February 17, 2016

Hello All... from San Diego, CA.... finally this far! We broke free of Oxnard...had a false start on Tues Feb 9... had to come back to harbor because our old wood girl (Liberator II) had dried out so much in the CA sunshine and Santa Ana winds heat that she took on toooo much water for Cap'n Ernie's liking. So, after one more night in the old slip and a lot of goop on seams inside and out and a diver to check her bottom (nice underwater video from Chris, Green Clean Diving)...we were on our way again! Left for good on Wed Feb 10 with honorary crew Pat Mosier (thank you heaps, Pat!!) headed south. First stop was Marina Del Rey.. very nice harbor, for one night. Boat did great, incoming water slowed way down... happy Captain! Next stop was Newport Beach...whew, that was interesting! We moored on bow and stern mooring balls...with no rope attached to the ball...so happy we had Pat in the dinghy for me to toss line to and get threaded...being the prudent sailor I am... I had harbor patrol standing by! If no Pat in the dinghy..I am sure the nice officer would have threaded the ball(s) for us...beautiful harbor. Met some fellow Christians in a restaurant that evening.. then off in the am. Friday, we surfed in to Oceanside, CA...on a big surf swell...would have been way more fun if there wouldn't have been two surfing kayakers on the crest right in front of us!! Our stay in Oceanside was longer than expected due to high surf advisory for San Diego that went through Sunday evening. So long that Pat had to go home and back to his life. So now we are doing this just us two until Steve and Antonia get here!! In Oceanside, we met a few very nice people and at least one adventurous soul that we may even see again, Evie..who is retiring next month! We are keeping in touch with her; she sent us to the Calvary Chapel in Oceanside...wonderful Valentine's Day message about "real love" Then on down the coast on another beautiful Southern California day..Monday, Feb 15. We were ushered in to San Diego bay by a grey whale that they had been talking about on the VHF for about an hour before we got in..and as we were turning for our run in to the channel...there she was! Awesome. Of course, we had plenty of Dolphin escorts along the way to keep us entertained! Got to the municipal dock here on Shelter Island and met two great guys who helped us dock against very high winds trying to blow us off the dock! Thank you to Norbert & Xavier. A lot of local knowledge was shared.. we are already making friends here. Met up a couple of times with "little Bobby" son of our dear friends in Camarillo...Bobby & Ronnette. Little Bobby heads off for Japan in a couple of days..he's in the Navy reserves! And finally, this morning, we got our A9 cruiser's anchorage permit from the harbor police...we are ready to go anchor...probably tomorrow! So I am going to try to post pics with this (as requested by some followers!) And if you are reading..try to become a follower (I don't know how to tell you how to do it..but would welcome anyone to comment with instructions...) so that you will be notified when we update! Love you guys out there back in WA and Santa Barbara & Ventura.. thank you for all of your love, encouragement and support! AND finally... we have the delorme hooked up...check out
https://share.delorme.com/ERNIEMOQUIN
This link should show were Liberator II is all the time and our route when we are underway in real time!! (Thanks, Pat for setting this up for us!)
I am still learning pics! Ugh.. gonna publish this now.. come back and work on pics later after I've calmed down from agitation of trying to figure it out!