FREEZING IN OCEANSIDE!!

Oceanside Beach

On the day before we left Newport...

The part for our starter battery that we were waiting for did not arrive in the afternoon as hoped, so we had to stay another night. As soon as I heard the news, I ran up to the Yacht Club office again and had to let Susie in the office know of our situation. Luckily there was space available. And again, she gave us the extra night for free. So that made a total of 5 nights free! Normally after the 3^rd night, you are charged about $1.00 per foot per night. So that saved us $74.00! I thanked Susie profusely!

The rest of the day we just continued to work on things on the boat and for me to get caught up with the blog. 

The next morning we were invited over to Michael and Barbara’s boat for breakfast. This was one of the most elegant meals Rick and I have ever had on a sailboat! We ate a delicious egg dish with fresh fruit on the side from fine china and drank fresh squeezed orange juice from Waterford Crystal Goblets.  Having China and Crystal is unheard of on a boat…at least to us. But apparently, Michael and Barbara said when they were cruising all over the world, it wasn’t that uncommon. It’s not something we would consider on our boat, but it was a very nice and we appreciated the special treatment.

Our friend Michael

Michael preparing for the upcoming Christmas Boat Parade (they came in 2nd place last year!)

We stayed and visited for a bit while we were waiting for the boat part to arrive. We heard a lot of good information from Michael and Barbara about their experiences and journey's on their boat, The Traveler.

Around 11:30 a.m. our part arrived! Rick promptly installed it and we left shortly after.

We were not able to sail again due to the wind being on our nose. There was enough wind but it was just going in the wrong direction. We also had large swells on our beam, which made for a rolley ride. So we just motored.

Pirate Ship we saw just outside of Dana Point

Breakwater at Dana Point

Large swell at the entrance of DP Harbor

Dana Point Harbor Channel (we anchored just beyond little boat with red white and blue sails) 

We arrived at Dana Point Harbor about 2 ½ hours later. There were large swells as we motored through the entrance. It was a little scary but at least they were not breaking.

We found a spot to anchor and stayed on the boat for the rest of our stay. We wanted to take the dinghy ashore but it was forbidden by the Harbor Patrol for you to leave your boat without having at least one person staying onboard. Not sure why.

The same Pirate Ship we saw earlier coming into dock

In the evening we sat all bundled up in our cockpit watching the Christmas Light Boat Parade. The boats from the Harbor paraded by all decorated with Christmas lights.  

 

Just one of the many boats on parade

The next morning we left early for Oceanside. We had huge swells most of the trip that turned just plain choppy for the rest of the trip. We had wind on our nose again so just ran the motor.

Not too long into our trip we saw a US Navy Warship in the distance and helicopter/airplanes (Osprey) circling above, landing and taking off. 

http://nypost.com/2015/05/24/the-osprey-half-airplane-half-helicopter-totally-badass/

Apparently we were approaching some sort of military exercises so we were trying to stay clear. Then we saw this huge hovercraft blowing large volumes of air moving at a rapid pace! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Craft_Air_Cushion

We weren’t sure what it was! It appeared to be coming straight at us. But then it veered off and moved towards the Warship. There was a lot going on and we were pretty on edge for quite some time. Rick radio’d the Warship to find out which way they wanted us to go or not to go, but we didn’t get any response. So we kept circling around waiting until the coast was clear. We definitely did not want to get in the way or get run over! Finally the Warship radio’d us and gave us some direction. What a relief!

An hour later we could see the Oceanside Harbor breakwater in the distance getting blasted with waves! We had heard when we first made the reservation a few days prior to stay at the Oceanside Yacht Club, that the entry to the Harbor has shoaling and sometimes breaking waves and if we had concerns we should call the Harbor Patrol for an escort if needed.  The swells have been so huge in Southern California lately and that compounded with the issues this harbor entrance has, we decided to call in. Rick called in on the VHF radio and asked if the entry was safe or not (hoping they'd offer to escort us in). The Harbor Police said that it appeared to be ok and for us to just be careful. With that comment, we assumed all was good and that we had nothing to worry about.  So on we went. As we got even closer to Oceanside we saw waves actually BREAKING inside the harbor entry and we were a little, ok…very nervous!! Not only were the waves breaking they were coming in sets close together. Right as we got to the entry, there was a huge wave coming from the side, cresting and Rick tried to move the tiller as best he could to straighten us out, but our boat being a full keel and weighing 30,000 pounds wasn’t responding! So we were sideways to the wave that was about to break. Getting caught sideways in this 12’ swell caused us to roll all the way to one side dipping our rail in the water, then it rolled us all the way to the other side, back and forth several times (in slow motion). So basically we almost got rolled over! I was crunched up in a ball in the cockpit clinging to the dog and boat for dear life! Rick stayed pretty calm holding the tiller in his hand, while  repeating, HOLD ON, HOLD ON!  As soon as we were past the monstrous waves and further into the harbor I immediately took off a few layers of clothing. I couldn't get them off fast enough! I was having major hot flashes! 

We soon found our way to the Oceanside Yacht Club guest dock, tied up and just sat inside the boat before checking in. We were too shaken up to do anything more! While we were taking it easy,  I looked up and Rick and said, "we almost died!" Then we both laughed for a bit. As we were laughing Rick abruptly stopped and said, "don't laugh too hard,  we still have to leave this place." I stopped laughing at that point too! With a blank look on my face I replied, "Oh yeah…."

We really didn’t do much the rest of the day. But the next morning we decided to go out for breakfast in the Harbor. It was a long walk to the other side of the Harbor but it felt good to stretch our legs after yesterday!

Harley enjoying the morning sunshine while patiently waiting for her "walk".

We found a cute little café and sat outside in the patio and enjoyed a delicious breakfast.

Next we walked along the beach and to the breakwater. We wanted to check out the place where we had escaped near death and how to figure out what went wrong  and how to manage through the waves for our exit departure.

The winds were picking up quite a bit along our walk; in fact, as we walked past the Harbor Police building they had a red flag raised (High Surf and Strong Currents/Winds). 

We decided to go inside and talk to the Harbor Police and ask about weather, when a good day to leave might be and if there are any tricks about getting out of the harbor entrance alive! He told us the safest day to leave would be Wednesday morning.

Oceanside Harbor Entrance!!

Rick…2nd day off coffee. 

Rick, Harley and I walked back to the boat and no sooner did we catch our breath, we were up and walking again. This time was to a nearby Chandlery for parts and then to find a mailbox etc type place (here they call it Mailbox Y Mas) and/or Post Office. We were only successful with finding the Chandlery. The Mailbox Y Mas is now a jewelry store and the Post Office was just too far off from where we were. We walked a total 10 miles yesterday.  My feet and knees are starting to hurt.

Oceanside Yacht Club

Last night we went up to the Yacht Club that was having a potluck, which was a good thing, because I had nothing to prepare for dinner onboard. Everyone we talked to was extremely nice. We overheard a small group of men at the bar reminiscing about horror stories of people who have had troubles entering and exiting the harbor. One man kept looking over at me would say, “not that we want to scare you!" Too late for that I thought to myself!

Did I mention how cold it is here in Southern California?? It is SO cold!! The high’s are 54 to 61 degrees. Low’s are about 34 degrees. We are FREEZING here! We did not pack for cold weather! We thought once we passed Point Conception we’d be wearing nothing but shorts.  We’ve been sleeping in long underwear lately and in the morning when I get up, I put on a pair of pants over my long underwear, and snowboarding pants on over that. On my upper torso, I wear two long sleeve tops, a fleece jacket and a foul weather jacket.  Brrr! Just a moment ago I was talking to Rick inside the boat and you could see the steam from my breath. Rick said, “that’s it, I’m lighting a fire!”

Our next move is San Diego, leaving tomorrow morning. We plan to stay there for 5-7 nights depending on the weather.  We have plans to see a dear friend of mine from high school who is having us to dinner one night AND then lending us her car so we can stock up on provisions and make a trip to West Marine for any extra parts and items we need before we get into Mexico.

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays with friends and family and staying happy and well!

Love,

Rick and Maryalice…Harley too!