We meant to post before Thanksgiving, so we’ll start off by saying we hope that you had a great holiday. We are grateful to be on our voyage, and that we have wonderful friends and family to miss.. and yes we miss them! A friend shared Louie Schwartzberg’s TED talk about gratitude that I really enjoyed, and we’re trying to take to to heart on our journey.

The manufacturer of our new generator has been useless saying that we over cranked the generator (not true) and yet we’ve been blessed with finding amazing resources here. We found a great marine mechanic who flushed, compression tested, and examined the generator motor. Unfortunately, although the engine worked, however, the generator was still sucking seawater. The day before Thanksgiving, I encountered Marty Klein on the dock and we had a brief conversation about boats, family, kids, and our generator. How fortuitous that he’s a port engineer and has been responsible for boat maintenance his entire career! On Thanksgiving, Marty texted me that he had some ideas and he wanted to chat with us. Two hours later, we had a plan for doing some additional testing, which eventually led to the cause of our problem. The new anti-siphon valve that came with the generator had failed. Urgh! The anti-siphon value has now been replaced and the generator is working great!

Now the saga continues. With a functioning generator, we now know that we need to replace the batteries that don’t hold power and the water-maker that stops running before creating enough fresh water. The first part of our journey was meant to be a shakedown cruise, and that it has been. Good news is that the weather is better in San Diego. Batteries are ordered and the water-maker will be shortly, which means we’ll probably be here a couple more weeks.

Outside of the bay where we were staying is the Navy dolphin training facility. A couple times we saw them working with the dolphins outside their pens. I’m sure that my video skills on a rocking dinghy will improve 🙂 and yet this is still something worth sharing.

A friend got us guest passes to the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC), plus a gift certificate for pizza at Old Venice where he works. We highly recommend Old Venice. At SDYC we watched the UW beat WSU (Woof!), did laundry, played pickle ball, used the dinghy dock while we walked into town, and took luxurious hot showers. Laura Mason had another San Diego layover, so she and Maddie came by for a quick visit and Poulsbo package delivery. Being a Bainbridge Island resident, where pickle ball was invited, she was tickled to deliver our pickle ball paddles.

Yesterday we moved to the Cruisers’ Anchorage, where non San Diego residents are allowed to anchor for up to ninety days. We are closer to downtown and the airport in a peaceful anchorage.

Today I finished adding solar panel inserts to the bimini. I’m happy to have Sailrite’s “Monster Balance Wheel” so that electricity isn’t a requirement for sewing.

As soon as the batteries and water-maker are installed and tested, we’ll continue our journey into Mexico. In the meantime, we’re enjoying “hanging” here with the other cruisers working on their boats or waiting for Temporary Import Permits for Mexico. Tomorrow we’ll see if PBO, our dinghy, will be able to hold us and two folding bicycles for a trip to the dock and shopping.