Dana Point to Oceanside

Friday 21, 2005 LOCATION: Oceanside Harbor GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 33 12.580N,117 23.694W

Dana Point. After a maneuvering from dock to dock we found our slip and got to work on projects and school. Again for a brief moment we prided ourselves on having everything in working order and not needing to run to a hardware store or West Marine. Silly us. As we finished up replacing the water pump that burned itself up in the middle of the night and found the leak in the water tank and repaired it, we were over come with this terrible smell of gasoline. This was odd since the boat uses diesel. Upon further investigation we realized that somehow the little line that feeds gas into the dinghy motor had split open and thus was the source of the stench. Off we went for a family walk to West Marine.
Dana Point is a beautiful little town. We visited the local surf shops for fun and enjoyed some delicious Thai cuisine. Friday we took another P.E. day and drove the dinghy to Doheny Beach to surf. This one was a particularly fun adventure because there was no where to dock the dinghy. We had to let down the anchor way off shore and everyone grabbed a boogie or surf board and swam to shore. We ended up spending the whole day there practicing and playing. Matthew was teaching me the art of diving into, under and over waves. I am sure I have said it before but I am in awe of how comfortable he is just hanging out in the waves. I don't know if I will ever be a comfortable with it as him.
I did have yet a second encounter with the Harbor Patrol. I failed to mention the first one when we got pulled over in Newport for not having registration on the dinghy (not required in WA) and we didn't have a legitimate life jacket for both adults. The throwable cushions apparently wouldn't do. In Dana Point I took the dinghy, by myself (a brave undertaking) along with the surfboard, back to the marina to sign up for another night when that Harbor Patrol pulled me over again. Being pulled over entails the big official red and white boat flash their blue lights at you and throw you a line while you ever so submissively float below them. This time the offense was anchoring the dinghy inside a swim zone. Mind you it was a good 300 yards from shore and it took me forever and all the energy I could muster to paddle on my board to this dingy it was that far off shore. Point being I don't really think I was in any swimmers way. But rules are rules. You have to give them the usual information of name, number and address, get a warning and are on our way. Truly, they are always very nice and respectful but you still come away feeling so guilty.
Next we were on our way to Oceanside. With binoculars in hand Bruce checked out all the beaches along the way and doing some work on the phone with people at home. Rough life. The boys worked hard on their studies though you can always tell when that energy level starts to brew. Its always good to get to shore for another long walk. When the energy levels exceed the ability to exercise at the moment the boys have devised a way of their own to solve the problem. They clear off Bruce's and my bed of everything and have an all out wrestling match. Belly laughing, head bonking, rip roaring good time. The only rule is clean up when your done. So far so good. That would be recess on the boat when you can't find a jungle gym.
Once docked the boys and I finished up some school work and Bruce was off to the jetty for another day of surfing. The boys and I took a quick walk in the afternoon to find Bruce and found a great surprise. An old schooner called the Privateer Lynx ablaze in full canvas came sailing into the marina. The whole town knew it was coming apparently and turned out for some great photos. It was fun to see the crew in full costume and cannons roaring. Always a surprise around every corner.
The last couple of days have been cool and overcast, so we hunkered down for a snug weekend. The boys enjoyed a PJ day and Bruce got in a little surfing. I got things a little more organized so we are prepared when we hit Mission Bay and San Diego this week. We will have quite a bit of running around to do as we prepare to head into Mexico. Yeah!!!
talk to you soon,
Lisa and the boys

Newport & Dana Point

Tuesday October 18, 2005 LOCATION: Dana Point Harbor GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 33 27.515N,117 41.438W
We are finishing out our stay in Newport. It really is an amazing place here. It is set up like a very fancy, clean Venice. There is quite a mix of elements here when you add in the nature of the coast line and the money it takes to live here. It is a maze of water ways that flow past everyone's back door. Each person's back yard is a dock to which is tied their yacht. Next to that is tied their little waterized golf cart as I call them. Really, they are small hard bottom dinghy's that can hold 8 or so people comfortably. They are motorized, covered and fully enclosed in clear plastic, (to keep out the evening chill). Each one is decorated and adorned with comfy pillows and each day and night they cruise around and visit each other with drinks in hand. It is quite a site to see.
We spent the first couple of days getting some school work under our belts although we did have to call school off on Friday on account of too much sun. It called to us and we spent an entire day of P.E. surfing. Much fun. Saturday was spent with the usual chores, laundry, another trip to West Marine. The newly replaced water tank continues to have a small leak somewhere else that perplexes us. A few more broken items repaired such as a sheered off bolt in the macerator for the front head and we are good until the next hardware store appears.
Sunday brought Southern California's first rain storm of the season. A few locals told us that when they say it is going to rain they don't really mean it. A few rain drops started to fall and I mocked them a bit. They don't know rain I thought. We were all surprised when full on rain storm complete with a beautiful thunder and lightning display graced us all night long and the next day and the next. They boys enjoyed getting to pump out all the water that accumulated in the dinghy overnight.
I took the opportunity on that nice rainy Sunday to try to bake up some comfort food. I must preface this with I am not known for doing much baking short of cookies but I was ready to attempt an apple pie. Well, we called it an apple something. We had fresh apples from my in-laws yard and my own home made grahm cracker crust. When you factor in the pilot light kicking off somewhere in the middle of baking it did take nearly a full two hours to cook but somehow was scrumptious.
The only other true excitement of the stay was late one evening we heard a loud bang on the port side of the boat. The type of noise you would associate with having run into something real hard. Not good when you are supposed to be anchored tight. We ran up top thinking we had come loose and luckily it was just one of those fancy little dinghy's with some kids celebrating a 22nd birthday. Mid toast they didn't watch where they were going and ran into us. No harm no foul. They were terribly embarrassed but I am sure they'll never forget that one.
This morning we pulled anchor and are heading to Dana Point. Rain or not no sense in waitning. We are from Washington. It did feel rather funny to put on a rain coat though. We stopped to refuel and almost had a disaster as the head of the pump in Newport for gas is green like a diesel. We nearly put the wrong fuels in the wrong tanks. Yikes. A quick hop and we will be in Dana Point in no time.
love lisa and the boys

Quick reminder: It is best to email us directly at TheMartins@ohanakai.net. We will be guaranteed to get all emails then. Photos emailed to there will be forwarded to a land email that we can pick up later. thanks

Great fun in Marina Del Rey and Disneyland

Wednesday October 11, 2005 LOCATION: Newport Harbor GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 33 36.582N,117 55.379W
We departed Ventura on a day when we knew that their famed Santa Ana winds were blowing offshore. They are known for their warmth and strength. We thought this would be a good time to get a good sail and a little more practice with stronger winds. We got what we wanted. What we didn't anticipate was just how high it would make the wind waves. The swell itself was not too large but since both them and the wind were coming at us from the side it created quite a busy and bumpy ride. As Bruce and I got the sails configured the way we wanted to deal with sustained winds of 25 - 30 knots and gusts up to 40, I realized I hadn't given the boys any sea sickness medicine and we were soon dealing with our first tossed breakfasts of the trip. Once those tummies are empty they feel much better, but they still laid low until the next distraction of the day.
A couple of hours into this 8 hour trek, we realized we were being chased down by yet another bird. The word is out after our last visitor that this is the place to rest. This creature looked much different than our last guest, in fact he looked more like a turtle flying in the air. He, quickly named Hootie, turned out to be an owl. A burrowing owl as best we can tell. He was exhausted and we figure he must migrate back and forth from Catalina Island. We saw a few others pass over us but none as tired as him. He ended up riding all the way into the harbor with us and didn't depart until after nightfall.
Once on the dock we were immediately greeted by a man who saw our port name and informed us he and his family were from Poulsbo, shortly there after we met another man from Portland, and another from Seattle. You never feel very far from home. The most exciting boat we met was one from Japan. They had traveled 32 days from Tokyo to Midway (Hawaii), from there they went to Seattle, then down the coast to here. We offered them some fish and abalone we had caught earlier and brought out our maps to talk with them. They will be taking the next 5 years to circumnavigate going east through the canal and around. I think they have a web site as well, so I will have to check it out and let you know. They were very nice to talk to and it was a bonus to realize we had the exact same boat. Knowing theirs made it across the ocean always helps to instill a bit more confidence in your own.
Aside from the dock, we didn't see much of the town except the usual, grocery store, laundry mat and of course, West Marine.
Saturday our friends the Elste family drove down from Modesto and we all descended upon Disneyland for two days of fabulous fun. The boys braved every ride we could throw at them. It was great fun and we are still all recuperating. We spent at least 15 hours in the park on the first day alone. whew!
Tuesday we readied the boat for departure the next day, wash it one more time, fill the water tanks, and of course, break something. The seam busted right out of our largest water tank. So we quickly ran back to West Marine, ordered one picked it up this morning, installed it and were off the docks by noon. The parting surprise of the day was Tristan's eagle eye actually spotted a small octopus right there off the dock in a couple feet of water speeding along the rocks. We were fascinated and left that beautiful harbor happy with our find. It has been a peaceful day of sailing most all of today and we will stop in Newport for a while.
until then, sail on
love lisa and the boys

Quick reminder for the Google Earth, just click and paste the coordinates exactly as we have them written there above. The google program can be fickle about how the coordinates are entered.

The Channel Islands

Sunday October 5, 2005 LOCATION:Santa Cruz Island, Smugglers Cove GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 34 24.245N,119 41.548W
We have just completed a few days around the Channel Islands. We departed Santa Barbara a little early because there was a 940+ foot cruise ship coming in and they needed the extra space. We headed for the more remote island of Santa Rosa first and went the a cove on the far side called Johnson's Lee. A friend asked me the other day if this trip was more than I could have imagined. I realized at the end of this day, these were the moments and memories that made it just that.
First, we took the road less traveled, left civilization behind and headed for a place where there was no one to be found. On the way there we were visited by some dolphins riding on our bow current. They were a little shy but entertained us well. Matthew also pulled out his second top tooth with a little help from dad. yeah.
When we found a cove to stay in we had to choose our way carefully through a big kelp bed and not foul the prop. As we anchored we discovered on the shore was a large colony of elephant seals. The islands are privately owned so were not allowed to go to shore without a permit but they were fun to watch and listen to from a distance. The islands themselves don't look like much, very barren and dry. But the history behind them can fill volumes. On Santa Rosa Island they had found the most complete skeletal remains of full pygmy mammoths in 1994, there are 3,000 year old cemeteries, fire areas over 12,000 years old, and tree stump 16,000 years old. Amazing, and it tied in well to our history lessons.
After we anchored, Tristan decided to practice climbing the mast. A new all time favorite activity for the boys once they are harnessed in. Once up there, he was able to spot Manta Rays swimming around for us to see. That was a first for all of us to see them in the wild. A baby was following it's mother around like a little duck. We were all speechless. That night I went out to star gaze and realized the water was alive with the glow of phosphorescence or bio-luminescence. We had seen them off the wake of the boat or flushing down the toilet in the middle of the night but never so active like this. As I understand it, the phosphorescence are little microbes in the water that have the ability to glow like that when they are disturbed. As only boys could, they discovered they could disturb the creatures just by spitting in the water, great fun.
We spend the next two days spent exploring Santa Cruz Island and one of the largest known caves 120 ft high and 600 feet long. It gets dark and narrow in there fast so we explored only the first portion of it. Tristan did spot his first Gray Whale for us. He was so excited. From there we headed into Ventura Harbor for some more laundry and re-provisioning. The boys are becoming such great travelers and don't blink at the idea of having to walk 2 miles to the grocery store. As with each stop, we met some wonderful people. Lawrence and Deb Foster on Spice are preparing their boat for a trip south this winter as well and were a lot of fun to swap stories with. Neil and Judi Larson kindly came to our boat and brought a bunch of fun, creative games for us all to play on our travels and directed us to our first geocache. A GPS guided treasure hunt. Let's just say the hunt was a success, we found the treasure, left some goodies for the next gang to find the spot and we will definitely be looking for more of these along the way.
Next destination, Marina del Rey and then the happiest place on earth (besides the boat) DISNEYLAND.
until then, sail on
love lisa and the boys

Quick reminder for the Google Earth, just click and paste the coordinates exactly as we have them written there above. The google program can be fickle about how the coordinates are entered.