Everyone look closely. According to the CBP folks that ‘shadowed us through the marina.’ in their adorable police boat. We somehow entered Mexico and then came back into the United States.

Interactions:

• CBP: why did you go so far south to come into the Marina
• Me: Because that entry (pointing 100 yards away) is the only way in here.
• CBP: No the big marina
• Me: What big marina.
• CBP: The one you came into by (insert local landmark here).
• Me: I have no idea what you are talking about. I just got here.
• CBP: You know, where you came in about 2 hours ago.
• Me: You mean San Diego BAY?
• CBP: Uh, I don’t know.
• Me: Where the big Pacific Ocean meets this body of Water?
• CBP: Yeah!
• Me: I have to follow channel markers. ‘cutting the corner’ around the channel markers puts me at risk of getting into the surf and possibly dying.
• CBP: I don’t understand.
• Me: My head damn near exploded.

• CBP: Why are you coming in at 3AM?
• Me: Because that is when we came in from Morro Bay, we have been sailing for over 2 days.
• CBP: blank stare. No one comes in at 3AM.
• Me: Have you ever flown on a red eye? People travel all the time.

• CBP (while shining his OMG-THIS-IS-SO-COOL-I’M-A-COP-IT-HAS-A-BUTTON-ON-THE-END LED light at my face): Do you have any ID on you?
• Me: Sir, I am am wearing flipflops and shorts. No, I don’t have ID on me. It is in the boat.
• CBP: Still shining light in my face. Yeah I meant in the boat.
• Me: Aim your light at the ground or douse it. If I get blinded and fall into the water while mooring my boat I am going to be pissed.
• CBP: Oh, sorry.

• Me: Here is my ID.
• CBP: Do you have any local ID?
• Me: Dude, I just sailed here from Washington. I got here about 5 minutes ago so I have not yet had a moment to get ID from California.
• CBP: Oh.. ok.

• CBP: (While holding my Washington ID) So how was Portland?
• Me: Portland is in Oregon. My ID shows I lived in Washington.
• CBP: on the phone with some random dispatcher for 5 minutes asks me again. Did you stop in Portland on your way down?
• Me: Sir, I don’t know how else to tell you this but Portland is in Oregon and it would be almost a 2 day trip up the Columbia River to get there so no. I did not stop in Portland.
• Local Law Enforcement hanging out with them: Snicker, dude, you have asked him that 3 times.

• CBP: It is really hard to get to the marina we were at in the dark…
• Me: uh, how did you get here?
• CBP: We have a chart plot…. oh.
• Me: Yeah, we have 4 chart plotters on board. The boat damn near drives it’s self.

Yeah, we don’t need a wall, we need these guys to have more situational awareness.

Overall they were pretty polite guys, just a little clueless. When I asked for a car they were a little shocked. I told them I liked to keep track of all of my law enforcement contacts.

We made it to San Diego.  

Me: I think Rover needs to go to shore. 

Ryan: Why?

Me: He is in the dinghy. 

We are travelling from Santa Cruz, CA to Morro Bay, CA about 5-10 miles off-shore. We had a small stop off the Capitola Beach so we could get Pizza My Heart like I used to when I was a kid.

I am on watch from 3:30 until Caroline gets up sometime next week. The dog, using all of its ‘feel sorry for me’ skills, is in the bed with her rather than in his bed under ours. 

I have a small boat about 5nm south of me that keeps appearing and disappearing from AIS. I have not yet seen him on radar.

I went outside to adjust our chart plotter and noted the fog was light with pretty good visibility. There is a full moon making the 1-2 foot swells shine. The odd thing was the random whitecaps that kept appearing half-way down the waves. I kept looking at them and then I dawned on me that the whitecaps were breathing! Dolphins! At least 2 dozen were racing, jumping and diving around the Waponi Woo.

You have not lived until you have seen and heard a show like that.

It was too dark to shoot a picture or video so here is a picture of the sunrise off one of the bows: 

1 second after this picture a giant sea lion tried to photo bomb by leaping into the air in the shot. 

We made it to Half Moon Bay where we are anchored next to one of the other “kid boats” going on the Baja Ha-Ha. 

We are heading toward Downtown SAN Francisco for fuel and then Half Moon Bay for a night. We have tracking turned on. 

It was hard not to scream RAMMING SPEED while getting a picture of Jeff’s boat next to ours. 

Here are a few pics from our entry into and stay in San Francisco.

We were told we had an under-sized shackle for our mail halyard at the top of the mast. (The connector between the rope that holds the sail up and the mast) 

We also had to replace a shackle that fell off during our trip south. 

There may have been some mild swearing involved. 

Here is a video of her riding it: https://youtu.be/r4kiXh8YOzk

Caroline and I decided to rent a car due to all of the Uber fees we were looking at racking up for shopping and provisioning. We call Alamo rent-a-car and got one for $20 a day at the Oakland airport. We signed the papers and went outside to collect the car.

As we approached the podium the clerk informed us that we were behind ~20 people in line and that we were playing the car rental lottery. The lot was empty and every time a car came in, regardless of class, the first person in line would get it or refuse it and wait for the next car to roll in.

It turns out that the rental place had a new manager that had not yet figured out holiday rushes so the Alamo staff was bringing in every car they could rent out. The clerk told us they were even renting cars with minor window dings by pulling them out of the remote repair lot. The dings were only cosmetic but not something they normally rent out. They were doing everything to  to make everything work.

As we got to the front of the line I told my story of the car rental lottery to the very friendly clerk:

I landed late in the evening right before the rental office was to close in Dulles. While walking toward the little rental shack I noticed a woman walking behind me. Being a gentlemen I opened and held the door for the woman.

I often feel the ghost-hand of mom right behind my head ready to whack me if I am rude. Good teaching? I guess so, I am reasonably polite when I need to be.

The clerk behind the desk in Dulles informs the woman and I that we are the last 2 people to get cars that night both due to the time and the fact that there are only 2 cars left in the lot. The clerk gives the woman I held the door open for a key and I get the next key.

I walk out to the lot and I notice I am standing in a pool of light that is in the shape of the Ford Mustang logo. I look all around for the source and discover that the light is coming from the underside of the door handle of the car I am standing next to. I look up to see the smiling face of the woman I held the door for and she says, “This is GREAT! I rented a compact and I get a MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE!”

I turn around to MY rental to discover that it is last years Chrysler minivan.  (Sad Trombone).

The Alamo clerk said it was karma and it might come back to me. The next car that rolled into the lot was a minivan.. we all laughed while Caroline and I offered it to the family with 2 strollers and enough baggage to fill the Titanic. They were THRILLED.

The next car was a Suburban (Caroline does not do Suburbans, full stop). We offered this to the next couple behind us. They were straight from Japan. They looked at the Suburban oddly and then got in. I see many fenders rubbed in their future.

As the clerk and I laughed about the rubbed fenders the clerk said I think your karma just came in. Sure enough a new Mustang convertible rolled to a stop in front of us. We took it.

I finally won the car rental lottery. We were only going to rent a car until Wednesday but I think I’ll extend the rental for the rest of the week we are here. It sure does make cool vroom vroom noises.