Newport Beach & San Deigo

Much of October and November was spent in Southern California. We were able to enjoy time with family. We explored Newport Beach and San Diego more than we had before.

Newport Beach

Newport Beach is an astonishingly large and interesting harbor. It has boats everywhere - on docks, on moorings, on Catalina-style moorings, and up on the hard getting worked on. Every square inch of land is developed, all in a rather nice manor. We went back-and-forth from the public dock to a public mooring, based on availability at the dock. The facility is nice, with nice docks, showers, laundry, and a great public park next door. There is even a restaurant in the facility, the Lighthouse Cafe, that we frequented almost as much as we went to Sancho’s Tacos.

Sunset behind the Newport Beach public dock facility, including the Lighthouse Café

Luke is off to paddle around Newport Beach Harbor

We went to Laguna Beach for Halloween and had a blast going up and down two closed streets where the houses really went all out of the holiday.

Halloween in Laguna Beach, CA

We went to the Newport Public Library for school time and enjoyed their beautiful building and lawn.

Newport Beach Public Library, with City Hall on the right

We found parks and playgrounds of every shape and size, all of which were well taken care of and a joy to spend time at.

We did a day sail south along the coast, passing Crystal Cove, Irving Cove, and Laguna Beach before turning back into the setting sun and back to Newport Beach.

But most of all we spent time with family, who opened their homes and gave of their time.

After waiting out a couple of gales in the harbor, we left early one morning to head to San Diego. It is about 78 nautical miles door-to-door, which in the summer time would be an easy day trip. With the shorter days this time of year, we left before dawn to make it into San Diego right at sunset.

Preparing to leave Newport Beach around 5 AM.

Sunrise over Laguna Beach, CA

We had calm day, motoring most of the way south until we were within 20 nautical miles of San Diego. As the wind came up, the sails went up and we enjoyed a broad reach into the harbor entrance.

Eventide sailing to San Diego

San Diego

San Diego is quite a place. Sailboats everywhere. A huge US Navy presence. A big park in the middle of the city. Gorgeous beaches. It is all pretty spectacular.

Sailboat races on a weekend afternoon in San Diego

We toured the city a bit, enjoying the USS Midway, the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, and Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. Each is unique and different. The only challenge in touring was getting places. We stayed on the Public Dock and Harbor Island West. Both are in town, but at the end of long break waters. Our normal “adults walk and kids ride scooters” only got us so far, so we ended up renting a car which made exploring a lot easier.

Scootering on Harbor Island in San Diego

The USS Midway Museum is so much fun. We have been before, but there is always some new place to explore and a docent to listen to. We were among the last people off the boat at closing time. The best part are the docents, most of whom served on the Midway and have tons of stories to share. They are so knowledgeable and all great story tellers. It’s hard to imagine running such a complex system, but when you hear these individuals you realized how it might be possible.

Balboa Park is filled with interesting things - and architecturally beautiful. The Zoo is great, but I’ll admit to having mixed feelings about it. It both carries an important conservation message, but sells lots of plastic in concessions and uses lots of vehicles to move people around the space.

Museum of Us in Balboa Park

Fossils at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

We also got to experience our second “winter storm” in as many weeks, when a strong gale blew in from the southwest. We were well protected in the Harbor Island West Marina and got to just watch the wind and the waves from our protected spot.

Gale blowing in San Diego harbor

As this gale cleared, it was time to move on. We made our final preparations and then set off for Ensenada, our first stop in Mexico!