Catalina Island to San Diego Sept. 22-30, 2019

September 22-30, 2019

Catalina Island to San Diego

“Jump at da sun!”

      --Zora Neal Hurston

I’ve been a runner since I was 15 years old, and I can’t tell you how many times I have found myself looking down at the ground in front of me, only to realize that I’m overthinking something—or simply too much in my head, even while I run. When I realize I’m not “in the moment,” I silently recite, “Look up!”….which is really just my reminder to myself to take in everything else (except my thoughts).

When Kevin and I are on deck or at the helm, we don’t have to remind ourselves to soak in the moment; our eyes are always out in front of the bow or on the horizon. This is especially true, when halfway through our 18 day journey, I learned that dolphin or turtle or whale sightings would not just happen in front of our eyes...we had to look up and out if we wanted to capture those special moments; actively searching for sea life is the promise that "it" will happen if we're patient. 

As we motorsailed toward Catalina, our destination was in sight for hours, and I was remembering two years earlier when we sailed to Catalina with a woman I met at the Women’s Sailing Convention in 2017 named Tori. She and her husband, Peter, invited us to sail with them to Catalina aboard their 40 foot Hanse sloop, named Floretta G (such a great boat name! And it pays homage to her grandmother, which makes it even better).

On this sail, they introduced us not only to the busy shipping lane outside of Long Beach Harbor, but they moored in many cruisers’ favorite cove called Two Harbors. We explored a bit of this Isthmus and the local village on our weekend adventure with them—so it was only fitting that we return to this area on our vessel two years later.

Kevin and I decided to anchor in the cove across the Isthmus called Cat Harbor. When we arrived at dusk, the anchorage wasn’t too busy, but there were enough powerboats and sailboats—some with a stern anchor and some without—that we decided to simply grab one of the mooring balls.

Cat Harbor is surrounded by reddish colored dirt hillsides, including a quarter mile stretch of dirt path funneling to the main “village” at Two Harbors. This is a quaint little town that hosts a kick-back vibe, one main outdoor bar (where the famous Buffalo Milk cocktails are served), and two small restaurants. With a small market and laundry facility, relatively warm ocean water, hiking, running, horse back riding, and more….we understood why so many southern Californians like Tori and Peter loved this place.

Our first anchorage at Cat Harbor

Kevin climbed over the washing machines to retrieve someone else's phone charger :)

Two Harbors

After getting some laundry done, we decided to hike the snaking dirt trail above the island which runs parallel to the ocean. We didn’t have to walk far to discover a beautiful small cove near Two Harbors named Cherry Cove. It turns out we met some cruisers in the laundry facilities who were staying there, so we decided to make the 2.5 sail around the island to join them. And here is where we had another humbling cruisers’ moment.

Even though we were on a mooring ball for two years in Morro Bay, the moorings in Catalina have a stern and a bow line, which we’re not used to. As we approached our mooring ball in Cherry Cove, Kevin was at the helm, and I was prepared to grab the mooring lines. He mentioned that he put down the bow thruster, which literally drops from our boat’s bow like a corkscrew. We haven’t had great luck with the thruster down….especially in windy conditions.

And sure enough, we wrapped one of the mooring lines in the thruster—and that is when the fun began. I managed to wrap the bow line on the appropriate bow cleat, but the stern line was simply too taut because it was caught. Kevin decided to provide some slack by jumping in the dinghy and using the dinghy’s bow to push against our boat. And soon it was a party. Yep, we had at least two other cruising boats join the dinghy pushcart. It looked like bumper cars pushing against a floating wall. Luckily, the strategy worked. Another lesson learned.

By the next day, Cherry Cove was serene and pristine. The water is clear enough to see the orange Garibaldi fish everywhere….so we enjoyed paddle boarding and snorkeling even though the shoreline is off limits (there’s scientific camp for kids nestled in the sandy beach area).

We decided to move on after two nights because the swell (and wind!) picked up—and that day sail to Los Alamitos was our best sailing in 18 days.

Looking toward the village at Two Harbors

Cherry Cove

Cherry Cove

Catalina to Los Alamitos (nah, really, Long Beach)

It’s hard to describe what it’s like to be on a boat with entirely no motor and doing 7 knots. The peace and quiet without the motor chumming along is one of grace. When it’s only your vessel and the sails up, you become in tune with everything around you. It’s the equivalent of eliminating ambient light and the humming sounds of a city when you’ve reached the top of a scenic but busy plateau.

We had planned to anchor near the Los Alamitos bay entrance, but the lack of boats anywhere outside the multiple harbors near Long Beach meant we second-guessed the anchorage spots; so Kevin found a couple of mooring balls, not far from where the Queen Mary sits. We were all alone amongst scattered tankers and stinky oil islands. It wasn’t pretty or an ideal spot, but for one night, it was doable.

The next morning we made our way to Newport Beach, the exact opposite of the Long Beach waters….both in terms of the types of boats and the surrounding scenery. I heard another cruiser mention that Newport houses over 9000 vessels—but unlike some of the derelict boats we encountered in Morro Bay, Newport harbor was filled to the brim with shiny, meticulously maintained boats. We felt like peasants among kings for three days.

But the real beauty of Newport was the memories, both old and new.

When I was in high school, my best friend’s uncle owned a house just a few short blocks from Balboa Island….there, with my three other best pals, we would visit each summer for about a week and fill our afternoons and evenings with the wide-open beaches, Balboa Island shopping, and roller blading or people watching on the never ending boardwalk.

When I ran this familiar boardwalk a day after we anchored in Newport, I snapped this picture of Kim’s uncle’s former house (which has changed considerably in 30 years):

However, we created a new, very special memory for Kevin on this stop: he finally met his half-sister, Adrienne, for the first time. He discovered her after doing a 23 & Me genetic test, which his kids gave to him for Father’s Day. The test revealed a 23% match for a sister and two brothers. A little research later, Kevin contacted Adrienne and Adrienne’s mom and settled the mystery of who his biological dad was. Even though his father died 21 years ago, it was a special and love-filled day with Adrienne, who visited us at the boat with her son, Justin. Morgan, in her third year at UC Irvine Law School, also joined us for the day and evening. We laughed, shared stories, and stared in wonder at the resemblance between Adrienne and Kevin.

Talk about coming full circle.

NewportàDana Point HarboràSan Diego

After the glitz and glamour of Newport Harbor, Dana Point struck us as quaint, ideal with its pristine cleanliness and moderate vessels. Despite our difficulty figuring out where to dock our dinghy (we finally found a public dock at the pier near the anchorage), we walked the perimeter of the harbor and enjoyed a sunset dinner at a small outdoor café. We left the anchorage at 4:30 a.m. the next day to make the 12 hour passage to San Diego.

On Monday, September 30^th, almost two years exactly from our trip home to Morro Bay, we arrived back in San Diego. We stayed in a public anchorage adjacent to the main channel, where Coast guard and Navy vessels whizzed by, gigantic cruise ships passed us to dock for the day—and the air show from the military (Navy, primarily) made us feel invincible. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time looking up!

Sailing into San Diego

Warships everywhere!

An Osprey--so cool!

View from our anchorage in SD

Another great reunion with Nicole (my friend of over 30 years!)

Ballast Point was a highlight--look at those pours on our tasting flight!

Sunset at anchor

Kevin was the one who stayed at the anchorage because I flew home to be with Quinn for 3 weeks ( instead of 2 weeks on/off schedule with my ex, we are doing 3 weeks on/off until January, when I return home). I am grateful to Kevin, who worked his butt off to do repairs, organize our permit information for entering Mexico, and coordinate the hassle of getting our new sails from Turkey, which had not shipped in early September like anticipated.

Next up: We leave San Diego for Mexico! 

p.s. UPDATE as of Dec. 1st: We will have to upload videos at a later time (it has been difficult to find Wifi during our cruising so far, and even when we do find it, the video uploads take forever.)