We ended up spending the summer securely tied to slip A1-5 in the Chula Vista Marina. Part of the reason was the number of boat projects we wanted to complete before heading to Mexico, part of the reason was that we wanted to spend some time touring the Rocky Mountain west in a car, and mainly because life in Chula Vista/San Diego is so darn comfortable that it was hard to think about leaving.
We have told the marina that we are leaving on or before November 1, 2001. They have a new tenant for the slip, effective November 1, so I guess we’ll have to leave, ready or not.
The only problem with staying in Chula Vista has been the amount of money we spend. The Port of San Diego, who owns the land that the marina is built on, requires a $100 per person surcharge for each live aboard boat. That means we have to pay $591 per month for moorage, plus about $22 per month for electricity. We had only budgeted about ¼ of that amount for moorage since we thought we would spend most of the summer cruising and anchoring out. Additionally, we spend a whole lot more money on food and restaurants here in San Diego than we would have if we were cruising.
I thought we had a very well prepared cruising boat when we left Tacoma in the summer of 2000. The six week, 1300 mile trip to San Diego showed that the boat was indeed well setup and very easy to sail and live aboard. However, I had too much time on my hands during last winter and this summer. I kept thinking up “minor” projects to make the boat work even better:
Install a new Force 10 stove
Install a SCS PTC II-PRO Terminal Network Controller (TNC) for Ham e-mail
Update ICOM 710 SSB radio to transmit on all HF frequencies
Bring our Spectra watermaker back to life
Replace cooling fan on one of Spectra low-pressure pumps
Reroute Spectra sea water line from low pressure
pumps to pre-filters
Install Airmail software on the old boat PC (for Ham e-mail)
Select and purchase new bike to replace stolen Klein
Install low intensity light in Nav station/work shop
Make and install outboard davits to replace the one I dropped overboard and
diver can’t find
Lubricate windlass
Lubricate all winches
Make anchor bridle
Find spare props for old Evenrude and new Suzuki outboards
Install dinghy wheels
Design and make lifting bridle for PortaBote
Replace anti-siphon valve on Yanmar diesel
Fix corrosion on Yanmar due to old leaking anti-siphon valve
Install wireless thermometers on upper and lower shelves of refrigerator &
receiver next to refrigerator controls
Replace shackles on both bow anchors
Mount Ankorlina reel for stern
anchor rode (Ankorlina holds 180’ of hi-strength 2” nylon webbing to be used as
rode)
Mount stern anchor
Fix leaking showerhead on transom
Change oil in Yanmar gearbox
Change all filters on Yanmar
Change oil in Yanmar
Order spares for Yanmar
Figure our why Freedom 20 inverter/battery charger keeps “locking up”
Select and purchase new laptop for boat
Install all navigation, radio, and weatherfax software on new PC
Select and purchase medical insurance
Select and purchase boat insurance for south of US
Select and install accurate 24-hour clock for nav station to display GMT
Program ICOM radio for Mexican nets and southern US weatherfax stations
Rearrange everything in boat to allow more stowage
Select and purchase heavy-duty fishing tackle
Replace zincs in Isotherm refrigerator
Select and mount cockpit light on solar panel arch
Install waterproof 12 volt socket in cockpit
Install 12-volt socket in Saloon for our 12 volt TV
Repair Autohelm ST50 wind instrument (two trips to mast head)
Find clock for bunk that Arlene and I can both see
Mount Hella fans in galley, main cabin, and sleeping cabin
Select and install CD player/Stereo receiver to replace old cassette deck
Install 2nd propane bottle in propane locker
Setup rigging for a Magma “flopper stopper” to be suspended off our reaching pole
The TNC installation was very simple and straightforward. I had heard many stories about the difficulty of getting the TNC and the Airmail software to work properly. The SCS documentation was very clear and detailed. I was able to send and receive e-mail via a HAM radio signal the first time I turned on the TNC.
The Ham e-mail hardware/software is truly amazing. Sending or receiving an e-mail via HAM is easier than when using the Internet. We can send or receive a 1000 character message in about 45 seconds. I sent my sister a 27-kilobyte JPEG picture in less than nine minutes. We should be able to stay in touch with our friends and family with little difficulty using HAM e-mail.
We rented a Buick LeSabre, a BIG car, and drove it 2500
miles thru Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona during the middle of
September. We needed a big car so
that we could carry our two mountain bikes in the trunk. The objective of the trip was to visit
my folks who were meeting with friends in Estes Park, Colorado. 
Here are some strange rock formations we found about 1/2 mile from the road, at 13,500 feet.
The Ridge Pass road is the highest paved road in the US, it reaches13, 250 feet, far above treeline.
While in
Rocky Mountain National Park, just west of Estes Park, we drove the "Old
Falls Road." This is a one lane road that used to be the only road over
the pass from Estes Park to the west. The road was dirt and heavily rutted. It
climbed 3,000 feet in nine miles.
Here is a picture looking west up the valley that the Old
Fall Road ascends. 
We drove most of the way on two lane state roads and saw a lot of nice desert and mountain scenery. On the day we drove from Estes Park to Montrose, Colorado we traversed five mountain passes, each over 10,500 feet. The mountain roads built by the state of Colorado and Arizona are truly impressive. We drove on roads that climbed and descended passes that I would never thought possible. The road from Ouray, Colorado to Red Mountain Pass, seven miles and 4500 vertical feet, was a heart stopper. It is two lanes with almost no shoulder and no guardrails. The road follows the canyon carved by Yellow Creek. Many of the 90-degree hairpins have 500 to 1000 foot drops into the creek. I thought the 25 MPH speed limit posted at the bottom of the road was a joke, half way up the pass I wondered why the speed limit was set so high.
Even more impressive than the road was the fact that motorhomes, fifth wheel trailers, and full sized semi rigs were growling up and down the road. I was surprised when a full sized tanker truck came around the hairpin I was going up. I really didn’t think he could get around that tight a turn, particularly down an 8% grade.
In Arizona we followed a road up a mountainside to the fantastic village of Jerome, about 15 miles SW of Sedona. Jerome has about 2000 inhabitants and is built on the face of a 30-degree rock wall. The highway makes seven 180-degree switchbacks and gains 500 feet as it passes thru Jerome. There are many two and three story buildings in Jerome, including hotels, libraries, and mansions. As we climbed we would pass the front door of a building, and then pass the back door, on the third floor of the same building after we traversed a switchback, all this in the inhospitable desert mountains of western Arizona. We could see absolutely no reason that there should be such a large village in such a remote and difficult location. Jerome is not on the road to anywhere and is not near anything. STRANGE!
Arlene had to go to an oral surgeon just after we returned from Colorado. He had to extract a molar, #19, that was broken and infected. This was no big deal since the tooth was broken off the roots, which were dead from a root canal done in June 2000. The annoying thing is that in July 2000 we paid $1,200 to a dentist in Tacoma who insisted he could save the tooth by putting a new crown on it. The first dentist that saw Arlene here in Chula Vista, and the oral surgeon both said the tooth had been beyond saving for several years and the crown was a waste of time and a threat to Arlene’s health.
This is the same molar that became badly infected in July 1997 while we cruising in the San Juan Islands. We had to make a 10 hour run to get to an oral surgeon in Port Townsend who was able to temporarily stabilize the tooth and stop the excruciating pain. That infection came just three weeks after the same Tacoma dentist placed the first crown on the tooth. In the fall of ’97 he removed the crown and replaced in with a new crown. That crown became badly infected in the spring of ’00 and he put the third crown on the tooth in July ’00. After we left Tacoma in August ’00, headed for San Diego, we had to stop in Westport, Washington and try to find a dentist because the tooth was again infected. Arlene saw this same Tacoma dentist twice between November ’00 and April ’01, both times he assured her the crown would be fine and she should expect no more problems. I guess he was wrong.
The odd thing is that Arlene’s teeth are otherwise perfect. Except for one other crown she has no fillings and no problems. Now our dilemma is what to do about the hole in her mouth where the molar used to be. An implant requires constant access to skilled dental care for almost a year. Even a bridge requires six months of dental care. If she does nothing she may continue to experience bone loss in the jaw where the molar roots used to be.
I have been making weekly trips to Shelter Island, San Diego where hundreds of boating and marine related stores and service shops are located. I have made the 28 mile round trip in our dinghy, in our rental car, in a borrowed car, in my brothers van, on a bicycle, on the trolley with my bike, and on a trolley connecting to a bus. No matter how I get to Shelter Island I end up spending hundreds of dollars for “essential” boat equipment. Then, I have to spend dozens of hours installing it and figuring out the best way to use it.
It really is true that you can only do one thing a day when living on a boat with no car.
Saturday October 6 is the big Chula Vista marine swap meet. There are at least a hundred people signed up for booths so I hope lots of buyers will be at the meet, looking for bargains. We will be trying to sell, or give away:
Doyle 135% genoa
Doyle Mainsail
Galley Maid 2-burner propane stove
Two 6-gallon Rubbermaid water jugs
Two sets of inline skates, pads, and a bag
Twenty pounds of cat food
Twenty pounds of kitty litter
(Oct 7 update – only the stove
and waterjugs sold)
My next big project is to get all the official documentation we need for Mexico:
VISAs
Mexican HAM license
Fishing licenses (one for Mirador, one for the dinghy, one for me, one for Arlene)
20 year import permit for Mirador
40 copies of: Passports, boat documentation, boat insurance, crew lists
Our final project will be take Mirador out for a couple of days and see if she still sails.
Then, on the first of November, – we are off to cruise the west coast of Baja California. You can read more about our plans at: The Plan - Fall 2001