A day on the island with Steve

We went to Catalina to spend Christine's birthday, and as a special treat our old friend Steve from Wilmington came to celebrate. We started out with morning pancakes and ended the day with a bbq on the beach! A warm thank you to Steve for making Christine's birthday extra special.

Avalon: the "other side" of Catalina

Our initial plan was to spend four nights in Avalon (the city that made Catalina Island famous); it's a quaint, Mediterranean style town whose only mode of transport is golf carts. While we enjoyed seeing the historic casino/theater and walking the hilly neighborhoods, this town is also a bit stuffy for our tastes. After one night on a mooring ball, we asked for a refund and have returned to the Isthmus.

Video: Breeze at Anchor

Here's a quick video clip of Breeze swaying in the wind at anchor. While at anchor, the boat is constantly in motion; but you get used to it.

Carlos and Marijke - Our Guardian Angels

Today this friendly cruising couple saved our bacon. We met Carlos and Marijke a little over a month ago at Marina del Rey. Since then we've stayed in touch with them and met them in common ports to share wine and conversation. This couple has MILES and YEARS under their keel; they will forget more about cruising than we'll ever know. And they came to our rescue today. Our engine was over-heating when we were preparing to leave; we got them out of bed at 7:00 and Carlos immediately came to our boat and spent the day trouble-shooting with us. He solved our over-heating problem and we are forever grateful for having this fun cruising couple in our lives!

Second Take at Santa Cruz

We wanted more island time, so we went back to Santa Cruz for a longer visit. For two nights we anchored in a rocky bay surrounded with eucalyptus trees and cliffs. The views were spectacular. While hiking we kept a sharp lookout for scorpions and snakes. But at night our focus was shooting stars and constellations.