We have enjoyed the past week and a half in Southern California where we spent time in Newport, Disneyland and Dana Point.
Newport
This has been our favourite mainland coastal port of the trip so far – calm anchorage, beautiful beaches, easy shopping nearby and very friendly people! We were pleasantly surprised, as we’ve been to some great spots so far. The anchorage is in a central location and was dead calm with nice vistas and nearby public docks to leave our dinghy. The locals were very friendly – one gentleman even inviting us to use his private dock and beach area! He asked, “Are you really from Canada?” Umm….yes!
Waterfront homes line the water’s edge – each having a private dock and usually more than one impressive yacht tied up out the front. We enjoyed a fun visit with from friends from Vancouver who had spent the week in Anaheim and gave us some hot tips for our trip to Disneyland. We enjoyed morning jogs on the beach, playing in the surf, afternoon beach workouts and delicious tacos at a restaurant nearby. We also loved Balboa Island and treated ourselves to a delicious Balboa Bar (thanks for the hot tip Steph!) and Julia bought another book at a local child’s bookstore as she is rapidly devouring our collection on board. We spent three nights tied up at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club with our reciprocal moorage with RVYC.
We learned that there really is an 8knot speed limit in the harbour – and you are definitely not allowed to anchor your dinghy off the beach. The Harbour Patrol is on the ball!
Disneyland!!
We arrived at Disneyland at 730am after an enjoyable friendly Lyft ride from the yacht club right to the gates. We give top marks to our experience with Lyft so far. We were able to hit most of key rides we wanted to in the morning with barely any wait times due to the early time and also to our Max Pass (thanks for the tip Karen!) – Max pass is an absolute must! I also bought some portable batteries for my phone which worked perfectly. Nathan’s favourite ride was Autotopia where he got to drive the cars around the race track – we did that one three times! And Julia’s favourite ride was a tie with Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. It was a very busy and enjoyable day. We stayed in the park until 8:45pm and then had another quick ride back to the boat.
Dana Point
We had a beautiful sail from Newport to Dana Point Harbour – the spinnaker up the whole way and averaged 8 to 9.5 knots in steady breeze right to Dana Point. We anchored in a gorgeous spot right next to the cliffs and hunkered down to get school work done, explore beaches and go to Costco! Dana Point Yacht Club was very friendly and although they didn’t have a slip for us to tie up, they gave us access to the club and facilities. We enjoyed the nearby beach and dinghy sailing and paddle boarding around the harbour. Today we sailed to San Diego. We had another gorgeous sail using our ‘Whomper’ (big foresail similar to a gennaker but can sail closer to the wind) at a steady 8 knots in 15 knots of breeze. We will be meeting family, ordering spare parts and sightseeing around San Diego for the next two weeks while we get ready for the Baja HaHa sailing rally when we, along with approximately 150 other boats, will sail the 600 miles to Cabo. We are looking forward to Mexico!
Comments
We love receiving and reading your comments – thank you!!! I just realized today how to receive and read your comments on the wordpress site. Oops!! My apologies. I am new to blogging and I am still learning! So I apologize for the delay in responding and now know where to look for comments! They are now posted! Thanks again!
Hi Jenn! Love reading your posts and the great pics.
Paul R left FSA! End of an era. Enjoy your next leg — want a pic with the spinnaker up!!
Jude
Hey Jude! Great to hear from you. Yes end of an era indeed. Hope things are well with you! Will endeavour to get a pic with our asymmetrical spinnaker up!