully close at times - all 160 plus boats in the parade out the channel were doing their best to get out of the way.  We went out into rain, fell in some windless holes, had the autopilor act up but kept going, all nervous and uptight.  The stress of getting ready to go did not wear off easily for a few days and then we had the interpersonal stuff that seems to vitally important.  Egos belong somewhere else.  Ah.  Where is the glamour?



Frank on watch in unsettled first day weather.  We had three strange sailing days to Turtle Bay - dropped the anchor and went ashore, without dogs.  Had to do laundry.  I couldn't stand the noise and went back to the boat for some peace.  The land was rocking and rolling - so might as well stay aboard.  OUr dinner ashore was delicious but a major ripoff and a disappointment that the residents would talke advantage of the Baja fleet.

Summer of 2013

Remember when your teacher said to write a paper about what you did all summer?  Below is a synopsis  of our's.

 

 

 

Marina Village early one morning on the way out to fish with Steve.....

Steve's Boat - the Bald Eagle....from Alcatraz.  Great fishing boat, great skipper - we would put a hook down and always something would bite, including squid.  I found out that squid ink comes out of clothes...but tastes awful.  Anywhere from one to six squid would come up on a special hook arrangement, all shooting ink.  We would see Orcas, seals swimming in formation (honest), dolphins, sunfish....and always caught fish.

A boat tour around Newport Harbor:  Janice, Evan and Aaron .....we saw incredible huge yachts and some that were floating wigth divine help.  Windward Passage was moored across the bay, without a mast.  That boat has such Transpac history - my brother fell off it during a party at the Ala Wai - and he was wearing a blue tuxedo.  Lord, the 70s.

A short trip up to Edison Lake, at 8,000.  Con Ed was letting out so much water that we had to hike to the shore.  Thunder and lightning storms every afternoon:  hail covered the ground.  Our tent was so wet we slept in the van with wet dogs.

 

Sad scene.  A fire broke out across the lake, and we had a nervous night's sleep after the helicopters dumping water left it burning.  We went home.  Jim is selling the resort, no water in the lake, the damn place is burning down....who knows when we will get back there or when a snowpack will fill it again.

 

Mark came to visit - on the one of the happiest days in a long while.  He was put in charge of driving, docking, sailing...everything except cooking.  That may be Robert also at the helm - trying to read?????

We had a great sailmaker cut down one of our spinnakers in Mexico but never got to fly it....this was magic on little wind.  We were doing up to 6t plus knots with a 3knot breeze....I'O moves!

San Diego as a temporary home.

Over a year ago we had an entry to the blog - what happened?  Went to Scottsdale for foot work; Robert built houses for Habitat, and I painted.  Return to Marina Del Rey for the bottom job (the color was immediately named Candyass green) - not my choice, and a lot of work to get the boat ready.  We are now in San Diego after an overnight trip down the coast, which had dolphins, little wind and lots of cloud.

We avoided any contact with the government (last time we were almost run into the reef by a bunch of kids with tommy guns keeping us away from a sub coming up the channel) travelling into Point Loma and tried to find the fuel dock as a honey wagon boat was taking up the Police Dock.  A dog stop at the dock had all the dogs relieved - they are pathetic with their legs crossed.  We know they will wait 24 hours....cruel, us.

We found out slip in America's Cup harbor with a lot of trepidation...lots, But Frank put us right in - sort of crowded but a great marina in walking distance to everything.  We compare this trip to the last one a lot - the last one we had our van and drove and drove.  Now we are true cruisers who walk everywhere.

This is a real cruiser's boat - no yacht character with all those toys.  When we entered the channel, a fellow on another sailboat went by and shouted, "Welcome home" to us and waved.  Umm...what?  Perhaps we looked like someone returning from a long cruise, not setting out.  You can tell the cruisers because of the toys on deck.



Frank and Barbara on watch off Southern California

Frank was on the first trip which  was was cut short at Half Moon Bay for engine problems, then on the second trip to Cabo and now, with Barbara, third time's the charm to have a tropical honeymoon.


We are part of a fleet of 165 boats heading south:  The Bajahaha fleet.  We will stop in Turtle Bay, have a party, a baseball game, then head for Bahia Santa Maria and have another party.  Then an overnight to Cabo where I'O will head immediately for Nuvo Vallarta, our other home on the water.  And have our own party. 

 

Caviar for lunch....

We have been there in the spring, years ago - the famus Huntington Library.  It is so much more than a library, with three buildings full of paintings, a research building and a green house.  The gardens are spectacular any time of year but the day we went, a thunderstorm was brewing.  We snagged a table in the tearoom where leetle, tiny sandwiches, interesting salads were displayed.  At the end of the display table, almost hidden, was a bowl of caviar.  I scooped it onto crackers with clotted cream (its a tea room after all)  and squeeze of  lemon and made an exhibition of myself.  Moaning.  Not de riguer behavior at the Huntington.

The Japanese garden looked serene, but was hot, hot, hot and tucked away in a gully, beautifully arranged and magnificent.  No cooloing wind, and the koi were lazy.

All right, who gets to rake this? Robert made a small Zen garden years ago which had a small rake and some lovely minerals as standing rocks and fun to rearrange.  The end of  this masterpiece and next door was full of ancient bonsai, just as mysterious and open to meditative wonder as the rock garden.  Too hot...we wandered into the main gallery, where a guard had to give me cold water to keep from passing out in the heat. Outdoor museum guard in both the Norton Simon and the Huntington have tough jobs having to stand in the heat, rain, etc.  I doubt they even care about meditation, although the slow passing of time is probably broken up with goffy tourists who need attention of some sort.

Horses to the meadow

Ma and Pa ready to ride the range:  up to 8500' plus.  For years we have wanted to take day rides in the nountains above Lake Edison and this year we saw the sign.  Day rides were now available:  from an hour to all day.  We chose 4 hours, thinking, we have done this.  Yeah. Right.  Years ago.  I was last on a horse with Barbara last summer and was terrified at the steep trails.  This was similar and yet, very different - we were in wilderness and climbed up and up and more.  When we crossed a small meadow, bees attacked us and my guy had front and back legs underneath him and I thought we were going to have a buck off.  It was dry and dusty climbing up - a huge difference from last year with all the flowers and underbrush.  Robert fell in love with horses.  I took lots of Ibuprofen and had trouble getting off the horse as my legs wouldn't work.

Graveyard Meadow was our trip destination and had a lovely little stream in it - and loads of cattle.  I was concerned at how the cattle got up to the meadow as the trail was pretty much single file from the horse lodge, and uphill.  The other trail needed a ferry or the cows swam across.  Their travels remained a mystery.  Robert is standing on part of the Pacific Crest/John Muir trail which continues to the low point in the trees and then up into a pass to more lakes.  We are across the lake from our camp and loving it.  years ago we hiked up to the pass and were pretty happy we had horses this time.  Until I had to get off it back at the lodge.

 

On the trip down the mountain, I asked Robert to stop so I could photograph the river below the hot springs.  Last year, the rocks on both sides were underwater.  There are small pools from the hot springs on the hill to the left.  Driving down to Mono Hot Springs is one of the terrifying part of the trip back down and it seemed to be as good an excuse as any just to get out of the car to take some long breaths.
I always hate to leave Vermilion Valley - and was glad we were able to do the trip this year, even a fast spur of the moment trip.  It was not the same without Dave and Bridget - perhaps next year.  I used to make fun of people who vacationed in the same place every year - but it is always new and different up there.  The tranquility, the fruitless search (sometimes) for fish, the sunsets that color the valley scarlet and purple, and the lake - all worth the awful drive.  It is a place that fills my soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stairway of sorts ....to heaven

Philosophers say the journey is part of the destination and with Lake Edison, so true.  We have been coming up the road from hell, and don't mean Fresno/Clovis, but the road with single lanes, treacherous drop offs and steep turns for over twenty years.  Some years I scream a lot from acrophobia, but this year I determined to look out across the valleys and down the cliffs and to breathe.  It sort of worked.  From 10,000' at Kaiser Pass, each familiar turn in the road led to another and we began to relax and wonder at the lake level.  Last year it was in front of the bare tree shown in the middle of the photo.  This year, ominous words of "low snow pack" had us concerned.  No matter, it is always blissful when we get here - and a spur of the moment trip from the noise of Marina Del Rey had us back in a small slice of heaven.  Both for us and the dogs.

Mono Creek,  is where I caught my first trout years ago, and not knowing what to do, just got all female and kept asking what do I do.  Ian, who was along with little  Ali, dryly suggested I reel it in and not having the right equipment he wrapped it in a dry diaper.  Suggested wisdom is to allow the bait to run down the river and slowly reel it in.  This year, I fell in, trying to get to my favorite spot near a deep area where I have always found trout in the past.  That gave the six, yes, six, guys who were crowding my favorite site some good ammunition about women.  The camp ground is one of our favorites, off the main road - but horrors, the rough areas had been smoothed out and the place was crowded.  I think the six guys spent all their time untangling their lines.  The sense of freedom and remoteness has been mitigated with concrete dust to level  around the larger boulders in the road.  Anybody can go there now.  I am not good at sharing secret spots.

One of the things that is a huge challenge to a painter is to paint moving water and get it to look translucent.  This small treasure of fish hole is upstream and we saw a woman trying to fish it.  I had visions of tangled lines when trying to reel in anything.  I didn't want to fish it, and thought it would make a fine watercolor.  Besides, after falling and having a tough time getting out of the current, wet and cold meant a warm shower and wine back at camp.
Everytime we leave here, we wonder if we will ever return.  Our lifestyle is such that no matter where we go, this place calls us.  We were supposed to be in in Panama at this time, suffering in heat and bugs.  This year, we were blessed with family "stuff" and were able to make the wild trek back to this beloved place.  Thank God.

These photos were loaned to us by a boat broker here in Marina Del Rey - he raved about sailing Shockwave years ago when the IOR class was supreme.  I was afraid to take them out of the frame, thus the reflection.  Racing took fifteen guys - and it looks as if they had "coffe grinders" oon board.  When we bought the boat we tried to take it back to original and a good thing we did.  We found that foam "batten"s had ben added to the hull to beat the IOR rule, but the battens were not glassed or sealed in.  If we had bumped something and took water through that klugy, idiotic  mess, we would have been in big trouble.  The second owner did a lot of things we changed and now feel a lot more secure in our hull.

I'O used to be Confrontation, but before that, was the first Shockwave:  built in New Zealand to get the then owner's money out of NZ.  Currency restrictions were fierce then, and he brought the boat to  Hawaii and then to San Francisco.  It won the (Hawaii) Round the State Race, was dismasted off of the southern part of the Big Islan but went on to victory.  It wond most of the Big Boat series in San Francisco Bay and was so infamous that the crew was called "the twisted sisters".  NZ humor.  The original paint job was the one I saw at the Waikiki Yacht Club when invited aboard years and years ago.  The spinnaker is about to round them down - you can see the action of the crew trying to get their weight on the high side.
That spinnaker was cut down to make a cruising spinnaker for us - yet to be flown.  We might be chicken.