After four night at Catalina, three of them in Avalon Harbor, we're on our way back to the mainland. It was the least exciting part of the trip so far, hot, dusty and very touristy. Paul went out on a dive boat yesterday and had a good time, the water is clear and the diving was good. I chose to take an "underwater" sea tour in a pretend submarine, and got to see the same things without getting wet. We saw the botanical gardens and the casino, both were interesting. The casino is not a gambling hall, it's actually a beautiful old round theatre on the lower level, and the world's biggest dance floor on the upper level. It definitely has a sense of old Hollywood to it, and was worth seeing.
We're motorsailing (again!) towards Dana Point, where we'll step further back in history to Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. Lucily Rick left his copy on board, I'm sure we'll make good use of it once we approach the town now named after the author. It's the book that started my interest in sailing, and very fitting for Pearl of Oakland to visit Dana Point.
Lot's of people heading the other way, towards Catalina, it's Friday. The ocean is smooth, we've got dolphins around us, but no other wildlife. We're just about to cross the shipping lanes, so the card playing has ended for a moment so that Paul (temporary skipper) can pay attention to traffic. We had a leisurely breakfast once we got underway, and then launched into UNO, the current game of preference. I imagine we'll get back to liar's dice and euchre as soon as we've got more people aboard.
The plan is to spend the night in Dana Point and then go south to Oceanside, where Pearl will sit until mid-November. The return trip is planned, and I hope to have the boat back in Berkeley before Thanksgiving.
This has beeon a wonderful trip, and I'm ready to return to home and let the boat go for a bit. Pearl has performed beyond my expectations, and I'm already starting to think about what's next, probably crossing the Pacific. This particular trip has been all about seeing the state I live in from a new perspective, and it certainly has been a success. Although I can't say the sailing has been stellar, the opportunity to "manage" all the boat systems in mild conditions has been wonderful and a great learning opportunity. I feel very comfortable with the boat, ready to sail it north in more challenging conditions, and surprisingly, only have a very short list of improvements to be made, most of them appropriate to ocean crossing.
