Going into this trip we all knew it was a bit risky. Jared tends to have adventures when he goes sailing. We all went fully expecting an adventure of some sort and hoping it wouldn’t be too major. It’s never a good sign when you’re driving to the airport and your soon to be captain asks if you have to be back at work Wednesday (we were scheduled to fly home Tuesday evening).
We arrived in Long Beach Friday evening and took a Taxi to the marina, got settled in for the night and went to bed early in preparation for sailing the next morning. Our initial plan was to sail Saturday morning to Avalon on Catalina island, spend Saturday evening on the island and Sunday day snorkeling and other things. Monday we were to go around to the back of the island for more ocean/beach fun then sail back to LA Monday night just incase we were delayed a bit we left plenty of buffer time to make our Tuesday evening flight.
Saturday morning the girls got to walk to the grocery store to get food and supplies. The boys needed to go to the marine store to get a few parts the boat needed. No big deal, right? For Jen and I we got to take a 3 mile walk to the store and called a Taxi to take us back to the marina since we had perishable items. The boys got to take a 6 mile run to the marine store and a 6 mile walk back. I’m so glad I’m a girl.
We got this train to honk at us while we were walking. That's worth at least 1,000,000 points more than a semi truck.
Waiting for the taxi.
Once we were back from our errands, it was time to set sail.
Jen found out on a previous boat trip that she gets sea sick, Shad also knows that he gets sea sick too. Even though they took their drugs like they were supposed to, they still got really sick. I was actually fine which surprised me – I’ve recently developed getting car sick over the past year. Why, no one knows.
Here I am enjoying a PB & J sandwich en-route to Catalina. Jen was jealous I was getting to eat so she took a picture.
We got to Catalina by 5ish and because of the holiday weekend, there were no moorings left. We opted to drop our anchor outside of the harbor and take the water taxi into the island.
After give Shad and Jen sometime to get their appetites back, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and walked around for a bit. Then we headed back to the water taxi to take us back to the boat. That’s when things got interesting.
The water taxi took us back to the spot we had left our boat, only our boat wasn’t there. By this time it was dark outside so then Jared started explaining what kind of boat it was and the water taxi guy started thinking where he had seen boats like ours. Luckily he recalled seeing a boat like ours way out tied to a buoy with the harbor patrol next to it. He took us out there and low and behold there was our boat, tied to a buoy with a not too happy harbor patrol man next to it.
As it turns out, our anchor wasn’t exactly set properly and the boat started to drift dangerously close to some other boats near it. The other boats decided to call the harbor master to come take care of the boat that was trying to “bump and grind” (that’s a direct quote from the harbor master – our boat is dirty) against the other boats.
For some reason that still eludes me, the harbor master was not able to get our anchor up and decided to just cut it off. He then towed it to the buoy in the middle of nowhere to keep it safe. It turns out the boat didn’t have current registration stickers or proof of insurance so he suspected it was a derelict boat. Luckily though, he felt bad enough about cutting the anchor that he didn’t ticket us for the registration or insurance. He let us use an emergency mooring for the night and told us he would be back at 9:00 to check on us.
At that point it was decision time. Should we stay in Avalon for the next day or two and go snorkeling like we had planned or just go back to LA? The rest of our plans were out since we no longer had an anchor. Not wanting to tempt fate anymore, we all voted to go back to LA. Plus that meant we wouldn’t have to deal with sick Jen and Shad for the next two days.
Mmmm. Marshmallows in the morning time.
Motoring back to LA - the wind was seriously lacking.
Catalina before we left.
I'm a sailor.
Jared is too.
Naptime on the boat.
Ocean
Sometimes you have to get your foot into it.
Sea lions.
Pretty cute picture of us.
Boats at the marina.
Playing at the beach.
It's a tradition. Shad and Jared build a sand castle, Jen and I destroy it when it's done.
Jen finishing off the brownie at Yardhouse.
Us at dinner in Long Beach.
For my birthday Jen and Jared got me some bump-its (for the big hair I have always dreamed of), SPAM (because I’ve never had SPAM) and a booty pop (because I am a white girl). It was like a made for TV wonderland on the boat that night. And now I look so good all the time.
Tuesday we took the boat out one more time and sailed around the harbor for a few hours. It’s too bad we had to go back early, we were getting pretty good at sailing by Tuesday but that might have been because in the harbor it was smooth and Jen and Shad didn’t get sick. Whatever.
