We departed Cherry Cove on October 16 for the 12 mile trip along the beautiful Catalina coastline to Avalon. Our trolling lines were out but no luck catching anything from the sea, but we did see 3 magnificent bald eagles soaring above the steep cliffs. We understand they were reintroduced to Catalina 10 years ago and the population is now growing. Despite the town being overrun by 2,000 people off a cruise ship anchored just off the harbor, we had a delightful time in Avalon and departed the next morning for Newport Beach. Although small craft warnings were in effect when we cast off we never saw more than 20 knots of wind which died out to nothing about halfway through our trip. After motoring for an hour the wind came up again allowing us an easy sail for the last 6 miles. The harbor department in Newport has moorings available for $5.00 a night so we soon had our humble Destiny comfortably tied up while we gawked at the gorgeous multimillion dollar homes along the shoreline. The next evening we had dinner with Leslie and Dennis Power former northern California residents and Encinal YC members who, two years ago, made the move to southern California which has all of sudden made a lot of sense to us. Our friends David and Anneke Dury were visiting Newport and kindly made berthing arrangements for us. After one night on a mooring we had a much sought after slip right in the heart of Newport. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with them and the next day they joined us for the short 12 mile trip to the spectacular Dana Point Marina with little wind to push us along but made up for by good company and beautiful scenery. John’s college friend Doug McAdam and his wife Diana joined us Sunday afternoon in beautiful weather which turned ugly later that night with strong Santa Ana (offshore) winds. Large areas of southern California are now engulfed in flames and Destiny is completely covered in dirt (inside and out) but so far no ash. We plan to make the 53 mile trip to San Diego on October 23 and according to news reports the area is covered in smoke from the terrible fires. Stay tuned for the next episode and we’ll let you know how it goes.
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