August 19, 2004

Ventura, California

Today is our ONE YEAR BOAT ANNIVERSARY! We moved aboard Wand'rin Star one year ago today! So many thoughts tumble through my mind about this past year that it's difficult to put them on this page. We have thoroughly enjoyed our new life and even though all has not turned out as planned, we very happy.

If you had asked me last August where I thought I'd be now, I would have bravely told you "we'll be in the Inside Passage in Alaska." But where are we???? Ventura, California and it's OK! As many of you know, we got a later start leaving San Diego and didn't cast off the docklines until June1st. As this is still new to us, we took it slowly and made short trips northward, stopping someplace new most nights as we become acclimated to this life on the sea.

After leaving San Diego, we hopscotched our way north with stops in Mission Bay, Dana Point (where we ran into the folks we bought Wand'rin star from), Catalina, and the northern Channel Islands of Anacapa and Santa Cruz, part of Channel Islands National Park. Each location was a new experience and we took pleasure in each one. We saw dolphins for the first time on the leg to Dana Point! It was incredible, I felt like I was in the nature videos I had shown to my biology students as the dolphins swam in the bow waves and I stood above them on the bowsprit! On Catalina, we stayed in Avalon and enjoyed the shops and restaurants. This was our first experience picking up a mooring and we did quite well! After spending two nights there we moved on to Emerald Bay and enjoyed an almost empty anchorage in the clear, green waters.

Our next destination was Frenchy's Cove on Anacapa Island, but we opted to return for another night at Emerald Bay due to high winds and rough water. (We're fair weather travelers because we have no set agenda or schedule.) The next day brought sunny skies and glassy seas, so we departed for Frenchy's Cove and arrived after a 10 hour, 57-mile trip. The night was a bumpy one and we didn't get much sleep; dawn brought calmer seas and we again hoisted the anchor, heading to Forney Cove on Santa Cruz Islands. We gained confidence and expertise with each passing day and fell into a comfortable routine. Murray (our cat) had definitely found his "sea legs" and felt responsible for keeping the sea birds off the boat, even the ones that were larger than he

While anchored at Forney Cove, we noticed a pink liquid dripping onto the TV and discovered that the hydraulic steering pump in the pilot house was leaking! Gary determined that he couldn't repair it, so we headed to Santa Barbara to see if we could get it fixed there. We dropped the hook just outside the harbor and shortly learned a valuable lesson! We lowered the dinghy and went ashore for dinner. When we returned to the boat and as Gary climbed up the boarding ladder and onto the boat, a swell came in, lifting the ladder off the boat and it sank (the ladder, not the boat!). We hadn't tethered the ladder to the boat, as we'd never dealt with swells before! The cruising life is definitely a "hands on" learning course! So I was now sitting in the dinghy bouncing around next to our boat with no way of climbing aboard. Needless to say I was concerned and a little frightened! But it all turned out alright after a few minutes of me demanding that Gary call someone and get a ladder; and also threatening to start the engine, motor the dink back to shore & get a hotel room for the evening. He made a harness for me and said he would "hoist" me aboard with the main halyard. I was not thrilled with the idea, but realized I didn't have too many other viable options. So after one false start (with me loudly yelling "Stop that, let me go!") I was finally hoisted/climbed onto our boat.shaken, cold, frightened, but definitely glad to be back on the boat in one piece. The local marine store didn't have a ladder in stock, so we spent 3 days in the harbor waiting for one.

The pump couldn't be repaired in Santa Barbara so we headed east to Ventura, which has a well-equipped boatyard. Luckily they were able to order a rebuild kit and repair the pump; of course it took several weeks to accomplish this! Fortunately we were able to get a slip at Ventura Isle Marina and have enjoyed our stay here. It's now been six weeks and we'll be here until the middle of September. This is a lovely area and we're only 5 minutes from the beach and some great restaurants. We've had the opportunity to make new friends during our extended stay here and see some of the local area - reasons we decided to experience cruising.

We'd like to close this section of our log with a short list of some of the Celebrations and Opportunities afforded to us since leaving Michigan a year ago.


CELEBRATIONS...

• Taking the huge step of changing our lives
• Realizing that we can still learn and adapt to new situations and challenges
• Meeting wonderful, fascinating, eclectic folks
• Attending the wedding of Dorothy's daughter, Kate
• Watching dolphins swim in our bow wave
• Having family and friends visit and share the joy of our home on the water
• Knowing all people smile in the same language
• Deciding what we'll will do everyday
• Experiencing nature really close up Living everyday with the person we love
  
  OPPORTUNITIES...

• Realizing that it takes three times longer and is AT LEAST twice as expensive to do anything on a boat
• Trying to find qualified trades people
• Finding space, organizing, and then locating things on the boat (especially tools!)
• Dealing with a seasick cat
• Learning to live in a finite space with the person we love
• Coping with family issues from a distance
• Dorothy understanding (?) the difference between AC & DC power
• Knowing that every day holds new opportunities

 

Also a request to anyone who still has copies of our earlier updates: Due to computer problems, we no longer have copies of the updates sent out prior to October 2003, if you still have a copy on your computer, would you please email it back to us. Thanks!