Wow, how long did that take to get chapter two written???
So once we contacted Two Harbors on channel 9, not 16, the Harbor Master came out and met us. Nice guy. You can pay him cash for your bouy or he'll assign it and you can go into the pier to pay by card of you want. The whole affair seems pretty casual out there. So we navigated through what seemed to me to be a VERY TIGHT buoy field and found J5, our assigned spot. We slowly coasted up to our bouy and took care of business as if we'd actually done it before...
We were all pretty tired, well maybe Sam wasn't, but we were also amped from finishing the first leg of this trip. For veteran blue water sailors perhaps this was no big thing but I've only been sailing since January and to me this passage was a big deal! Instead of hitting the sack we decided to head into shore and take care of a couple chores. After inflating the dinghy we paddled our way to the dinghy docks. I took care of the mooring and we thought of coffee. After smelling the food in the restaurant on the beach we decided to go ahead and just eat there. Oh, what a fine breakfast that was!
As we sat eating I took notice of our fellow eaters and island denizens. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting but one thing I thought might show up is the typical local/tourist relationship. Where the locals have a certain disdain for non-locals. I've seen this all over including near my home in the summer when San Diego is inundated with folks from Arizona escaping their stifling desert heat. Therefore when I was only met by smiles and seemingly genuine warmth in the greetings I really was just a bit surprised.
Then I started to look at the other folks eating, the other boaters. Consider that even the cheapest boats moored off the beach were worth tens of thousands of dollars and their owners are paying hundreds of dollars a month to berth their vessels. Additionally there were some boats moored nearby worth hundreds of thousands or dollars or more. My point being that we were in the company of a fairly affluent demographic. You sure couldn't tell it by looking around... Everyone looked like us - Needing a shower and a shave and just a bit disheveled... No one seemed to be carrying airs. No one seemed to imply they shouldn't be waiting for you to get out of their way. Well there was the set of aloof/clueless euro's but I won't go there...
With that evaluation complete we fit right in. We picked up some ice and sundries for our non-refridgerating refrigerator and took a stroll around the area finding the boat parts store. If you are planning on buying belts in Two Harbors bring your old ones with you. They don't work off of belt numbers or engine designations, only matching belts physically. We didn't have our belts so we set that aside for the next day.
After our stroll, and excellent breakfast, we headed back out to the boat, loaded the fridge with ice and finally relaxed. Kurt and I found our books and a spot to stretch out in the cockpit and Sam really took to his private accomodations in the forward vee berth. Eventually beers made their appearance and then it was finally nap time... We all just sort of migrated to a flat spot where snoring ensued...
Dinner was Brats and Salad and wine, oh my... We even had Lexan stemware. We were in bed pretty early and all slept quite well. The gentle motion of the boat was a perfect way to induce slumber.
The previous day we'd found out our holding tank was full so we were up early Tuesday morning to get over to the fuel dock when it opened at 8AM. Since we were there we went ahead and filled up on fuel and water as well. Interestingly we found that only one of our water tanks had any water in it. Interesting in that it now seemed quite obvious that our holding tank was not empty, at least one water tank was not filled, and the fridge I'd been assured worked by no less than three people did not work. A bit disappointing on the part of Seaforth. Alas, this is cruising and you make due with your dealt hand. So we did, and other than noting these issues they did not dampen our week in any way.
This was our main tourist day so after taking care of boat chores and an excellent breakfast of eggs with sausage and bagels we made some sandwich's, loaded up my backpack, and headed to shore for a little hike. Just about the moment I put my shoe on solid earth I realized that I'd left the camera on the boat. Damnit! Rowing back and forth in our dinghy did not lend itself to a quick run back to the boat to pick up forgotten items... So we disappointingly did without.
We took the trail from Two Harbors to the other side of the island at Catalina Harbor, all of .5 miles away. It was a short and pleasant walk from which we found another trail that led further around the west shore of the island. We made a detour down to the rocky beach and explored, finding many interesting shells and rocks. Cat. Harbor, as its called locally, is a more remote mooring, and with that apparently more peaceful. Though it is a bit of a walk into "town" for supplies. Well, a bit more than from the other side of the isthmus anyway. From the beach we continued on the trail a bit further until we found a spot that overlooked the ocean westward. We ate lunch with the gulls and pelicans overhead and the seals hunting in the waves below us. To say this was a peaceful and idyllic place to lunch is an understatement.
Eventually we headed back to Two Harbors with Sam telling us the stories of the geologic history of this area the whole way. Unfortunately we only able to pick up one of the two belts we needed. Kurt then decided to rent a kayak for us to play with for a while. Sam and I took the first excursion and we headed over to the USC Research center past the outskirts of the anchorage. It was somewhat disconcerting how quickly we were out of the protected waters of the anchorage and into rolling waves. We headed back... We decided to detour through the anchorage and explore the rocky shallows to see what we might see. We found an area that was only a few feet deep and we could see the Garibaldi, hard to miss being bright orange, all over the place. After some more exploring it was time to let Kurt and Sam have a turn on the Kayak while I relaxed on the beach.
After the days adventures it was back to the boat to clean up, have some dinner and get the boat ready for an early morning departure. After dinner we made our final foray into shore for much needed showers... With this chore out of the way the rest of the evening was spent in preparation for our trip back to San Diego the next day.
What an enjoyable place Two Harbors is, and probably all of Catalina Island. We didn't get to do as much as we might have liked but that leaves plenty to do the next time we head over there. Next time, we all agreed, an extra day would probably hit the mark nicely.
Next up sailing down wind, homeward bound...
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