More San Diego

Melissa's parents flew out on the 13th, so bleeding money and with nothing to keep us near the Sheraton, we moved to the Harbor Police dock on Shelter Island, where the moorage rate is only $10 per night.  (For our boat, that is literally 16 times less expensive than some of the other marina's here.  16 times!!!!!)   They only let you stay for 10 nights at a time, but our timing was perfect as the Ha-Ha begins on the 25th.

The vast majority of the boats on the harbor police docks are doing the Ha-Ha (there are 167 boats registered to go, the largest fleet ever by a large margin) and for the last few days, the docks have been a blur of bustle and activity as crew members arrive and last minute repairs, projects and provisioning dominate the daylight hours.  The dumpster at the head of the dock is overflowing with spare packaging from provisioning (it's amazing how much packaging and waste comes along with the stuff you buy) old, broken parts, cardboard boxes and the occasional bit of treasure.  One boat owners discarded gas can is another's brilliant find.   The area around the dumpster at the head of the dock has become a sort of poor man's boater's swap meet where anything potentially useful to someone else gets placed.  Most of it finds a new home in a hurry.

We've been no exception to the flurry of activity as provisioning and boat projects have taken an inordinate amount of time.  Eric had to replace a faulty component of the main engine exhaust system as well as give both the main engine and generator complete check ups.   We've also had to run around getting Mexican visas, fishing licenses and of course, the lists of last minute items which seem never to get shorter.  We even managed to take the kids to go see the Jimmy Buffet concert!  But there has still been some time for visiting family.  Eric's mom grew up in San Diego and her brothers still live here.  It was a treat to get to visit with Eric's Uncle Richard and Uncle Mike and his wife Aunt Lee.  They were so generous, having us over for dinner several times as well as treating us to some great nights out.  They even loaned us not one, but two cars!  Cars!  Can you imagine?  Costco is about 8 miles away.  Worth the taxi ride, but with a car, oh baby!  When Mel and Roma made the Costco run, I swear the rear bumper was dragging!   The only problem is we became quite popular at the marina!  But perhaps best of all, Mike and Lee bade us make free use of their washing machine!  Now that's luxury!

Eric's mom, Joan (aka Nana) and sister Kim and her family (husband David and son David Jr., aka Dee) also flew down to San Diego to visit.  As RJ's hair was getting so long, we decided to play a trick on Nana the day she arrived.  An hour before she landed, we gave RJ a blue Mohawk haircut.   The look on her face when she first saw it was priceless.  Eric's cousins (on his dad's side) Seth and Lucas also live in San Diego and came by the boat one day to say hello as well. 

All in all, San Diego was a whirlwind of activity and a pleasant chance to catch up with some fabulous people we just happen to be related to.  Preparing for this departure has been if possible, even more substantial of a project then leaving Seattle as from here on out, boat parts and other such items will be harder to come buy.   Tomorrow we leave with the Ha-Ha fleet for Mexico.  In some ways, this is where our real adventure begins!

As always, click on the photos for larger sizes.