It has now been a little over two weeks since we moved aboard Mirador in the Chula Vista Marina and we are slowly adjusting to life on a small boat

. Mirador is behind the far tree.

We're still working at putting everything away. Arlene is doing wonders at hiding it all. I would never have believed it possible to get it all into the boat, let alone neat and tidy. She has not allowed me to do a thing. Now, the problem is that only she knows where things are.

I am putting together a computerized schematic of the boat with hyperlinks to a spreadsheet. You touch a locker or compartment on the schematic and it brings up a list of contents. Or, you can search the spreadsheet for an item and find out what compartment it is in.

Mirador's lower boot stripe is now half submerged. The stern is especially low. We'll have to do some weight shifting.

We have a lot of projects to do on Mirador but can't start until all the stuff is stowed. I spent four hours last week trying to get the water heater to quit leaking. The leak is in the line that returns engine coolant to the diesel. It is a very small leak, maybe a couple of ounces a day, but it is annoying. The problem is in an elbow at the bottom of the water heater that I can barely reach. I think I fixed it Friday afternoon.

Following are some of the boat projects to be completed before the end of August:

The marina increased our slip rental by $200 per month since we are now classified as "live aboards". That makes the slip $591/month+electricity.

We decided not to rent a car while in Chula Vista. We ride our bicycles everywhere or take the bus/trolley system. We can ride our bikes one mile to the Chula Vista transit center and catch a trolley from there. We can be in downtown San Diego in about 25 minutes from the time we leave the boat. There are four good grocery stores within three miles of the boat. There are also two big shopping centers within a couple of miles.

Life here is pretty easy. The morning is spent drinking coffee, reading the paper, watching Arlene exercise, and doing minor boat projects. We usually go for an hour or two bike ride in the afternoon, or we skate (roller blade).We found a bike trail that runs from downtown San Diego, past the marina here, thru Imperial Beach, (at the south end of San Diego Bay), all the way north along the Silver Strand and Coronado Island to the ferry landing where you can catch a foot ferry that goes back to the start of the trail in downtown San Diego.

We go to the grocery store about every third day. We eat dinner at the marina restaurant two or three times a week. Thursday night is all you can eat fish & chips for $6.95. Aunt Emmas Pancake Restaurant is about one mile, 5 minutes on the bike, and serves an all you can eat pancake and egg breakfast for $2.99 until noon everyday.

The RV park that is attached to the marina has all kinds of amenities that we use. There is a swimming pool and jacuzzi, pool tables, computer room with free phone access, small deli, small library, great showers, horseshoe pits, picnic tables and Bar-B-Qs.

We have monthly transit passes that allow us to use any form of public transportation in San Diego County. We can take the bus from the marina to the transit center, the trolley to Santa Fe Depot, and the Coaster train to Oceanside to visit Jim. Or, from Santa Fe Depot we can take a bus anywhere in San Diego.

The local kite sailors were using their sailboard/kite combinations off the beach that is about 50 yards from our slip. I talked to one of the experts about the transition from conventional board sailing to kite sailing. He made it sound pretty neat! He was about my size and was sailing on a 7' board with a large kite in about 12 knots of wind. He was getting about 3' of air on his jumps.

He told me that one sail covers the wind range from 12 knots to 22 or so knots. One more sail and board covers the range to about 28 or 30 knots. When he finished sailng he rolled up the kite into a small package and carried it in one hand while carrying the board in the other. It took him about 3 minutes to put away his equipment.

That sure beats the size and hassle I go through setting up a conventional 5.5 meter sail and 9' board for sailing in a minimum of 20 knots of wind. We carry a 9' super lightweight Priester sailboard, two two-piece masts and three sails (4.7, 5.0, 5.5 meters). That equipment uses a lot of space when stowed in the quarterberth.

I'd like to convert to kite sailing but it would cost about $2,400 to do so. Well, I guess I'll have to check my priorities.

We're going to stay here until late August. We'll probably sail out to Catalina Island for a couple of days in August, just to see if we remember how to sail. In September we'll leave here and head north. Maybe we'll make it as far as Monterrey.

Chula Vista, California - July 23, 2001