One of the most freeing and frustrating ideas about this new life is the many times you make a plan, change that plan, then end up going back to the first plan with a few adjustments. We had originally planned on not taking so long at any of the places and meeting some old friends in San Diego a month prior. But with this new life comes an uncertainty of timing, wind, fuel, supplies. We really thought that our chances of seeing them were past. But, because one path leads to another path that leads to another sometimes you find your self right back to the beginning. As we were exploring Avalon our old friends let us know that they would be back to their place in Coronado in two weeks and that the invite still stood. We had three options. Leave Avalon and head straight for Ensenada Mexico and begin the check in process. Stay in Avalon for another week then head to Coronado then Mexico. Or we could go to Oceanside for a week and then Coronado. All of it was the same number of hours and miles. We really wanted to visit with our old friends Joe and Eve and then that would get us to Mexico the same time our new friends Maciek and Ola would arrive. Winner!
The thing about Occeanside is you can no longer anchor there and you have to take a slip. We do and as we arrive we realize it is right smack in front of the Police station and a major road runs between them. Yikes! Wonder what this will be like. The second we tied up and stepped onto the dock we realized our thoughts might have been misplaced. The entire Harbor had just been remolded including the showers. The docks are immaculately taken care of. The staff extremely friendly and helpful. The sealions taking up residency were ever they could were friendly too. The staff tried so hard to shoo them away even making a floating dock for them in the center of the harbor away from the people and noise. They don’t like it but like the slip right next to the Harbor patrol boat. I wonder if they are trying to prove their dominance.
The morning after we arrived I went to do laundry when Sam came and found me. Apparently while I was loading the washers local artists were out on the sidewalks painting. Two of them where painting our boat. It was so cool and exciting that they liked our boat and were painting it. Robert was doing a color study. He told us all about his plans with his art and his graphics design career. He said he was shy but wanted Sam to film him and his art work. Lee had just moved to Oceanside. She loves to paint. She showed us all her paintings she had been working on. I invited her on the boat and she loved it. We still keep in touch with Lee from time to time. the middle of the bay away from the people and noise but to no avail.
We spent our time walking the boardwalk, the warf, and over to the beach. We were lucky enough to meet a couple from Alaska that was selling their boat. We went for a day sail with them and had a lovely time. We are hoping to meet up with them in Mexico some time. We walked into town several times to go to the marine store and get propane and also provision some more. We started a sewing project while hooked up to shore power. We found a BBQ grill at the marine store so we needed to make a cover. And while we were at it we made cover for the hot water heater that our friend from Avalon talked us into getting. It is starting to feel like we need to get away from the sores because we are spending all of our money!
Our week quickly came to an end and it was time to run for San Diego Bay and enter Coronado Island. We are fighting winter time so the days are short. We left as soon as we could see and got to Coronado just before the sun set. It was an amazing feeling pulling our boat up to the dock of our friends home and seeing them standing there waving. We love this adventure we are on. We love meeting new people. But we do miss home and our lives we left behind. At least the good parts.
Joe and Eve were the perfect hosts. And perfect timing too as another storm rolled through. But there we were tucked in safe, warm, and dry sipping on Red Velvet Hot Cocoa. We ate good food, watched a football game, had time to our selves to just be.
They helped us with final preparation and provisioning for Mexico. We only had 4 nights there before, ready or not, we needed to leave for Mexico. The night before we left we drove out to the beach to watch a classic West Coast Sunset with red velvet cocoa in hand then off to dinner for our last American meal before heading back to Hiraya.
We left Coronado at 4am in 36 degree weather. Needless to say it was FFFFFFreeeeezing! With layers on and beanie’s pulled down almost to our eyeballs we peered over the dodger looking out at San Diego Bay. 2 hours later we entered the Pacific Ocean and turned left. Mexico here we come! I can not imagine it being this cold in Ensenada?!