We left Long Beach late on a sunny afternoon, with enough breeze to keep the sails up all through the night and make about 2.5 knots/hr. We hove-to about 3 miles off Dana Point at three in the morning, and took turns snoozing until it was light enough to clear into the harbor. Our friends had already arranged a reciprocal slip for us, so it was as easy as if we lived there. Oh, except for that one sandy shoal in the middle of the entrance channel.

Distracting SUPs and pelicans on entry to Dana Harbor.

Rick and Connie drove us all over town, and we even went to Costco again, if you can believe it (barely 48 hours since the last run…). Rhino’s crew has a place high on the hills between Dana Point and San Clemente, and their view is unbelievable – we spent the better part of a day there, taking in the warm breezes and vistas. Later that night we went for dinner together, and then sat on the lawn overlooking the entrance channel to watch an aMAZing lighted boat parade. These Dana Pointians really get into their lighted boats!

After a couple of hours cheering for the 50 or so entries, we toddled off to bed. We would sail to Oceanside the next morning for another free night’s sleep thanks to a friendly yacht club.

San Onofre nuclear power plant, home of the three-eyed fish.

We made a quick 14-mile motor to Oceanside, where Wade met up with his Christmas present thanks to Jason driving over and leaving it with the bartender  (“He was really nice,” she said. “Really.”) We took her word for it, since he had to leave before we arrived.

The next morning we shoved off for San Diego. Zero wind + 40 NM to go = (1)40hp yanmar(5-6 hours). Approximately. As we were turning the corner at Pt. Loma, Carla had the opportunity to speak with naval warship 4-9 regarding their maneuvers adjacent to our course. They were very polite. When they instructed us to move our conversation over to channel 72 on the VHF, a tired voice crackled over the air waves “Please use a different channel. This channel is for recreational boaters and fishing, not war.” Then silence. (I can only imagine the tension that must exist in this harbor. The military has a HUGE presence here.) Warship 4-9 continued their discussion with us, I promised to maintain course and speed, and we were off to the Harbor Police dock to register.

San Diego Harbor guardians.

The VHF radio was full of traffic concerning a large boat fire somewhere in one of the marinas. Sure enough, when we pulled in to the police dock all the officers were all out on the fire and no one was available to inspect our boat so we could get into the free cruisers’ anchorage. We took one night at a paid guest slip, got a shower, and moved to the anchorage the next day. (No one was hurt in the fire. Onboard holiday lights caused the inferno.)

Filed under the small world category: as we pulled into the A9 anchorage, one of the boats there looked vaguely familiar. As we drew closer, the bodies on the foredeck seemed familiar as well. Suddenly, Hal and Nancy on Shakedown from Port Angeles materialized! We’d been trying to hook up with them for a while, and here they were! Very cool.

The anchorage in San Diego. Pelican Moon is to the far right, and Shakedown is closest to the left of us.

At this point, you may be placing bets that we that we will not be in Mexico for the holidays after all. You’d be correct. Our moorage is free here, so we’re waiting ’til we have 2 days in a row at Ensenada to ensure we get checked in and don’t have to be stuck in the marina for more days than we’d like. Yeah, free is still the best sauce. We’re heading via Greyhound back to Long Beach for two days over Christmas, and will then be back to wait until Jan. 1 to make the run to Ensenada. Turns out, the Christmas and New Year holidays are mid week, which eliminates two days from the Customs check-in time available.

So, we swing from our hook, bobbing in synch to motorboats, cruise ships and navy vessels as they traverse the south harbor. We awake each morning to the sky-scraping sounds of jets taking off from the International Airport that is next door.  We get in the dinghy and row ashore most everyday, do some walking around, some more shopping, some sight-seeing. We’re finally starting to relax. At least the vegetation in San Diego is gnarly enough that we feel we are someplace different. Feliz Navidad to one and all!

San Diego skyline from our boat at anchor.