26 MILES ACROSS THE SEA...SANTA CATALINA IS AWAITIN' FOR ME.....

Catalina Island was a MUST on our itinerary.....last year we spent ten days in Catalina Harbor and knew that we wanted to return if the opportunity arose. This time, we again spent another 10 days anchored. The first morning at 7:00 a.m. the harbor patrol knocked on our hull and said that a tug was arriving in the next 30 minutes carrying 100 horses and that we had to move our boat. We of course complied and 4 hours later the tug and barge went by and delivered the horses to shore. We learned later that a fundraiser for cancer was going on at the island that involved the horses. We spent our time going on hikes, reading and just plain relaxing. Each day we took the dinghy in to the restaurant and checked our email. Twice on our walks we saw two buffalo. Unfortunately, our pictures were lost somewhere in "the black hole of lost picture land". There are several buffalo that roam the island.....one of them rolled over on his side like a dog and acted like he wanted his tummy rubbed! (not a chance) The fisherman anchored next to us was pulling in his urchin bounty.

It was very windy for a couple of days and we ended up anchoring at a couple different spots. Also, Buccaneer Days took place where, for one weekend, people come to Catalina Island and pretend they are pirates. Very wild and fun times for pirate wannabees......we could hear the cannons all weekend.

We hiked every day on Catalina and found this "Mickey Mouse" cactus.....

DANA POINT

From Catalina Island we cruised to Dana Point, which is a beautiful and active marina that is home to 2,500 boats. We spent 5 days there and enjoyed watching sailboat races and especially all the people on paddle boards that breeze by the boats. Ocean breezes obviously are strong enough to bend these trees along walkways.

Now, onto Newport Beach (ten miles north), we will spend a couple of days there having Serena Ray hauled out to replace a fin cutter on one of the stabilizers. We will then head to Oceanside and San Diego, where we will pick up Wally and Linda, friends we met last year on the Baja Ha-Ha. Their sailboat is in Mazatlan and they will accompany us down the Baja Coast and across the Sea of Cortez.