December 4, 2012

Sun, some wind and heading south to Oceanside Marina

After we tied up in Dana Point on Saturday the window of sunshine diminished and the next two days were rainy, grey and foggy.  As expected the last part of the northwestern storm was coming in on Sunday through Monday.  Dana Point is a nice small boat marina with not alot of slips for boats over the size of  30 feet.  We did secure a guest side tie in front of a 47 ' Norhavn and behind a 45 ft sport fisher.  This location was next to the bridge so there was alot of foot traffic.  Everyone who walked over the bridge or through the marina had a dog.  It was like we landed in some crazy dog fantasy land. 
Our Swab Nikki was thrilled with the scenery. She could not count all the new friends and I was unable to count the number of Mercedes.  I had forgotten what life in the southern part of the OC was like. (Orange County not Long Beach) We finished our trip by having dinner with some old friends Connie and Dale at Harpoon Henrys. It was fun laughing about alot of the old times Connie and I had working together in the OC and how different life was today.  I was working with Connie when Will and I bought our home in Punta Gorda.  She knew the game plan we had for 2012/2013 and was happy to know we stuck to our goals. (Thanks Connie and Dale we had a great time and when you visit with us in Florida we will do Harpoon Harrys which is close by our home.)

The sun was shining this morning as we headed south to Oceanside Marina. There was huge pod of dolphins (not familiar with name of this breed but they had the smaller tales) When we arrived inside the marina 3 hours or so later we found we were sharing an end tie with a 43 foot catamaran Tango.  The couple we met (Holly and Denny)have been cruising for 8 years fulltime. Hopefully we will have more time to chat with them. They have been as far north as Alaska and west to Hawaii and south to the southern point of Mexico.  They said they want to go to Hawaii to live and wished us luck with the hot weather and sun that wreaks havoc on boats in Florida. Denny said his sister lives in Port Charlotte and he is familiar with the area. I thought hmmm....Hawaii...Florida....Hawaii...Florida oh hell....I think Florida is perfect for us.

 

We took out our bikes and went exploring to see what the locals were up to.  It was 2:30 and we decided  that pizza and beer would be perfect. These bikes are awesome they fold up and can be stored on the boat.  We put Nikki in the basket on the front of Will's bike and away we go.