Tuesday March 2012 - We officially start cruising. Yipee! 

Avalon Harbour on the eastern Catalina island  - First stop only 4 hours away at a cruising speed of 6 knots.  Famous little island - owned by Mr Wrigley and a popular holiday destination, especially for celebrities! 

Avalon Harbour from above. 

We made it! - a 4 hour walk to the other side of the island and our first view of the open Pacific ocean!

The hostile Western side of the Island.

Onward to San Diego.  

We were making good time with our code zero and 15 to 20 knots of wind downwind. A neat cruising speed of 7-8 knots and peak speed of 9.8 knots! At that speed the 77 Nm journey would take less than 10 hours but we weren't that fortunate and the wind died after sunset. We persevered for the next 8 hours cruising at a snail speed of 1-2.5 knots. Eventually after listening to the sails banging all night we decided to turn on the engine and motored the last 25 Nm into San Diego Harbour.  Journey time 17 hours.

Beautiful Harbor sailing in front of the city much like Sydney. 

Happy hour  - Dennis and cuz Tina enjoying Mai Hai. They must have been strong Dennis was drunk after one!   

17th Saturday March 2012 - Storm - thankfully we are chilling out in San Diego, waiting for the blow to pass and then we're off.  Goodbye America! Next stop isles of the Marquesas!