Blog Post 6

Dana Point to San Diego/Chula Vista

11 July 2015

32:37.35N – 117:06.11W

We left Dana Point bright and early on Friday. After the excitement of catching the fish the rest of the trip was uneventful until we got to San Diego Harbor. There were huge kelp forests everywhere. They were not floating on the surface but actually growing on the sea floor. We had to go 3 miles out of our way with me standing on the bow telling Jirig which way to go. It would be a big problem if we were coming in at night. Jirig always plans to arrive at a new port in the daylight. Then we saw the most amazing thing. Little known to us there is a Navy submarine base right at the mouth of the harbor. Lucky for us a stealth submarine was leaving port. We did not see it at first; we noticed the escort it was getting. There were 2 navy helicopters and 4 patrol boats. The sub was black so at first it was hard to see. It was pretty cool. We are headed to the Chula Vista Marina in Chula Vista. It is 17 miles inland through Mission Bay to Chula Vista. Mission Bay is very shallow less than 2 feet in places. There is a narrow channel, almost like a lane that you have to follow. Drift outside the lane and you run aground. We are staying at the California Yacht Marina. It is the sister marina to the one where the boat was docked in Long Beach. We will be here through the end of the month. On August 1^st we will leave for Ensenada. It is less than 50 miles from here. We secured a slip at the Hotel Coral Marina. It is a beautiful hotel and marina about 5 miles north of Ensenada. We have stayed there many times before. That will be our home base for 3 months while we wait out hurricane season. It has been an active season so far in the Eastern Pacific. There have been 4 named hurricanes so far this season. Weather permitting; we will leave Ensenada in late October/early November for Cabo San Lucas. We plan on playing tourists here in San Diego and then in Ensenada for the next 4 months. People ask us why did you leave if you have to wait for hurricane season to be over. My answer to that is, where would you want to spend the summer and early fall, in Long Beach or in San Diego and Ensenada?