Docked in San Diego

Sunrise over the San Diego Coast

I arrived in San Diego yesterday at 7am.  The sail over from Avalon was refreshing, it felt good to be on the move again.  After leaving Avalon at noon the winds were 2 to 3 knots until I motored out of the wind shadow of the island, where the winds built to around 8 knots on my starboard quarter and I started to sail in the light winds moving at 3.5 knots.  It was nice to be sailing again!  The winds ranged between 7 and 15 knots until 4am at which point I was 18 miles from San Diego and the winds died quickly to 3 knots.  I started motoring directly toward my destination and within an hour the wind had veered and built so I could simply unfurl my genoa and continue on a beam reach on the same course toward San Diego, losing a little boat speed but gaining peace and quiet.

A note for non-sailors about the timing of this trip.  If you're wondering why I left so late in the afternoon to sail at night, it was to ensure an arrival in daylight in San Diego.  Avalon to San Diego is a little over 70 miles.  When motor sailing I travel at around 6 knots (6 nautical miles per hour,) which would make the trip a little over 11 hours.  There are only around 11 hours of daylight here now, so I would have been forced to leave slightly before dawn and motor the entire way to arrive just at sunset - which is not a very ideal trip.  By sailing at night I had more than enough time to take advantage of whatever winds there were and sail, while ensuring I had plenty of time to be there the next day before dark.  Leaving at noon gave me 24 hours to arrive the next day by noon, which was plenty of time.

I'm staying at the Kona Kai Marina, slip D-5.  When I first contacted the marina they said their price for the slip would be $2/foot per day.  Luckness is around 40' with the monitor wind vane, so that would have been a pricey stay.  After a little discussion, they offered me their monthly rate, pro rated for the length of my stay.  This works out to $21/foot per month, which is something like $28 per day.  Much more reasonable than $80/day.

I'll be here for perhaps a week and a half, and then leave for Ensenada, Mexico!

Getting ready to leave Avalon

There is a saying that I keep coming across: if a thing is worth doing, its worth overdoing.  Reading my last few posts I was a little surprised how many words there were.  What a blabber mouth I am!  This may be one of the dangers of traveling alone, when I find an outlet for communication the words just spew out. So this time there will be fewer words, but more pictures; overdoing the pictures this time rather than the words.

Avalon has been a beautiful stay.  Tomorrow I will have been here for two weeks, and since arriving I have been out hiking every second day since arriving.  Its been good, and I'm in better shape now than when I first arrived.  I don't know how the hiking is going to be in Mexico, but I'll soon find out as I'm getting anxious to head south and start exploring that country.  Part of the attraction is of course the weather.  Today's high in Avalon was 60 degrees.  Cabo San Lucas' high was 83.  The low's last night in Avalon was 48, Cabo's was 61.  I'm looking forward to being warm again.

Click on any picture for a larger view.

Avalon harbor from my boat, looking south

One of the beaches

Pedestrian friendly front street

Looking down on Avalon from Upper Terrace Road

A street view.  Most of the vehicles here are golf carts.  Its cool.

An alley.  No room for a suburban here!

A view from my favorite pub

Luckness is the last boat, third row from shore.

Avalon across the golf course

Craig at the Wrigley Memorial site, taken by William.

William and Christina.  A couple I met at the end of a hike at the Wrigley Memorial.  Thanks for the photos!

Another view across the golf course

A view from the junction above the Hermit Gulch Trail

The plaque in the photo above has a poem which I liked.  Sailing also seems to be a way of "escaping the madding world of strife"... 

But when I climb up to my Island peak,
escape awhile the madding world of strife,
I envy not an earthly thing. This life,
which sometimes galls, is swept clean of its cares
by friendly winds, and once again I smile.
Ay, truly, life seems sweet - a thing worthwhile.

Capt. Eddie Harrison
Nov 24, 1912 - Oct 10, 1992.

Sweaty me.

A view along the path to Lone Tree, heading toward the south side of the island

A view from Lone Tree looking down on the Palisades, on the south side of the island

Another view from Lone Tree

More from Lone Tree

A hiking view

Another hiking view

Me!

When I arrived in Avalon there were three boats in the Harbor I knew - Jim and Karen were here on Sockdolager, Damon and Desiree were here on Gia, and Herman and Claudette were here on Bijou.  Within a few days, they had all moved on.  A day later I was rowing back to my boat after breakfast and looked up to see a new neighbor.  Their boat was registered, from all places, in Edmonton, Alberta.  I went over to meet them and met Chuck and Karen on Katie G.  I had fun hanging out with them while they were here.  Chuck and Karen are also heading south and I hope to meet them in Mexico.

I'll be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov 8th) for San Diego.  My pace has slowed down a little, partly because I like this new pace, and partly because I'm trying to finish up some business I had with the City of Seattle which is coming to conclusion.  The 'business' is going to be helping the cruising kitty, and is a good thing.

Later eh.