La Cruz (slip) - draft

Paradise Village Marina (slip) - draft

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (anchor) - draft

Islas Tres Marietas (dinghy) - draft

Punta Mita (anchor) - draft

Isla Isabela (anchor) - draft

Mainland crossing (passage) - draft

Los Muertos (anchor) - draft

La Ventana (anchor) - draft

Espiritu Santos (anchor) - draft

La Paz (anchor) - draft

Ensenada de los Muertos - Cove of the Dead (anchor) - draft

Los Frailes - The Friars (anchor) - draft

Cabo San Lucas (anchor) - draft

Bahia Magdalena - Mag Bay (anchor) - draft

Bahia Santa Maria (anchor) - draft

Bahia De Tortugas / Turtle Bay (anchor) - draft

Isla Cedros (anchor) - draft

Islas San Benito (anchor) - draft

Bahia Sebastian Vizcaino (passage)

I decided to jump directly from San Carlos to the San Benitos Islands, traversing the  Bahia Sebastian Vizcaino. The wind and weather were favorable for a fast passage and would avoid the lee shore problems if I travelled any further south. I had to cover 80nm so I hauled anchor early so I could arrive before sunset.

I had read about the San Benito islands years before and was fascinated that somewhere so remote could still exist in this day and age where bartering and trading are the main way of life for the locals. I had bought along a few items to trade just for this occasion.

If your not familiar with Baja, I was sailing from the mainland near the top left of the chart to the small islands west of the large island (Cedros) near the bottom left.


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As soon as I sailed off the Pacific shelf into deep water I got my first decent strike on my tuna lure I got at Halfmoon bay a few years back.

Albacore tuna on the trolling line.

I was sailing pretty fast in 20+ knots on a broad reach, so the boat was moving about, making the fishing quite challenging. Bringing the fish up to the stern was pretty easy, but getting it on the deck and killing it proved to be more than I expected as I hadn't landed a fish this big before and I wasn't really sure what to expect.

I decided to kill it with my filleting knife while holding it in a bucket. This took a little more effort than I first thought so I pushed real hard and managed to not only stab thro the fish, but also thro the bucket and thro the cockpit cushions. Of course I did this 3 times before I realized what I had done. Then the blood started to squirt everywhere and lots of it, dark red and thick. I eventually got it top/tailed and filleted on the side deck and then spent quite a while cleaning up the mess with a scrubbing brush and buckets of water.

The meat was a semi clear pink color and you could squash it easily between your fingers. Dinner was going to be good tonite!

The sailing got better and better as the wind held its strength and direction throughout the day. I had the jib poled out and that proved to be a good downwind setup for the Catalina. The boat sustained over 9 knots SOG for hours on end and I was tempted to keep going for my first 200nm day. I got pooped once when a freak wave broke over the open transom and washed all the way up to the companionway doors. I had forgot to put in the perspex screen that prevents that from occurring as I never thought it would happen.

The ocean is really deep in this area, over 15,000ft just west of the islands, that's over 3 miles down to the sea floor! It gave me a weird kind of vertigo just thinking about it.

Later that afternoon, the San Benito islands appeared on the horizon and I prepared to sail thro the Canal De Peck between the East and Center Benito Islands. As I neared the pass it became apparent that the charts were useless in this remote location, they were at least 1nm off. Waves were breaking across the numerous rocks and shoals near the islands and I had my fingers crossed I was taking the right route thro the pass as it was quite narrow.

Approaching the Canal De Peck

I reduced sail and carefully rounded the Center island and relaxed in the lee, sheltered from the wind and swell after a rough passage.


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The recommended anchorage was just south of the fish camp on the West island where I could see one other boat anchored. I couldnt see a clear path to the anchorage so I carefully picked my way thro the thick kelp beds and dropped anchor 1/2nm off shore. All my GPS based charts had me located on land! You don't want to arrive here after dark.

Bahia San Carlos (anchor)

My next stop on my trip south was Bahia San Carlos which is a popular windsurfing destination on the Baja coast as it is always windy.


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I decided the conditions were a little too advanced for me and the water a little too cold to windsurf but I admired the dozen or so people out on kites or boards negotiating the big surf and hi winds.

Powerful, consistent wind

Another beautiful sunset

Isla San Jeronimo (anchor)

I finally fulfilled a childhood fantasy for my 46th birthday when I landed at my own island. Well it wasn't really my own, but since I was the only person on the island while I was there, I let my imagination run a little.


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Isla San Geronimo in the North with the treacherous Sacramento reef to the south.

I was totally blown away with this island and the wildlife. The rock formations and the tide-pools are incredible. Its well worth a visit if you are sailing down this coast.

Smooth sailing to Isla San Jeronimo

I anchored on the eastern shore at Sunset

In the morning I took the dingy ashore to explore the island. It was only a few square miles and not completely covered in Cactus like San Martin making it easy to hike around.

Easy landing near the fish camp. Sea42 in the background.

Abandoned shacks near the shore

5 graves on the path up to the lighthouse

The solar powered, automated lighthouse on the hill

Looking south from the lighthouse. Fishcamp on the left.

Looking north from the lighthouse

tubes of lava in the sandstone

beautiful carved sandstone

Amazing tide pools full of sea life

Unusual tubes that you could drive a car thro

remains of the roof of lava tubes

Sea42 anchored of Isla San Jeronimo

Bizarre lines and circles carved in the rock

Amazing tidepools on the windward side

Seals hauled out on the southern shore

San Quintin (Dinghy)

The next day I put the big 15HP motor on the dinghy to take the 6nm or so trip across the bar and up to the old mill at San Quintin.


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The bar is located at the end of the narrow sand spit in the lower part of the map above where it meets the headland on the ocean side. Most of the pass is just a few feet deep and the sand bar is constantly shifting. All the charts and guides for this area do not recommend trying to cross it without surveying the area first and taking your own depth soundings. I crossed it at high tide and found the water depth to be enough that I could have taken the big boat thro with a little care.

After crossing the bar the water was completely flat calm and I made great time at 20+ knots with the bigger outboard.

Abandoned boat in the still waters of the estuary

A few abandoned boats were scattered about and a few small houses and fish camps on the shore. I finally made it up to the head of the bay after exploring the area.

Some recent development on the shore south of the Old Mill

San Quintin the village is actually a few more miles inland from where I eventually went but where I landed was the remains of an old water mill and a small settlement that was supposedly started by some English farmers way back yonder. 

2 boats anchored at the Old Mill

The Old Mill restaurant looked very clean and modern and next to it was an empty R/V park. A few stores and small hotels lay a few roads back from the water.

The Old Mill restaurant (Molino Viejo)

The Mill water turbine that was powered by the strong tides in the bay.

Bahia Santa Maria - San Quintin (anchor)

Bahia Santa Maria is a huge bay just south east of Isla San Martin. Not to be confused with the more popular bay of the same name near Bahia Magdalena where the Baha Haha fleet anchor every fall.


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I rounded the point at the entrance and immediately noticed that the charts for this area are not very accurate. The Pacific swell wraps 100 deg around the point and causes some big breaking waves inside the bay. I sounded carefully and anchored in 25ft of water after crossing a 15ft shoal. After anchoring I noticed that occasional swell would break across the shoal area after wrapping around the point. This could be really nasty if you entered the bay in the dark and anchored in the suggested chart area.

Later that day another boat with 4 people on board searching for hot surf locations of the coast anchored the other side of the shoal area. I took the dinghy out to talk to them and we followed a few whales about 20ft long that were rolling around in the bay.

I went over to the other boat that evening for dinner and ended up coming back to my boat in the pitch black. I had my fingers crossed that I wouldnt be unlucky and get hit with a breaking wave, 10 mins after getting back I heard a huge wave braking, I promised myself to not take that risk again.

Anchored in the remote bay south of San Quintin

Isla San Martin

San Martin is a beautiful island in a classic cone shape. It has a nicely protected bay called Caleta Hassler to anchor at that looks like it was man made but is all made from volcanic rock.


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Sea42 anchored in the bay at Isla St Martin

There is no permanent residents on the island, but it has some temporary fish camps for visiting fisherman who often visit to set traps for up to 2 weeks at a time. Some of the shacks had definitely seen better days by western standards, but otherwise the fisherman seemed to be quite happy. They mostly seemed 20-30 year old men working the traps as it was quite hard labor. There were many remnants of older dwellings built from the local lava stone but they were all abandoned.

Fish camp near the beach

At the south of the island is a lagoon that I had been wanting to explore. It turned out to be quite small with a very shallow entrance with rocks awash at low tide. It had a wide beach with many sea lions. With nobody to clean up I found lots of seal remains in various stages of decomposure. Something I hadn't thought about before, but humans do a lot of housekeeping with dead bodies, time that would be much better spent cleaning up the plastic bottles that are on the windward shores of everywhere I have been. Plastic is a major problem as it takes so long to break down. Next birthday you attend, don't buy those Mylar balloons, I have lost count of  how many I see floating in open ocean.

Permanently retired on the beach

I wanted to hike up to the top of the volcano to explore the lava tubes reported on the island, some big enough to walk thro. After a few hours of getting spiked by cactus I gave up trying to find the trail until I return next time. The worst cactus are about 2" across and round like a Christmas decoration. They lie in clusters on the ground and stick into anything that touches them. They have 1" plus needle spikes with barbs and are a nightmare to get out.

After I hauled anchor and was headed out the harbor for Bahia San Quintin, a panga with 4 fisherman pulled by and wanted to sell me Langosta (lobster). I got 2 for 100 pesos ($8). Not having cooked live lobster before I decided to pull the tail off one and BBQ it. I didnt find much meat in the rest of the animal so I chucked the remains overboard. It was good but a little dry so the next one I simply put the whole animal on the BBQ, This time it came out perfect and the tail came off with a lot more meat.

My first BBQ lobster.

Punta Colnett (anchor)

Once I sailed out of Ensenada harbor and Bahia De Todos Santos the wind died down and the fog settled in. It was slow going but I made it to my next stop at Punta Colnett, named after a British surveyor that charted these shores 100's of years ago. It was dark and foggy as I sailed around the point and I had to anchor using RADAR, depthsounder and chartplotter only. It was a little unnerving but I found a good spot and settled in for the night. I woke in the morning to find I was the only boat in the anchorage and huge cliffs like at you see at Dover in the south of England.


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The cliffs at Punta Colnett at dawn

Ensenada (anchorage)

After years of dreaming, planning and preparation I finally made it across the border! The last 3 months of cruising down from Frisco seemed insignificant in comparison to leaving the States, it was surprisingly overwhelming.

I swung by the Coronado islands to see if there was a decent anchorage for my first nite in Mexico. The only area usable was at the south of the island and that was being heavily used by commercial fishermen so I decided to give it a miss after my last experience at Catalina with late night fishing boats.


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Late in the day I pulled into Bahia Todos Santos and the Port of Ensenada. A big cruise ship was headed out the port just as I was entering and it really tested my AIS system which correctly detected a collision threat and set of all the alarms. Hope it works as well when I need it in the middle of the nite.

The cruisers guide mention a free anchorage under a giant Mexican flag right near the Melancon (boardwalk). I could see another sailboat in that area so I dropped the hook about 100yds away. The flag at Ensenada is massive, it must be about the size of a football field. The flag moves like any normal flag but in slow motion, very surreal to watch.


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   I dropped the dinghy off the davits and looked around for a pier or dock to land on. I saw one small dock where the gate was open to the town so I tied up to that. A couple of young guys approached me from a boat at the dock and one of them spoke a little English. He explained the going rate for leaving a dinghy at the dock was $50 pesos (less than $5, just divide pesos by 10 to get the rough amount, right now it's 12 to the dollar. They also use the $ symbol for pesos which gets confusing). Since paying the guy would also include watching the dinghy it seemed fair so I headed over to the town a few blocks from the dock. I soon discovered all the trappings of a large city within a few blocks (even a Starbucks).

The next day I concentrated on getting my tourist visa and paperwork done with Mexican immigration. I got everything done except the check in / check out procedure for the boat with the Port Captain since it was a vacation day for him but not anyone else. I could have the paperwork done by an agent but it would cost 100's of dollars and it should be free. I was going to have to wait till Monday until he returned so I decided to stay the weekend in Ensenada and explore the city a little more.

I was been told that I couldn't stay in the anchorage and needed to tie up the boat at a marina. Turns out, I found you can anchor at Ensenada as long as you want but no one there likes it as they don't make any money out of you. Anyway one of the run down piers was run by an operation called 'Bandidos' (obviously named by a graduate of Marketing from Harvard). They offered me a deal at $20 a nite but I would need to squeeze the boat into a ridiculously small space after doing a 90 degree turn in a narrow gap. After hauling anchor and motoring over to Bandidos dock I circled a few times and decided that the small space and 20 knots of wind spelt disaster so a nearby dock that looked like a palace in comparison had a great space available and the owner was frantically waving me over. I decided to take him up on his offer and ended up at 'Marina Ensenada'. Within minutes I had met about half dozen other cruisers at the dock headed south and had the weekend planned out.

At Marina Ensenada. Huge Mexican flag in the background

Over the weekend I walked all over town, found some awesome local food, restocked the pantry and made lots of new friends. I also visited the Telcel store (Mex version of AT&T) and picked up a small Nokia phone with a prepaid plan and the 3G Banda Ancha USB card. This lets me connect the laptop to the internet anywhere I see a Telcel phone signal and download 3GB of data for around $44 a month.

Ensenada was as safe as anywhere I have been. I didn't see anyone even remotely intimidating.

Downtown Ensenada

I left Ensenada on Monday but decided to skip the port check in/out procedure and take my chances down the road.

Zuniga Shoal, San Diego (Anchorage)

The anchorage is outside the harbor and is usually sheltered from the prevailing NW winds and swells by Point Loma. It would save me about 1hr the next morning if I stayed here before my passage across the US border to Ensenada in Mexico. As I was approaching the anchorage I passed a big dark grey nuclear submarine slowly motoring out of San Diego harbor. I stayed as far away as the channel would allow, but the coast guard still came racing over in his powerboat with machine guns on the bow, lights flashing to warn me to stay away from the sub or face the wrath of the Navy.

The anchorage at Zuniga shoals, San Diego

 I rounded the submerged pier at Zuniga shoal that must have claimed many boats over the years as huge rocks lurked just a few feet below the surface, but tempted you with an easy shortcut to the anchorage. I dropped the hook in 12 feet of water next to about 6 other boats and settled in for the nite, it seemed like a great place until the wind swung around 180 deg to the south at 1am and blew 20knots for the rest of the nite. The swells and wind chop built until it was truly miserable and I left as soon as the sun rose to spend the last nite in the US back at Glorietta bay where it was nice and calm.

Police Docks, Shelter Island, San Diego

On Saturday I called the Police Docks and they had a space available for me. I quickly hauled anchor at La Playa and motored the short distance to Shelter Island. View Map. I did all the paperwork at the office and then tied up at my new slip.


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Its so weird to be in a dock again. I realized I haven't been at a dock since Alamitos Bay back in August. This was the first time since then I would have access to a hose and shore power. I gave the boat a good cleaning to remove 2 months of salt buildup and then plugged in shore power and turned all the electric items on including the AC. It felt good for a while, but was a little claustrophobic being so close to other boats and the shore after being out on my own floating island for so long.

Since this really is the last US stop before you leave the country I met lots of other people in sailboats doing last minute jobs before they left for Baja. Its like a club meeting where people who have had the exact same dream as you, get together to swap stories. Everyone had had the same issues as me, years of planning and preparation and then solving last minute problems before finally casting off. Luckily since I had left 3 months ago, I had more time to fully test out the boat and get things fixed before I cross the border. If you don't get the work done now, its a long way to go before you can find any sort of marine related store down south in Mexico.

The only things I have left to do now are to refill my primary propane tank (gas cooker) and install the dinghy equipment I bought. I will do my last food provisioning trip when I get back from my trip home.

My first Mexican stop will be Ensenada which is only about 60 miles past the border. I will get all my visas and immigration paperwork done there as its an official port of entry for Mexico. I will also top off my fuel tanks for the long 750nm trip down Baja. I'm quite pleased about my fuel usage (considering the lack of wind on this trip) as that means I only put fuel in the boat once since leaving San Francisco 3 months ago and that was only 30 gallons. The tank says 2/3 full right now but its not very accurate. I'm guessing it needs around 20 gallons to fill it back up. If the wind dies at nite on the trip down Baja, I will want to motor to keep my progress up if I see a bad weather forecast.

A few people at the docks are preparing to do the Baja Haha rally which is sponsored by Latitude38, a monthly magazine about sailing on the west coast. I have been reading the magazine for years and considered doing the Baha Haha rally as it would mean sharing the long trip down Baja with lots of other sailors, as many as 200 are signed up. After some thought I decided not to do the Haha as they only stop in 2 places on the Baja coast and they do not allow single handers to do the event. I may try and be anchored at Turtle Bay or Mag Bay when they come thro.

I flew back to San Fran the next day and  was home for Ali and Lisa's birthdays. When I returned to the boat the weather had turned and it started raining! I found a few leaks in the boat and plugged them up before leaving the docks to get my last fill up at the fuel docks.

I got to the fuel docks about 10am just before it really started to pour down. The guys let me stay for a few hours as business was so quiet. I had only been the second customer that day and only one other person pulled up in the next 4 hours. He estimated 75% of all boats in the marina were for sale with the downturn in the economy. I dont think its that bad but it was very quiet!

I loaded up on my last batch of groceries and then decided to head for the Zuniga shoals just outside the main harbor and anchor there for my last day before heading south. This would save me a few hours going back and forth within the harbor. I dropped anchor just before dark.

La Playa, San Diego Harbor (anchor)

La Playa is a small bay behind shelter Island on San Diego Bay. View Map.You can only anchor over the weekends , but its nicely situated off a quiet residential area.


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The Anchorage at La Playa

I'm booked to fly home in a few days and I'm still looking for somewhere to keep the boat for 8 days. I cant leave it anchored anywhere so it means finding a slip. There are lots of marinas around, but they are are all full and with the Baja Haha sail rally (200 boats) starting in a few weeks all the available spots seem to be taken. I'm counting on getting a spot at the police docks nearby, but they are full at the moment. The girl at the office thinks a space may open up tomorrow, so I'm ready to move at a moments notice.

Homes overlooking the bay

 I took the dinghy to shore to try and find a Spectra dealership that is nearby. Spectra make my watermaker and I need a new carbon filter for my trip as they only last 6 months. Shelter Island has so many boat related businesses, you could have a boat designed, built and commissioned just on one road! I picked up my filter and then found a store called the 'Dinghy Doctor'. He had all the weird pieces I need for my dinghy including wheels (to beach the dinghy), planing fins and a new motor hoist. I loaded all the stuff onto the little bike and wobbled back to the pier where I had left the dinghy only to find the gate locked. Luckily, after a while, someone was leaving the dock and opened the gate for me. If I had been any later I would have to swim back to the boat.

Glorietta Bay, San Diego Harbor (anchor)

To get from Mission Bay to San Diego Bay you have to go about a mile out into the ocean to skirt the biggest kelp forest I have ever seen. It seems very popular for fisherman though as dodging the endless crab pot floats, (some the size of beer bottles and painted black!) made it a tough trip to relax on. I had to motor a portion of this passage as there was no wind (again) and you don't want to snag a crab pot float as getting a 100ft of poly line melted and knotted around the prop would be a miserable job to repair.

Huge kelp forest over a mile offshore. Pt Loma in the distance.

Finally some wind picked up as I rounded Point Loma (View Map) and I managed kill the engine and casually drift into the bay under sail power.

Pt Loma, the southern most point in the US

 San Diego Bay is also home to the US Navy. Warships, submarines, helicopters and lots of restricted areas. This little aircraft carrier was docked off the city front. It made me wonder why so much of our money and resources are tied up in protecting ourselves from 'other' people. Of all the problems in the world, we are most scared of ourselves. I had never really thought about that until I saw this monster machine that had been purposely constructed to annihilate other humans.

Imagine this headed your way on a foggy night, its the size of a small city!

Below is a map of San Diego Bay. You can see part of Mission bay at the very top where I was anchored before (see last post). I'm now anchored at Glorietta Bay (blue dot) on the Coronado Peninsula. View Map. The Mexican border is the solid line at the bottom of the map

Map of San Diego Bay. Mexican border at the bottom.

I had only been here a few hours when some people I had met at a Newport Beach raftup came by. They invited me to yet another party on a friends boat nearby. Lots of great people and I picked up a few tips about traveling in Mexico. I slept well that nite. Certainly a fun group who like to party, probably 90% of all the alcohol I have consumed on this trip has been with that one group! I would have to toughen up my constitution if was stay around here for much longer or I'm going to fall out the dinghy soon on the way back to the boat.

Anchored opposite the golf course at Glorietta Bay.

 The next day after a long lie-in, I dropped the dinghy in the water and pulled it up on the beach 100ft away on the golf course. I cycled around Coronado for a while and then had lunch at an Il Fornaio restaurant right on the waterfront overlooking the downtown San Diego. That meal was the most I had spent on one dinner since I left San Francisco. It was ok (I had the lasagna), but I have really been enjoying making my own food lately and the whole restaurant thing just hasn't been so appealing as of late and now seems to be a waste of money, I think its mainly because I have the time to make my own food, just as I like it. Before, when I've been in a rush, a restaurant has been convenient as it will get you something decent without much effort. I bet my view will change when Ive been out in the wilderness for a few months!

View from Coronado Island overlooking downtown San Diego

I went for a few bike rides around Coronado island and spent some time looking around the Coronado hotel. I had stopped here years back for lunch with the family on a car trip around California. If you ever visit San Diego, this is the place to stay.

The Hotel Del Coronado

I even got the bike fixed. Both wheels had been taco'd when I got run over at Dana Point and Ive been looking around for some 20" alloy wheels. The rear wheel was unusual as it had a 6 speed block and most 20" wheels are single speed on BMX bikes. Anyway I found a bike shop in downtown Coronado and they had both wheels in stock for less than I could order them online. They even let me use their workshop to swap out the axles and the gears onto the new wheels. I hadn't had a chance to do bike work like that since I was about 14! The 'new' bike is going better than ever.


That weekend I was scheduled to move the boat up to another anchorage in San Diego Bay at La Playa. It is close to the police docks where you do your immigration paperwork on your return to the US and they have slips you can rent for up to 10 days. I'm hoping to get to use those so I can leave the boat somewhere secure and fly home next week.

The wind was very favorable and I was able to sail the whole way out of Glorietta bay and up the San Diego harbor. I was busy tacking back and forth up the channel and apparently I got too close for comfort for a Navy warship coming down the channel.

Navy Warship 104

 I was over 1/4 mile of his bow when I was directly ahead of him but the next thing I hear on the VHF 16 is ..
"This is Navy Warship 104, Navy Warship 104 calling sailing vessel Sea 42"
Oh crap! I looked back and took the picture above and realized maybe I had left it a little too close.
I responded on the radio and we switched to channel 12. Some small gray Navy support boats were buzzing around the warship and one was headed towards me. What have I got myself into now? They probably think I'm a terrorist and my boat is loaded with bombs.
The Navy radio operator was polite but firm. He wanted a larger perimeter around his ship and I was to stay away. I apologized and confirmed his request. I looked back and the support boats had turned away. That was a little too much excitement for one day.

Great sailing conditions up the San Diego harbor

I turned into La Playa (top left on above map) behind Shelter island and dropped the hook glad I'm not peeling potatoes in a Navy prison.

Mission Bay, San Diego (anchor)

I'm close to the border! I can smell the salsa in the distance. Well I'm not planning on visiting any of the border towns like Tijuana but will make my first stop Ensenada which looks about a days sail south.

Anyway for now I'm in the final, most southerly US city on this leg of the trip. From a boaters perspective, San Diego is split into 2 areas, Mission Bay and San Diego Bay, split by the San Diego river.

Mission Bay, San Diego. Im anchored at the blue dot, bottom left.

 Mission bay is a huge man made area dredged from mud flats back in the 50's. Most of it is accessed under a freeway bridge which is too low for my mast, but there is a general anchorage area before the bridge called Mariners Basin where I can stay for three days. View Map.

Sea42 anchored just off the beach

There are no docks or piers nearby, but I can drag the dinghy up the beach and cycle into town. Right next to the anchorage is a large park and Sea World, the huge Zoo with Orca the killer whale.

Sunset at Mission Bay

This part of San Diego has a distinctly different feel to it than the other towns in southern California that I have visited. It's very laid back and noticeably less pretentious, without the L.A. rat-race / 'look at me' atmosphere.

I couldn't resist taking a peek at this boat at the far end of the bay, his anchor and rode was still attached but it cant have set well as he must have dragged onto the beach and is now stuck in this interesting position.

Ive never seen a fin keel boat balance so well.

Looks like its been here a while....

I took a few bike rides around the area and found a great coffee shop near the harbor that was very laid back. I chatted with the owner for a while about the town and living near the border of Mexico.

Coffee shop making good use of old surfboards

Along the beach front is surfer paradise. Endless surf shops, hippie hangout bars and this park with an artificial wave machine.

On my last day I took my longest bike ride so far and made it all the way north to La Jolla which is like the Beverley Hills of San Diego. Beautiful homes right on the beach front some with their own private bay.

The sea front at La Jolla

interesting trees at the park

 I want to fly home in a few weeks as it's birthday season at home soon and I can catch 2 birthdays in 7 days if I time it right. I've got the flight booked, all I need to do now is find a home for the boat. I can only stay here for 3 days, but in San Diego bay they have a number of places you can anchor specially set up for transients like me headed for Mexico. You even have to prove your not local to use the main anchorage. It will be great to get out of 'civilization' soon and anchor where I want without someone sticking there hand out for money or putting restrictions on how long I can stay.

I called up the harbor police and got 3 back-to-back 3 day permits at Glorietta Bay with is on the very exlusive Coronado Peninsula. Ill be right near the center of town which will be nice. I then have another permit for 'La Playa' cove for the next weekend. Hopefully by then I will be able to sort something out for the week I fly home. Looks promising though....