October 12, 2004
Glorietta Bay, San Diego (N 32o 40' W 117o 10')
We didn't have much time to enjoy the Dana Point Yacht Club Sunday, we were really only interested in a good night's sleep. We slept very well indeed, for the first time since arriving at Catalina several days before. So well did we sleep that we had no trouble getting up bright and early Monday morning with the intention of sailing the 24 nautical miles to Oceanside. The wind was light and out of the south, so we had to beat. This wasn't working out very well especially since we had the small jib up, but we did our best.
The trip was made more interesting by a Navy ship which had positioned itself directly south of us. At first it looked like they were conducting firing exercises, shooting at a towed target. This was hard to believe, so close to shore, but it was clear there was an object following behind the ship and every once in a while large amounts of spray would fly into the air accompanied by a noise that sounded like an airplane propeller. Finally, when we got closer we saw that the sound was coming from the 'target', which turned out to be a huge hover craft. The spray wasn't bullets hitting the sea but the hover craft hovering. At one point the craft passed astern of us and ran right up on the beach sending sand and dust every where. What a mess! Can you imagine what the deck of that thing looked like after being showered with salt spray for hours then dusted with beach sand?
Our sailing wasn't progressing very well during all this so we changed jibs to the 115%. This was only the second time we've done this on NAKIA underway (since getting roller furling) and it went much better this time.
Finally around 1600 we pulled into Oceanside. We were kind of worried about getting a spot at the yacht club since a transient slip in the marina would have cost us $40, so we were relieved to find the Yacht Club guest dock unoccupied. We went up and signed in and were immediately invited to Monday Night football at the club. Potluck sides and hot dogs sounded great to us so we accepted the invitation and hit the showers to wash off the sweat from all that sailing.
The Oceanside Yacht Club membership turned out to be some of the most friendly people we've met on our trip down the coast. They put out a great spread for the football game and really made us feel welcome. It would have been nice to spend a few nights and explore this little town (right next door to Camp Pendleton) but we had a reservation in an anchorage in San Diego and wanted to take full advantage of it so we departed Oceanside at first light for San Diego.
The closer we got to San Diego the busier the sea and sky became. It started off the coast of La Jolla where navy fighters would pass overhead coming and going from Miramar. Then as we rounded Point Loma it seemed like there was a constant buzz of helicopters taking off from North Island and flying offshore, circling back and then buzzing over us again. I told Linda I'm not sure I want to stay in San Diego for two weeks if it's going to be like this!
We checked in with the Harbor Police and made our way down the bay to Glorietta Bay to drop anchor. It's a nice snug spot, with quite a few boats, but well protected. We're within sight of the Coronado Hotel and look out the cockpit onto a golf course. We're not complaining.
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