11/9/2010 Getting chilly

It's cooling down here in Avalon although it's supposed to be back up to the 70s in the next couple days. We'll be heading out on Thursday (Veteran's Day) and it's predicted to be in the low 70s with moderate winds from the north and northeast. It'd be perfect for a run to San Diego but we may not head there. I've been leery about San Diego for a long time. Although tons of cruisers go through there, it's always seemed to me, from my reading, to be a large, complicated, busy, heavily-regulated place to be. However, there are lots of things available like marine chandleries and places to get pre-Mexico paperwork taken care of.

However, we have a friend (from Willow Glen High School, class of '69), Adele, who lives within 4 miles of the Dana Point marina. Dana Point is about as close as you can get to Catalina. It'd only be about a 5 hour sail across the channel instead of a 15-18 hour trip to SD. There is a West Marine store near the marina as well as hardware stores and grocery stores. Additionally, Adele has offered the use of her car. So, today I need to sit down and make a list of all the reasons we thought we needed to go to San Diego and figure out whether or not we can take care of everything on the list in Dana Point instead. The marina in DP will take reservations but the cost is about 3X what we would have to pay in SD if, and I stress the if) we can get space at the Police Dock which is on a first-come-first-served basis. However, we'd be able to skip the (possibly imagined) stress of SD.

If we do go to DP, wen we leave there we'll sail straight to Ensenada to check in to Mexico and reprovision (grocery shop). This is a trip of around 140 nautical miles so it would take us the better part of 2 days.

So, not sure what we're doing yet but I should have it figured out by tomorrow.

We're just about to head to the Sand Trap for breakfast (spuds, eggs, meat, toast: $4.99).

We had planned to go to the movies last night. The movie currently playing is Mega Minds which we hadn't really planned on watching but Mike and Nita on s/v Odessa highly recommended it. It's also a reasonably inexpensive way to see some of the inside of the Casino without paying $19/person for a tour. At least we'd get to see the lobby and the theater. And get a movie to boot. But, by the time we returned to the boat after a shore excursion, we were pretty chilled. We finally decided that another outing didn't sound like fun. As the wind and waves built through the evening, we were even gladder we had chosen to stay home. Maybe tonight although tomorrow night is more likely, looking at the weather predictions.

Today's big exotic outing? A trip to the laundromat. Hope I remember to take my camera.