YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2007/11/08 21:18
LATITUDE: 33-27.00N
LONGITUDE: 117-41.00W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 0
WIND_DIR: 013T
COMMENT: Beach House – Dana Point Harbor Tour enroute Oceanside, CA
Blog
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POSITION REPORT
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2007-11 Long Beach enroute San Diego
Trip from Catalina to San Diego
While in Newport Beach on the mooring, Cindy’s friend Lori came down for a visit Newport Beach – Californina 
Dana Point – named for famed author Richard Henry Dana is a small but very picturesque small craft harbor just north of San Clemente, California Dana Point – California 
When we left Newport Bay, we took a quick tour of Dana Point Marina – 10 miles south of Newport Beach Dana Point – California 
While enroute to Oceanside Harbor (north of San Diego), we had to alter course to avoid this high speed US Marine Hovercraft. Primarily used as a personel carrier, this vessel subsequently sailed right onto the beach and drove away just like a truck. Oceanside – California 
Gordon West is everyones guru when it comes to HAM radio. Gordon was teaching a class at Balboa Yacht Club while we were there and asked me to do a Winlink (EMAIL via HAM Radio) demonstration. It was becoming old home week! Newport Beach – Californina 
Merald Keys has become a valued friend and mentor to me in all things involving the USCG. I have taught stability & seamanship for the last 10 years under programs he has administered. Merald & Marianne Keys had lunch with us while were staying in Newport at Balboa Yacht Club Newport Beach – Californina 
This large male sea lion decided he found a new home. He proudly displayed his new residence and defended it against would be intruders (other male sea lions). Most of the boats in Newport Bay that were on moorings had to have some kind of fencing or guards against this type of squatting or their vessels suffered the consequences. Think of his personal habits as being much like a horse in a corral…….. -
POSITION REPORT
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2007/11/01 14:44
LATITUDE: 33-36.05N
LONGITUDE: 117-53.39W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 0
WIND_DIR: 013T
COMMENT: Beach House ARRIVED Newport Harbor, Mooring A-93 -
Long Beach California ……….
Dear F&F,
Long Beach is very large with many marinas & an active boating community. We
enjoyed watching the many dinghy racers, kayaks, outrigger canoes & shells.
A highlight for Cindy was docking anywhere that she could go swimming. We
enjoyed being guests of the Long Beach Yacht Club and their lovely pool.October 26, 2007
We were invited by our friends Mike & Beth Lonnes to the October dinner
meeting of the Blue Water Cruising Club. To get there, we dinghied 10
minutes from where *Beach House *was docked, over to Bob & Terri\’s Cal 48 *
Listo* at Alimitos Bay Yacht Club. The family of 4 live aboard. We are
always impressed to meet people with children on boats. We rode in their
van to Croatian restaurant Ante\’s in San Pedro. We were already acquainted
with many of the other members due to frequent trips to Big Geiger Cove,
Catalina, the club\’s anchorage. We enjoyed the evening of swapping sea
stories. Cindy won a soft blue blanket in the raffle drawing which we have
used nightly.October 27, 2007
We were surprised our first morning to see John Carroll of *Arana* paddling
by on his paddleboard. He keeps his boat at California Yacht Club & we were
used to see him paddling in Marina del Rey. We weren\’t aware that he spends
much time in Long Beach also. Always fun to see a familiar face in a new
place.Scott\’s Aunt Barbara drove down from the San Fernando Valley & joined us at
the Long Beach Yacht Club for a delicious lunch buffet. She then gave Cindy
a ride back to Marina del Rey to retrieve our car. Despite sitting neglected
for 5 weeks, Old Bessie started right up. Before departing our old stomping
grounds, Cindy\’s PT friend Barbara met her for a walk. And one more trip to
beloved Gelsons. She reported feeling kind of odd, that she didn\’t really
belong there anymore…October 28, 2007
The next day friends Linda & Martin drove down (also from SF Valley) for
Cindy\’s pancakes & to report on the land-based Beach House. They are kindly
overseeing it for us. Linda & Cindy are used to seeing each other regularly,
so treasured one more dock walk, not sure when or where they would meet
next.Later that day the amazing & wonderful \”T\” from House of Stainless showed up
to take our old dive ladder for modification. Since we raised the swim steps
it needed to be lengthened. He took his measurements for the ladder & also
to design a bracket to hold our 3rd anchor on the stern of the boat. \”T\”
miraculously finished the ladder modifications in three days!October 29, 2007
Cindy is thrilled to have the car to zip over to Trader Joes. Scott made a
couple of trips to West Marine.We finally forced ourselves to stow \”the elephant\”. The elephant was a
collection of dive gear & miscellaneous other items kicking around the
cockpit for which we did not easily find a place. By completely emptying
out all the cockpit lockers, tossing out some items and repacking the
lockers more efficiently, we are proud to report that we took care of the
elephant problem. Well, that particular elephant anyway. Boats do have a
tendency to \”grow\” elephants. It is a constant challenge to have a place for
everything & put everything in its place. Which is really important to feel
ship-shape & not cluttered.October 30, 2007
Mike Lonnes & 2 chaps from Safe Navigation helped us swing our compass. This
involves aligning our magnetic compass to a known corrected gyro compass to
eliminate any errors due to influences of the boating equipment around the
compasses fixed location. Mike also helped Scott finish up some projects
that didn\’t quite get done in Marina del Rey.October 31, 2007
We made a quick trip by car to Marina del Rey to pick up our mail, put
things into & take things out of our storage unit and the obligatory trip to
our hometown West Marine. When we returned to Long Beach we set sail for
Newport. Yes, we had good wind & were actually able to sail for most of the
20 mile trip.Friends Tom & Gail Levy picked us up & took us to dinner at PF Changs at
Fashion Island. Tom was an endodontist in Scott\’s dental practice, in
addition to being a clinical instructor at USC School of Dentistry. After
dinner they generously gave us a ride back to Long Beach so we could
retrieve our car. With the help of friends such as these, we were able to
leap-frog our car down the coast all the way to San Diego. It was a huge
convenience to have land transportation to buy food, supplies & parts. -
POSITION REPORT
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2007/10/26 23:18
LATITUDE: 33-45.28N
LONGITUDE: 118-06.91W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 47
WIND_DIR: 296T
COMMENT: Beach House – ARRIVED LBYC, Alamitos Bay, Long Beach, CA -
POSITION REPORT
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2007/10/26 14:25
LATITUDE: 33-20.79N
LONGITUDE: 118-19.44W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 0
WIND_DIR: 013T
COMMENT: Moored Avalon Bay for two days, then to Long Beach, California today -
Catalina Island….Santa Ana Winds, Fire and Wildlife…….
Dear F&F,
Our sail from Santa Barbara Island to Catalina Island was uneventful until
we arrived at the West End of Catalina. Where we saw a 90 foot long BLUE
WHALE, 100 yards off the beach.
We took a few photos and enjoyed tagging along enroute to Cherry Cove at the
Isthmus of Catalina. We enjoyed the hiking, getting the laundry done and
generally had very nice Fall weather.
This was the week that the Santa Ana Wind event was predicted to be a
memorable one. We moved to Big Geiger Cove awaiting our friends, Mike and
Beth aboard s/v \”Scotch Mist\”. We had the cove to ourselves and went for
some wonderful long hikes.Here we came across the Catalina Island Conservancy and Fish and Game staff
who had just trapped a Catalina Island Fox. These are endangered animals
and are currently down to about 1500 animals on the Island.
They are having an epidemic of ear cancer (of all things!) and the
Vetenarian who was with the group was cleaning out the Fox\’s ears and taking
tissue samples. Photos of this will be posted on the website.When Mike and Beth arrived, Beth and Cindy went for a long hike and came
across several Catalina Island Buffalo. We came across these very large and
splendid beasts several times during our stay. Photos of this will be posted
on the website soon. We cut our visit short at Big Geiger Cove as the winds
were predicted to be fierce and the Southern California Wildfires began. We
moved around to Catalina Harbor in very bumpy conditions while Mike and Beth
headed back to Redondo Beach. We were moored in \”Cat Harbor\” with about 50
other boats awaiting the winds. The wind event lasted about 24 hours for us
with the last gust to 42 knots being the strongest. When the winds finally
died off, the smoke from the fires on the coast had covered every boat in
ash. At night you could see the ash raining down in the light of a
flashlight. This lasted for almost a week!We met up again with new friends Eric & Emmy out of San Francisco who were
former caretakers of Palmyra Island, (800 miles SW of Hawaii) owned by the
Nature Conservancy. We would be loosely following each other down the
Pacific Coast. After a few days in Cat Harbor, we started to head toward
Avalon going around the \”backside\” of the Island. We took a detour into
\”Little Harbor\” and instantly fell in love. Photos will be posted….soon.
We went snorkeling, watched the ash fall from the sky and had a magic day at
this beautiful spot all to ourselves. Hiking, MORE Buffalo and a glorious
day.The next day we motored to Avalon and saw USCG Cutter \”Blackfin\” checking on
various boats. Something was up, but we will never know what. We arrived
in Avalon, had a few great days of hiking, saw wild deer, did somemore
laundry and generally relaxed. The ash still fell and I had to wash what
looked like mud off the boat every day for a week. It was now time to get
back to the coast and continue the \”Good Bye Contractor Tour\” from Long
Beach to San Diego……… -
POSITION REPORT
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2007/10/23 19:57
LATITUDE: 33-23.13N
LONGITUDE: 118-28.54W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 0
WIND_DIR: 343T
COMMENT: ARRIVE Little Harbor, Catalina Island…Calm, Hot, GREAT -
POSITION REPORT
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2007/10/21 05:26
LATITUDE: 33-25.90N
LONGITUDE: 118-30.37W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 8
WIND_DIR: 002T
COMMENT: ARRIVE Catalina Harbor..Awaiting Santa Ana Event -
Catalina Island Fox ….Big Geiger Cove
Dear F&F,
It has been one of the greatest days I\’ve ever seen here in Catalina. We came upon naturalists from the Dept. of Fish and Game in conjunction with the Catalina Island Conservancy and a Veterinarian from UC Davis. They had captured an endangered Catalina Island Fox (Their are only 500 estimated on the Island, up from 100 recently). They apparently are susceptible to a particular type of ear cancer and the Vet was taking samples and cleaning out its ears! We will have photos on the web next week!…..Weather Wise: Its been up to 88 degrees and the wind is calm. We are waiting for friends Mike and Beth aboard \”Scotch Mist\” and will be keeping a close eye on the weather as Santa Ana\’s are predicted to start sometime tomorrow. If necessary, we will scoot around to the south side of the island to Cat Harbor which is the best protection against these winds should they occur. If WX PERMITS, we will go to Avalon Sunday or Monday…..
KIT,
S&C