A Whale of a ride

On Tuesday, we left Redondo Beach (King Harbor) for the ride back to Channel Islands Harbor.  It was overcast, but not foggy.  The water in Santa Monica Bay was calm and glassy.  As soon as we left the harbor, we started spotting whales.  They were in groups (pods) of 4-6.  We saw several pods as we crossed the mouth of the bay.  We also saw dolphin, and a bunch of sea lions.  Birds were working everywhere.  It seemed to me at the time that Santa Monica Bay is in rather good health.  Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises

Well, other than all the whales and other mammalian wild life, we had a totally uneventful ride.

We arrived in Channel Islands Harbor and have a space on the CIYC guest dock.  Port Captain Bill Cline could not have been more helpful and easy going.  Got in a good nap that afternoon.

Wednesday, I had the pleasure of rejoining my friends aboard S/V Fusee skippered by my friend, Harry.  We sailed very well for light conditions.  It was a blast.  Drank way too much that night.  It's all good.

We finally achieved receipt of a firm proposal from the company that is going to take our boat from California to Texas.  What a nightmare!  I have learned a lot about the specialized industry of hauling boats across country.  For instance, 16' is a magic number.  If you load over 16, you are called a "super load" and that involves substantially more expense and headache for all concerned.  As it is, Arizona is crazy.  There appears to be one railroad bridge in the middle of f'ing nowhere that requires the truck to detour 90 miles on lonely off highway roads.  In Arizona, this means a special permit, two pilot vehicles, one of which must have a height pole, and the required hiring of 3 Arizona highway patrol officers to escort.  For a state that is mostly vast desert, it seems ludicrous.  Well, it is what it is and we just have to deal with it.Tractor-Trailer Trucker: A Powerful Truck Book.  Secrets the Trucking Companies Don't Want You to Know! Trucking in America.

So things are moving forward.  We now have to select the precise date.  It seems we will be leaving from San Diego as this is the most convenient for the truck.  We cannot leave from Oxnard because they cannot get out of Oxnard if we load as high as 15'9".  So, we'll go to San Diego again.  We liked it there anyways.