Catching up on Summer in San Diego

We're roaring through the summer, although spring was just yesterday....wasn't it?  And, wouldn't you know it?  Today is the first day of Fall!   Seems like we updated this Blog then, and have come to the realization yesterday was almost three months ago!  AND....we got a call from the new Bar Manager at the Port Angeles Yacht Club letting us know we are WAAAAYYY behind....

Anyway, although we're still hanging on mooring balls in America's Cup Harbor, we've managed to get out and about the area utilizing our multitude modes of transportation (feet, kayaks, bicycles, rental car, and bumming rides from brother Vern).  We're still sort of on track to head south come November, but having just read the hurricane season isn't officially over until Nov 30th, and the Baja Ha Ha fleet will have departed towards the very end of October, we might rethink our departure date to around end of November.  That will give the hurricanes a chance to get out of our way and will give some of the stops down the coast a chance to restock after the Ha Ha depletes them during the first few days of November.  

The old Naval Training Center w/Headqarters Bldg. in background

We did do a lot of walking, a bit of bicycle riding in an attempt to stay in some sort of shape.  It's a bit harder than when tied up to a dock, because you have to get the dinghy ready, shut everything down in the boat (like you're taking a trip for a long time).  Then drive the dink to the dinghy dock, lock it up, exit dinghy, walk up the ramp, stretch, and then walk a few miles, reversing the process back to the boat, turn everything back on, thru-hulls, and so forth.  It's compounded when you have to load, unload, load and unload your folding bicycles.  MUCH easier to just jump off the boat and begin whatever you're set on doing.      

Nancy got finished with a couple of more sewing projects, to wit:  cover for windlass and cover for our backup Honda generator.  We are very happy with all of them!

The Windlass Cover

Generator ready for complete protection

Generator in its new cozy blanky

Crew arrives onboard Shakedown

July brought us lots of joy, as son Steven flew in from Maryland on the 1st...just in time to celebrate the 4th with us. As you can see, since this isn't his first time visiting, he found the apropriate garb and made himself right at home on the foredeck.  We actually walked to the airport from the dinghy dock, waited around for his flight to arrive, then after baggage retrieval, we three walked back to the dinghy dock, piled in and managed to arrive back at Shakedown with baggage and crew intact....

Goofing off in the airport 

Fourth of July arrived (on time, for a change) and we were advised that where we are "anchored" in the America's Cup Harbor mooring field, is THE BEST PLACE on the waterfront to watch the fireworks.  So, believing the old sages around here, we prepared accordingly.  Got BBQ fixin's ready, then headed out in the dink to see what was up around the other side of Shelter Island.  We saw a "Parade of Dinks" all dressed up in red, white, and blue bunting and flags, there was a water playground for the kinds, and lots of folks rafted up in a designated weekend anchorage preparing for the festivities.  

July 4th on the water

Parade of Dinks

Water paradise for the kids

Then we headed back to Shakedown to complete preparations for food, drinks, and fireworks.  It was indeed a great place to be, as we were able to simultaneously watch all four (4) platforms they were shooting a coordinated fireworks show from.  What a great night!

Beer

Burgers

Atmosphere

bada-bing

bada-boom

The following day, brother Vern visited and we all took turns paddling the kayaks and hanging around.  

Kayaks ready for action

Notice the sun shade above foredeck...got it at the PAYC "swap meet" in 2012

We got a chance to do a "Pub Crawl" through a number of micro-breweries in San Diego, with brother Vern being our guide and taxi.  Apparently, San Diego has LOTS of these little places...(like Ballast Point, Stone, and Ican'tremember...)

Vern and Steve finding their way to the front door

The piping behind the brew

Steve and Vern discussing world events...

 The following day, believe it or not, we all piled into Vern's car once again and visited Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and La Jolla Beach receiving a bit of de ja vous from visits in the past.  We made a nice long, pleasant day, starting with breakfast and ending with another visit to a micro-brewery...

Breakfast of Champions

"bulking up"

Couldn't believe I'd ever see one honoring "live" military guys as well....

The outcropping and Steve taking picture for friends back in Maryland

Nancy, Steve and Hal

Steve in new headgear

Steve giving Vern a "thumbs up" and the coolness of the place

La Jolla beach

The former Green Flash...sorry to see it had changed ownership

Nearing the end of the day....

We did take another tour out in the kayaks, and took some walks, then it was (already!) time to say goodbye to Steven as he needed (after 13 days) to get back to the east coast....

Hal prepares to pull a docking maneuver with Shakedown

Steve finishes his final kayak ride....

The remainder of the now "empty nest" month consisted of addressing a number of issues on the endless repair list.  Just keeps getting longer, and that's compounded by buying new things that can go wrong and end up getting on "the list".  But that's what cruising is all about...RIGHT?  One of the joys of doing some of the repairs/maintenance (in this case, replacing the mast headlight) is going aloft to work in the rigging.  It's especially fun if one remembers to take a camera.  So, here is a brief "birds eye view" of where we are and our neighbors and surroundings here in America's Cup Harbor.

About 2/3's up the Main mast looking aft

Looking out to starboard

Looking to port

Looking straight aft towards Bali Hai restaurant at N end of Shelter Island

Looking towards aft and to port 

Shipyards in background

Our neighbors to the West (dead ahead of us) with Point Loma in background

More neighbors forard and starboard of us

We've made a concerted effort to get out and walk almost every day, barring unforseen circumstances (which always seem to pop up), have had the hull scraped (finally) by a diver.  The daily needs of being "at anchor" ...which, we now realize has been since last Christmas, brings with it daily chores to keep things running smoothly.  Things like walking to the grocery store for those items which require us to purchase more single-ply TP so the crappers don't clog up.  Similarly, if we want to continue with our sanitary habits, water is required to be "trucked in" via dinghy and five 7-gallon containers on a regular basis (2-3 times a week).  Showers are great, running the washing machine and dryer is also.  We have to get fuel as well, to operate outboards and generators, so diesel and gasoline are regularly "trucked in".  We like our coffee and food hot, so propane is also in the mix of what needs to stay up-to-date.  

We managed to get our bikes tuned up and had a great 12-mile bike ride to Seaport Village, Ace Hardware in Liberty Station and back to the boat.  

Mexican Navy training ship port-of-call near the Maritime Museum

Air Craft Carrier memorial

Seaport Village

USS San Diego memorial

So, new fans have been installed (which Nancy just LOVEs) just in time to ward off the 85-90 degree swath of weather.  The humidity has been pretty bad (horrible, if you ask Nancy), and has been hovering in the 85% range for weeks now.  Even the local guy watching the parking lot at the Marine Exchange store says this is the worst humidity he can remember in his life (about the last 65 years is my guess).   The main genset has gone south on us, and the troubleshooting is going to be extensive.  A repair job on the forward house deck needs to be completed before it rains again (who knows when THAT will happen here).  

One of Hal's younger brothers, Wayne, passed away on Friday the 29th of August, only 55 years old.  Needless to say, much sorrow exists in the Rogers family.  

More solar panels have arrived (3 x 100W) which should help with keeping the batteries topped off.  Football season has arrived and we're on top of it.  Hal's a die hard 49ers fan and Nancy still harbors feelings for the Seachickens (oops, Seahawks).  You might be able to tell....

We are just about two months away from our projected departure to the south (Ensenada, Mexico to start with) and we've started visiting the Dentist and have scheduled our physicals and so on.  We've got a few more "major" purchases to look forward to, such as a hookah diving system that supports two divers at the same time, a host of charts and guides,  and lots and lots of single-ply T-P.

Will try to update more often because we'll be busy and getting busier as the departure date becomes a reality.  We really like it here, but are most eager to venture "out there".....

Looking aft and a bit starboard with City of San Diego in background

Nancy wondering where her girlfriends Katherine and Judy were

Summer Sneaks Up on Shakedown

Well, we've managed to "suffer"  through the Spring and are about to absorb Summer in San Diego...So instead of boring everbody with lots of alphabet soup, thought we'd just tack up some photos of "events" since the last post....

Taking a trip in the new dinghy past USS Midway enroute Coronado Bridge

Different view of San Diego as we continue heading East in San Diego Bay

Four miles later, theCoronado Bridge in view.  There is a mooring ball field here
 for boats to hang out on

Nancy surveys the area...we'll come back here another day to spend more time looking

Got a great deal on a couple of year-old kayaks in Mission Bay

Our neighbor, Chuck Masters, graciously providing the transportation

Kayaks safely onboard.  Have had them out a few time.  Good fun and great exercise

Dinghy is "hauled up" for bottom cleaning

Bought two new fishing rod holders.  Now we are serious about getting out there and catching fish!

Hal, Nancy and Bill Bettencourt (who Hal's not seen for 35-odd years) at a brewery 

This is the back of our washing machine

This is the top of our washing machine

This is the front of our washing machine.  Had to move machine about 100 times to get
access to the two dampers (shock absorbers) to replace them.  2-day job...

Birds are sometimes not too smart where they decide to build a nest.  Was rearranging
the Mizzen boom sail cover, when out dropped two eggs and a nest...

The nest.  Interesting combination of old fishin line, a couple of fish hooks still attached,
and lined with material found inside of ropes

NJ reading one of the monuments to Submarines and their crews  lost at sea during
WWII at Liberty Station (formerly the Naval Training Center San Diego)

The first USS SNOOK (SS-279) on Eternal Patrol.  Hal spent a couple of years as
crewmember aboard the second USS SNOOK (SSN-592) in the mid-'70s

Still at Liberty Station, although modified somewhat since Hal was here for basic
training ("Boot Camp") it provided a platform for some realistic hands-on flooding
and onboard fire-fighting skills

Back again, some 44 years later

Hopefully, if you click on the photo, it will become large enough to read.

Nancy decides to challenge "The Beast", her personal nemesis.  She finally
prevails and completes here first big job!

After many years of the ship's wheel being protected from the sun and weather by a windbreaker
jacket, it finally has a first-class cover, and the pleasure derived from making the cover
is obvious.

Cruising through the "hinterlands" of Shelter Island's harbor edges

NJ contemplates the beauty of a platter of shashimi before demolishing it.

Thus is the update from the last posting.  Didn't get any pictures that particular day, but the crew of Shakedown celebrated 13 years of marriage in May.  Looking back, we realized we've spent eight of those years living aboard Shakedown.  We took a look at last week's local Wooden Boat show, and this week's San Diego Boat Show.  We're looking forward to son Steven's arrival on July 1st, the "Big Bang" 4th of July extravanganza righ here on San Diego bay, and driving north towards the end of July to visit with family.  Summer got here yesterday, and we're looking forward to much more of this fantastic weather........

Spring Break

We must be havin' too much fun.....

Isn't that the saying whereby the time flies because of it?  Actually, we did go fishing on one of the Charter Fleet (purported to be the largest on west coast) boats.  This came about while wondering what to do for brother Vern's birthday.  We decided on a half-day excursion, purchased the tickets, and headed out into the ocean just past the kelp beds.  We immediately caught double cheesburgers and cans of brew.  Not bad for the first half-hour out.  Then we were obliged to hang small, wiggly, anchovies on fish hooks and drop them into the water.  Lucky for us, there were a school of beer cans in the galley, otherwise we would have been skunked.  But our luck changed, just barely, and we ended up with a rockfish each, plus Nancy's half-pint rockfish just before the closing bell rang.  While heading back to port, we watched fish being cleaned and a very large crowd of keenly interested fowl crowding the cleaning station.

Heading out of America's Cup Harbor

Nancy and Birthday Boy looking forward to great afternoon

Nancy and Vern supervising filetting of the catch

Pelicans were part of the crowd

As were the Seagulls

Got back to Shakedown, started up the barbie, cooked our catch, ate it, and had birthday cake for desert.  Then April 11th came to a close....

Cake didn't last long after flame was extinguished

The very next day, fun was not what made the time fly... Worked on a leak on our Noah RIB (inflatable dinghy).  While doing laundry had to stop and balance washing machine, as it decided to start walking during spin cycle.  Hauled RIB onto foredeck and went back to working on the air leak(s).

Well, the old gal gave us a good 6 or 7 years of faithful service, but the barrier between two of the three air chambers had collapsed and the seams in the bow were just falling apart.  Two tubes of glue and a few patches couldn't keep up with the splitting.  Finally just gave up and decided to replace it and give away the carcass.

So out from the lazarette came the Achilles LT-4 dinghy, filled it with air, put in the wood floor, added 2 hp Honda, and we were back in business.  So now we had an inflatable with motor, the Walker Bay relagated to row boat, and an 8hp Tohatsu outboard hanging on it's storage rack.  The search for new RIB began.

On the 19th, we both had our eyes checked by the Optometrist at Costco in Poway (of course brother Vern provided transport once again).  Both prescriptions changed, so we headed to Lens Crafters and got new glasses ordered. 

Spent the rest of the month doing "routine" tasks, like filling the water tanks every third day or so, chasing down an electrical problem feeding the navigation suite switch panel (ended up loose screw at positive terminal), researching dinghies, replacing AC lighting with DC LED lights, installing replacement sound (AM/FM/CD) system, changing both primary fuel filters for main engine, tracking down Chart Plotter electrical failure (fuse holder separated from ground wire), picking up new glasses, getting through the Santa Anna winds, with gusts to 40 kts, and other routine events.

May 4th was apparently the official day for StarWars fans, because heard on the radio...."May the 4th be with you". (well, I thought it was new and amusing)

May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) was another date that is worth remembering.  We bought a new RIB at West Marine.  Got a great deal.  It's a 310 Hypalon (for those who care).  But it was late in the afternoon and we weren't prepared to accept it and they weren't prepared to deliver it.  So plans were made, and executed, for a May 6 delivery.  It arrived at the dinghy dock, we extricated it from double-boxed shipping container, pumped it up, dropped it in the water, and towed it back to Shakedown for commissioning.  

Out of box and pumped up at the dinghy dock

Commissioning complete and resting aside its new home

On the 7th, the new RIB went for it's own shakedown cruise.  It handled extremely well and got up on plane within about 1.5 seconds after the engine was "goosed".  Very happy crew, to say the least.

For our friends in Richmond (MBYH), this photo was taken because we recognized the ship from our many a walks around the bay trail over to the Pavillion....you should recognize her...

Car carrier heads out of San Diego bay

Hopefully the "fun" continues as we look forward to visits from friends and family and our "plan" to head south come October....

End to another fun-filled day....