Sun, a guest, and another fun week.
This week starts on a low note. In the 3 weeks since we submitted our coast guard documents, the coast guard has processed 5 days worth of papers. They update what day is being processed and they’ve inched up to October 27th. So I’m interpreting that as it’s unlikely we’ll get the priority request, and we’re about 2 months out from the right papers to apply for our clearance into Mexico. So here’s hoping this says December 17th soon.
While here we’ve been able to reconnect with friends, cook for a bunch of people, find an in-person church (meeting outdoors) and get back some sense of community. So maybe there’s a bigger reason to be stuck in San Diego. Until we figure out what that is, we’ll continue to improve the boat to sell someday and entertain more visitors. Right now, it’s looking like we’ll take a return trip to Catalina and the Channel Islands next week. I’m selfishly hoping there’s a divine reason to be in San Diego, otherwise it’s cause I screwed up the boat documents.
In the meantime, Tay and I have been exploring on land, but all the cool spots on land are on the coast so we still rarely venture more than a few hundred yards from the ocean. We hiked around La Jolla and drove forty minutes North to Oceanside which was fun because sailing the same stretch on the way down took us all day.
This weekend, our college friend Andy flew in from Billings to visit. We finally got back to sailing after a few weeks tied to the dock. We had perfect conditions for our usual visitor activities, the dinghy ride, a hike, a beach day, fishing, and a day out sailing.
Andy’s a good vacationer and an even better friend so his priority was to relax and chat. So maybe we spent a little more time in the cabin of the boat than with some guests, but it was awesome. And I was in heaven because I got to cook the entire time.
The food-highlight was Sushi. We bartered some bluefin tuna and yellowtail collar off of our ol’ pal Dave, in exchange for some cocktails. And we finally made a trip to Point Loma Seafoods, for some salmon and Ahi (and a pint of pickled ginger). We also learned it doesn’t take much fish to make way too many rolls to eat. We had plenty of opportunities to practice our rolling and presentation techniques.
The surplus fish allowed us to have a medley of fish tacos the following night. Andy likes Italian food, so we also got to make my take on a Chicken Cacciatore, and parmesan polenta. The weekend of good food lead me to want to post a newsletter of our weekend menu in hopes of enticing more visitors. Stay tuned.
Here’s to a fun sunny wait, and in the words of Dave Easton, “It’s already Spring in San Diego”.
