October 6

The sail to San Diego was ok. NO WIND. And lots of Navy vessels around. We go there way to quickly and went south to chew some time up so we could enter at dawn. We were going to go right to the South Bay (you enter at the north end of the bay) but we decided to go into Shelter Island to look around and see if we could get a slip. We went to the fuel dock and got fuel while Jordan made some calls. Jonah woke up and said in a excited voice “Can I go up to peek to see where we could be?” We ended up staying at the Police dock for 2 days. They have transit slips that you can stay in for up to 10 days. It was lovely – right at the end of Shelter Island near some nice hotels. I had imagined the Police dock to be very depressing or something. I washed the boat down which was filthy after 10 days – not to mention the dried fish blood on the side of the boat where Jordan cleaned the Barracuda. “Aah Honey the next time you gut a fish...”  

We found no open slips anywhere in San Diego so we decided to go get our reserved slip in Chula Vista . Boy am I glad – Chula Vista is really nice – there are lots of cruisers here with families and Jonah already found a girlfriend! The slips are really narrow – tie up on either side. Luckily when we arrived 2 people came to help us but I felt we really needed a shoehorn. One of the people was Barb who has a little girl, Dancia – Jonah’s new girlfriend. They immediately offered drinks and hearty welcomes. Corky, Barb’s husband, is a Fisherman (captain of a boat) from Alaska – which is a crazy profession if you are familiar with the Bering Sea but he is a riot, very relaxed and funny. They also have a little boy who is in daycare in Chuila Vista so they can get some work done on the boat. I went and checked it out and Jonah will be going for 2 weeks starting Monday so I can do the same. He loved it and I had to drag him away when we visited. It’s a very warm and friendly place with lots of teachers – most everyone is Hispanic so hopefully Jonah will pick up some Spanish.  

Another neighbor gave us a ride to the airport to get a rental car. Boy are people helpful!

We thought we were way far out but downtown is about 10 minutes away so it turns out Chula Vista was the right choice.  

We found a leak inside the boat when we were looking for stuff we stuffed behind the wall. We both got really depressed because our list is so long already we hate to find more stuff. Sometimes this journey and the things we must do are so overwhelming, I freak out. I get over it quick because I wanna go see Mexico and the South Pacific. The hardest thing for me is that I a newbie at everything and I have so much to learn. So many things on the boat are still confusing to me. Sailing is the easiest mostly cause it simple brute force i.e. haul that in or loosen that sheet or whatever – systems are the hardest and to learn stuff Jordan hands me the manuals for these things. Eekk. I wish they made a Dummies guide to boat systems. Jordan explains these things but it usually takes 3 or 4 times before it sinks into my brain and he get impatient explaining it over and over. I finally figured out how to track something on the radar but there are tons of other buttons that I am clueless about. Electrical systems and electricity in general is like Greek to me. I kind of understand the Diesel engine in a theoretical way but that’s it. I don’t even know how to switch fuel tanks. Its been raining – I want the sun to come out, I feel like I am in Seattle .