MARCH 1ST -  MARCH 31ST, 2000 Wow…. The month march has been so busy that I’ve had no time to write in my journal. I will try to recap the highlights.  We made a decision not to go to San Diego and stay here in Ventura. We had ordered many parts at the local West Marine and were waiting for those to come in.  We also had made many friends here and have come to like the area a lot. It’s a lot easier to get things done here, without the traffic jams of San Diego. It finally quit raining here the first week of March and a glorious spring emerged. The weather was fantastic and mostly in the 70’s. We had to order a new Winless and unfortunately there were none of the brand we wanted in the United States. It had to be ordered from New Zealand. Our friend Ed had to order the same winless. So we made a day of it and the 3 of us drove to Costa Mesa and San Diego together to pick up our parts and other boat purchases.  While in Costa Mesa, Ed introduced us to his Billionaire friend, who owns 4 or 5 sailboats and was in the middle of buying another one. He had a whole warehouse full of boat parts! What an interesting fellow he was. As we all piled into my poor little Volkswagen he said “ glad to see you’re spending your money on your boat and not your car.” Hee hee … my poor little car and I have been through so much together.  I got a new folding mountain bike while in San Diego. Its very cool… if you take the tires and pedals off, it folds in half to a small package that will fit into the dinghy. We had a fun and long day traveling around together.  Back in Ventura I have discovered some wonderful trails that follow along the coast. So now my days include a nice bike ride along the ocean. One day I even saw dolphins jumping around. Most times I only see surfers.  David is now busy installing all kinds of things and I help when I can. I think in the last few weeks we have installed the new winless, two solar panels, a water maker, a spare auto pilot, a new mainsail traveler (which had to be ordered from Australia) and many other little electrical jobs and repairs. I, on the other hand have been busy sewing. I made sunbrella covers for all 5 of the jerry jugs, a sun awning for when we are parked in the sun, a dinghy cover, a cover for the compass, 2 more lee cloths, a cover for the Honda generator and a collision mat. We also bought a flag book and made flags for the all the countries we will be visiting.  Apparently the proper protocol when entering a foreign port is to first hang a yellow quarantine flag, the flag for the country you are entering, known as a courtesy flag and of course the American flag.  I have also been busy compiling an inventory list of all the items we have stowed in the boat. Mostly so we don’t make the mistake of buying more macaroni and cheese, which is now up to 25 boxes! It’s hard to remember what you have stored in every nook and cranny of the boat. Under the seats, under the bed, in the bilge, in the lazerette…. I’m sure we will be finding all kinds of surprises along the way. We also have been interviewing people for crew. Our goal was to find at least one more crew and maybe two. We finally have found 2 gentleman who are brave enough to travel with us. Patrick is 19 and was attending the Santa Barbara City College.  He said while taking a break at track practice one day, someone walked by him and dropped our flyer on the ground right in front of him.  Talk about meant to be! After talking it over with his mother, she graciously told him to quit school and come with us. I guess she thought it would be a good adventure for him. The other crew member is 39 year old Marcus, who has just finished crewing on sailboats in the Caribbean and found himself in San Diego looking for a way to get back to Australia, which is his home. He has lots of sailing experience and speaks fluent French, so he will be good to have along.  We are so close to finally being ready that we are actually shooting for a day to leave the first week in April.  The last day of March we drove down to San Diego to get mail and pick up a few more things. David surprised me with a visit to Sea world. It was a beautiful hot day and the park wasn’t very crowed. We watched the Orca whale show twice. It was actually the first time I had seen an Orca whale believe it or not.  While it was great to see these magnificent mammals, it was sad to think that they have to live in those relatively small tanks.  David said they weren’t that small, but I said how would you like to spend the next 5 years sailing around in tanks that size. Then they looked pretty small, when you think about the whales in the ocean and how much space they have to swim. I know they take very good care of them at sea world and they are ambassadors for their species.  It’s a tough struggle for me to contend with.  We also had the pleasure to touch bat rays and witness the birth of a baby dolphin! Right when we sat down to watch the dauphin show the baby was taking its first breath. So needless to say the dolphin show was cancelled and we just watched the dolphins swim around and help the baby learn to swim. What a treat.  It was a fun day!