Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving side trip


11/19/12

Nice trip from Marina Del Rey to Catalina for 2 nights.  Catalina reminds you why you came on the trip to begin with; beautiful quiet anchorages and mild weather.  Not quite warm enough to swim, but it was very relaxing to just take a little time to breath, sit, walk on the beach and climb a hill.  We spend 1 night at Emerald Cove with just one other boat in the anchorage.  We left Marina Del Rey at 7am and arrived at Emerald Cove at 12:30. With no wind, we motored the entire trip.

The second day, we made the short 2 mile trip to Two Harbors, a little community with an elementary school boasting about 10 students.  In the summertime the influx of campers and sailors turns this quiet little spot into a busy vacation getaway. 

On Wednesday we got an early start and by 7am we were motoring back to the California coast.  Newport was our goal, with a plan to surprise our family for Thanksgiving.  We had debated about going back home so recently after we had left, but I found my attitude deteriorating.  We were not as far along as we had hoped, and trying to plan a trip home for Christmas was looking unlikely.  Finally we decided there are no “rules for cruising” so we planned a quick trip home to spend Thanksgiving with the family.

The plan was; quickly cross to Newport Beach, get a slip for a couple of days, pick up the rental car, and try to beat as much of the traffic out of LA as we could heading North. We figured we needed to leave no later than 3pm and we did, however the rest of the “miss the traffic” part of the plan fell short.   KNOWING the day before Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day of the year, and EXPERIENCING it are two very  different things.    The trip should have taken 7 or 8 hours MAX even with traffic.  Arrived in Elk Grove at 2am . . . 11 long brake-light filled hours.  It was grueling.  Surprising our girls and spending the Holiday with our family made it all worth it.

Up the next morning at 5am for a 6am start wasn’t as bad as it sounds since I crashed at 8:30pm the night before.  This time things did go according to plan, smooth sailing all the way to Newport Beach, 6 hours including stops.  Awesome!

Cypress was so glad to be back home, he promptly hopped up to the v-berth and took a nap.  The trip was tough on him as well.

After putting away a few things, we headed out on the one mile trek to the grocery store.  I’m trying to decide if we are afraid of running out of food before our next port of call, or if we are simply on a quest to visit every grocery store within walking distance of marinas in California.

Should be leaving for San Diego tomorrow, then we are one day sail from Ensenada!!

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