We’ve spent the last 9 days in San Diego, soaking up some hot weather and getting LOTS of boat chores and work done. Today was departure for Mexico day.
Most our nights were at the San Diego Harbor Police Dock on Shelter Island, but not because we were arrested. It is a bargain place to stay as a public dock, and one of the only places available when we made reservations a month ago. San Diego is full of boats staging for entry into Mexico around November 1, either with CUBAR as we are doing, the much larger sailboat version called the Baha Haha, or just going on their own. Marine insurance companies won’t allow boats to be in the hurricane zone in most of Mexico until November 1st when hurricane season officially ends, which leads to this bunching up of folks waiting to go.
On walks around Shelter Island, various entertaining sites.
Most of the time we have been here it has been unusually warm for this time of year according to the locals, up to 90 degrees. We have loved it, but one related effect is the Santa Ana winds, which are blowing in localized areas in California and causing sudden and terrible fires. The last two days we have periodically smelled smoke and seen haze from the Los Angeles fire.
CUBAR (Cruise Underway to Baja Rally) officially kicked off with registration last week, and a Captain’s meeting and dinner at the San Diego Yacht Club last night.
After listening to various weather reports, we decided to depart early this morning after hearing about the Santa Ana winds that would affect part of our day’s cruise, but not be more than 25 knots. We were up and out at 6am, then had a deflating return to the dock when our stabilizer breaker kept popping. But luck was with us and we were able to find the source through the ingenious and speedy service call from Boomer (more to come on all of this from Larry) and we were on our way again at 9:15am.
Exiting the harbor we passed a US Navy destroyer up close and personal, which made former navy officer and Miss Miranda crew Sean very happy. They called us on the radio and at first I thought we were in trouble, but they just wanted us to hold our course.
Soon after that we got several texts and messages from CUBAR participants who had left early in the morning. They were experiencing 50 knot winds, and one had decided to turn around and come back. We made a speedy decision to return and wait the winds out, which are supposed to be much better tomorrow morning. So we will be a day late entering Ensanada, but we will still be there for Halloween and the Day of the Dead!
Happy Halloween everyone!
MV Miss Miranda 