Marina Del Rey to San Diego 2011

While in Marina Del Rey, Bob went to work, and Shari, Marcy, and the kids checked out the town. Venice Beach was a favorite. The girls had a great time playing on the beach. Sadly, Salty wasn't able to join us as they don't allow dogs on the beaches (lame!). Anyway, there was plenty there to amuse us without the dog. After catching some rays we headed over to the skate park. The skateboarders were unbelievable! We were all in awe of their talent. Next to that was the "roller disco" area. It's a good thing I didn't have my roller blades with me or I would have jumped in for some groovy fun and totally embarrased the girls! It was a great throwback watching these skaters shake their booties!

The girls had a blast playing near the rocks at Venice Beach.

In the background is one of the awesome skateboarders.

"Shake your groove thing, shake your groove thing, yeah baby..."

Marcy, Sydney, and Annie watching the skaters do their thing.


On one of the evenings Marcy generously took us girls out for a scrumptious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was sooooooo good! I highly recommend the key lime cheesecake and vanilla bean cheesecake.

We were able to get a bit of work done on Pearl while here as well as a provisioning trip to Costco. We were so anxious for Bob to get home so we could get out on the big blue once again.




From Marina Del Rey we motored sailed to Santa Catalina Island. For the first 2 nights we anchored on the south side of the island in Catalina Harbor. We enjoyed the quiet, beautiful waters of the anchorage and also checked out the little "town" of Two Harbors. We happened to be there on the Lats and Atts Cruiser's Weekend. There was live music, informitive cruising seminars, and fantastic people. For the weekend we motored over to Isthmus Cove where the party was taking place. We met two especially wonderful families there; the Mather family (Jim, Emma, Phoebe, and Drake) who just returned from a 5.5 year cruise around the world on s/v Blue Sky and Dan, Donna, Avery, and Luke who own a beautiful Vagabond ketch that they plan to start cruising full time on next year. Sydney and Annie had such a great time playing with their kids and Bob and I loved meeting cruising families. Before we knew it, the party was over and it was time to move on. We moved to another anchorage on the north side of the island where Bob cleaned the hull, I mended our mizzen sail, Annie went kayaking, and we all relaxed with the quiet of the cove.

 While at anchor in Catalina Harbor, a beautiful 3 masted ship pulled in and anchored near to us.

 Annie did a fabulous job at the helm as we raised anchor and drove out of catalina Harbor.

 The water at Isthmus harbor was so pristine.  The color was absolutely brilliant and oh so clear.

Sydney and Annie had such a good time with their new friends, Phoebe and Avery.


It would have been wonderful to stay at Catalina Island longer, but we promised the girls some roller coaster fun, so to Newport we headed. We tied up to a bouy off of Balboa Island for 3 nights. Our first full day there we rented a car and made our way to Knotts Berry Farm. It was roller coaster heaven for the girls! We've never gone in so many circles or been hung upside down and twisted around so many times in one day! The rest of the time there was spent checking out and enjoying Newport and Balboa Island.

 See that big loop behind Bob and the girls?  Well, that was the funnest ride at the park!  The pictures can't do it justice.

 This ride was called the Boomerang.  It loops around a bunch of times and then reverses.  Crazy ride!

 This was one of our favorite rides.  The "cars" spin around as you cruise along the tracks of the roller coaster.

Everyone loves Snoopy!



From Newport we headed straight down to San Diego. We had a lot to do before entering into Mexico. Luckily we were there to see the Baja-Ha-Ha "ers" off. We are looking forward to catching up with some of them down the road. While in San Diego, we visited the Midway aircraft carrier museum. Having Bob there to show us around was great. Papa (Shari's dad) drove over from Phoenix to see us. He brought us all sorts of goodies to help us catch fish while in Mexico (we already have a great recipe for ahi poke-can't wait!). It was wonderful spending time with him. He was so very helpful in our reprovisioning. While anchored in both La Playa and Glorietta Bay, Bob was able to get some dinghy sailing in. We made great new friends and hooked up with old friends heading south. We spent Halloween here and the girls were able to re-supply themselves with an ample supply of candy.

 The girls enjoyed playing "air boss" on the Midway.

 The girls made friends with a couple of birds in San Diego.

 Sydney dressed up as Aphrodite and Annie was a pirate for Halloween.  Both the girls designed their costumes themselves.  

Bob and Salty enjoying a beautiful San Diego evening.

 Leaving today, November 5 for Turtle Bay, Mexico.  We're not sure when we'll have internet again, but will try to update our blog when possible.

Mmmmmm.  Fish tacos in Ensenada.