11/1/2010 - Is this really November?

What a beautiful day! It was shorts, t-shirts and sandals right from the get-go. S'posed to be even warmer tomorrow and still warmer on Wednesday. Yee-haw!

We headed out in the dinghy this morning to dump garbage and recyclables ashore. Imagine our surprise when the dinghy dock was gone. Yeah, GONE! They'd disconnected the floating dock from the ramp, hoisted the ramp up in the air and tied the dock to a mooring ball. There were even a few dinghies still attached to the dock. Come to think of it, there was a sign on the ramp that said something about removing the docks on November 1st. Turns out they do this every "winter" because it's just too much work to maintain the extra 5 docks through all the swells and boisterous seas that they apparently get occasionally in the winter.

Anyway, this left 2 docks available for use. Well, three actually but we're keeping quiet about the 3rd one. We tied up at one of them when we went to the Casino Dock Cafe for breakfast burritos:

This is apparently not an unusual scene at dinghy docks wherever cruisers congregate. This has created a certain etiquette that some, though not nearly all, follow. The 2 main points are to have an extra long painter so that your boat doesn't have to be right smack up against the dock. In the picture, you might be able to see a painter disappearing off the right hand side of the photo. Our dinghy is tied to the end of that painter. You nose in as close as you can. Then you climb up on the dock, climbing over other dinghies as needed. Tie your boat up with the extra long painter, and set it adrift to leave room for the next guy. The other rule is that you leave your outboard in the 'down' position. If you tilt the outboard up, the prop can do a lot of damage to painters, paint jobs, other outboards, the rubber that inflatables are made of, etc. Truth be told, this was the worst dock. There was another one that was crowded but not like this and another that most folks didn't know about or want to go to for some reason. There was actually bare dock showing on it.

After breakfast, we returned to the boat and Lulu pulled all the bedding out of the v-berth and I strung it up around the topsides to dry out and air out. Picked a perfect day for it since there was a mild breeze and the temperatures were in the high 70s. After that we went back to shore to hike up to the Botanical Garden and Wrigley Memorial.

The walk was very pleasant as we passed first through residential areas and then through an area that had occasional buildings,

as well as a school, a golf course, and just some open land.

The botanical Garden was pretty cool. Lulu especially enjoyed it. There was an amazing collection of cacti as well as a section devoted to plants native to the 15 (or was it 16?) California islands as well as a section devoted to plants that exist only on Catalina. The garden trail ended at the Wrigley Memorial. Apparently, William Wrigley (of chewing gum and Wrigley Field fame) had a huge influence on the history of Catalina Island. After his death in 1932, the memorial was built using mostly native materials.

You can climb up to the observation deck (the elongated arched opening) which gives a pretty spectacular view of the canyon leading down to Avalon Bay. And so we did. Here we are sitting across from what I assume is WW's resting place although it never really said he was interred here. Or, if it said so, I missed it.

By the way, in this picture you're seeing a little bit of history in the making. This is very likely the first picture ever taken of Lulu wearing shorts and a tank top on NOVEMBER 1ST!!!! But it won't be the last. So, if you're collecting, this would be considered a rookie card. Probably be worth money some day.

On our way back to town, we stopped at our new favorite find. Cruisers following in our wake, take note. The best bargain we've found so far is the Sand Trap Restaurant and Bar. They have a nice open patio with an outside bar. Happy Hour is from 2:00 to 7:00 every day. And during Happy Hour, draft beer (Bud LIght is all they have) is $2/glass or $7.50/pitcher (closer to the water, $3.50 is considered a good price for a happy hour beer). And, AND, they have tacos for $1 each! You have a choice of crispy or soft shell as well as a choice of meat: hamburger, chicken, carnitas or chorizo. They fill the shells/tortillas with the meat and you do the rest choosing from lettuce, cilantro, onions, cheese, and three different salsa. A lot of locals seem to stop by. The staff is all Latino and very friendly. We've eaten there twice already. Today we noticed that they have a breakfast special (2 eggs, potatoes, toast, and your choice of bacon or sausage) for $4.99. That's incredible! Our breakfast burritos this morning set us back $8.99 each and with coffee and tax, breakfast came to over $25! Guess where we'll be eating breakfast next time.

After a couple chorizo tacos and a pitcher of beer, we headed back to the boat. Lulu put the v-berth back together and I finished macrameing the hanger for our hanging baskets.

All in all, a fine day.