The Taco Traveler

1:40 PM
About 20 nm SE of Catalina Island

Woke this morning about 8 after a long night’s sleep in Avalon Harbor, Catalina Island. Went to El Galleon, which looked like a decent pub-type place but the service at the bar was horrible, so I ended up leaving after one beer and an order of mediocre buffalo wings. I don’t want to be a downer and only point out the negatives about everyplace I go, but I guess I’m a critic at heart. Or maybe I’m already a curmudgeon at 39. Anyway, that whole city is freakin’ expensive! I could have filled up my dingy and loaded it into the water, but it was probably worth the $20 worth of water taxis (2 round-trips @ $5 each way) even though my boat was tied up only 30 yards from the taxi dock. And for diesel this morning I paid $4.70/gallon. Ugh. Oh well, it’s an island.

Anyway, I made my way out of the harbor around 10:30 am and am currently motoring towards San Diego, only 48 more miles away. A bit ago I passed through a field of sea birds, all just sitting there on the water, resting. So that's where they sleep! I also went through a huge pod of dolphins, but none felt like playing except for one guy just bobbing near the surface and slapping his tail on the water ("hey, everyone! Look at me!"). I’m trailing a tuna lure behind, hoping to catch something – this would be the perfect time because it’s just flat here and dead calm. Well, it’s picking up a little, chop-wise, but still no wind to speak of. Just motoring along at 2400 RPM… wow, good timing – just as I reached the ellipses there (after RPM) my lure got hit *hard* and the line started spooling. By the time I got to it and tightened the drag a bit, the thing got off. Dang! My fishing technique and/or my gear need some work. So, to continue, we’re motoring at 2400 RPM doing 6.8 knots through the water (with the California Current, doing 7.3 knots over ground), and will be at the harbor marker at the entrance to San Diego Harbor about 8:30 PM. It was fairly foggy this morning, with visibility about a mile. It’s lightened up and I can see about 2 miles.

I’m sitting here in the cockpit eating Saltine crackers with peanut butter and honey. My favorite snack for a long time that I’d forgotten about and just recently rediscovered. I've been eating pretty well out here these last few days, and am finding that though I’m eating often through the day, my tastes are growing healthier. Yesterday I ate 3 tangerines and an apple, several “dried plums” (did they re-brand “prunes”?) and only a few chips with some really good black bean dip. J

Time to go read the LA Times, continue my cracker lunch (and probably a tangerine or two, maybe a few “dried plums”) and wait for that reel to start spooling again.

 

3:52PM
About 31 nm NW of San Diego
Just went to check on my new lure, and couldn’t help noticing how as it gets warmer the water [10 minutes later…] holy crap, I just saw the remnant splash of a HUGE whale breach. I didn’t see the whale itself, but the splash was about ½ mile away and was still big. I scrambled over to the port side of the cockpit and got my camera ready, but it was apparently a one-time-only show.

Uh… as I was saying, the water is now 62.6 degrees and you can really see the color change. I’ll have to look that up – is it the temperature of the water that makes it appear more blue, or its clarity, or what? I’d put a new lure on a while ago and recently pulled in a big haul of: some sea grass, a big piece of kelp, and a piece of plastic that looked like a piece of an ice bag. So it’s working. It’s a wiggling “Cedar Plug” from a company called Lead Masters (Size #6, Zucchini). Their motto for this lure is “It’s the Wiggle That Works.” We’ll see. It does wiggle pretty cool; if I were a tuna, I’d bite it.

Just heard on the VHF a 16’ boat hailing the coast guard because their compass isn’t working. They left about 90 minutes ago from Catalina towards Newport but now have no idea where they are. Dudes, a GPS unit costs about $100 nowadays. Crazy. They’ll be okay – there are tons of boats going back and for the between the LA area and Catalina. I’ve seen 5 or 6 pleasure boats between San Diego and Catalina. For LA (Newport, Long Beach, Marina Del Rey, Ventura) you can probably triple that. But hopefully they’ll wave someone down soon. It could be scary out here at night with no idea where you’re going on a 16’ boat (open boat? A Boston Whaler?).

10:27 PM
San Diego Harbor

It's a pain to find a place to park around here. This morning when I left Catalina I figured I'd just call a few places on the way. I've been so used to having phone and Internet all the way down the coast, that I wasn't prepared to find a massive dead zone between Catalina and San Diego that would keep me out of contact until after every Harbormaster's office in the city had closed down for the night. What? No phone recording about after-hours arrivals? No late-arrival contact number? Jeez. And you can't even anchor in this harbor without an "Anchoring Permit," so I'll probably get a ticket or something if the Harbor Police wake me up in the morning. Oh well... hopefully the ticket is cheaper than paying $90 for one night's stay at the SD Marriott Marina. $90 just to sit on my boat and sleep.... Unless I'm going to use the marina (fuel, water, shower, restaurant, etc...), I definitely prefer to anchor.

Still so many things I need to figure out on this boat, though. The windlass is one of them. I can't for the life of me figure out how to let out chain using the windlass. And there appear to be lots of twists and kinks in the chain that lock it up inside the chain locker. I need to sit on a dock and tear that thing apart and put it back together. Before Mexico.

Tired, late. G'night.

TT