Scared of the Water

Do you see why I was scared of the water? These dang jellyfish is what I was talking about in my very first post on this blog.  Why didn't they put this sign up when I had one of these things wrapped around my leg back in the day? The jet skier in the background obviously has no fears.  

I'm glad there's this sign too:  

I asked my uncle about it and he goes, "I'm 75 years old.  I've lived here in Okinawa all my life and crossed dense grassy areas like this during the war to run away from the bullets.  I've never seen one of these things!"  But then I saw a sign in the building that said several had been caught in the area recently--maybe because their environment is being encroached upon?  

We're in da' muthaland for at least a year. Working, researching, enjoying all my extended family here, enjoying being on a warm island...

This blog will be a bit quiet until we return...Wish we had brought our boat but it was just not possible at this time. It's being well cared for and we'll take up our adventures with her later. Until then, mata ne!

Here's a short video of our China Camp stay:

Delta Doo Dah -- returning home via China Camp from mitzi on Vimeo.

We left Benecia early and got to China Camp in no time.  The water was calm and the fog was just peeling away from this part of the bay when we arrived.  We've always wanted to go here.  I like this article which has some good tips on how to anchor here.  I was surprised that for a Saturday afternoon there were only 2 other sailboats and a few fishing boats when we arrived.  By sunset, maybe 3 more joined us in that very large protected anchorage.  

If you're interested in checking out China Camp and learning about its very interesting history, go now.  They are slated for closure--possibly this October -- due to all the budget cuts.  Please call your representative and voice your concern over this. China Camp Heritage Day is coming up on August 27th--might be a fun day for a sail there.  More info can be found here.  

We will definitely be back.  This time we'll anchor closer in to get a bit more protection.  We saw another catamaran go closer in and they looked a bit more stable than us just a few feet closer to the cliffs and out of the wind.  

On the way home, Oli Kai had a near close encounter with the fleet of Polynesian vakas which had just come into the bay from Hawaii.  I'll let E blog about that one :) 

We learned a lot about our boat on this trip.  Before the cruise, I didn't think it was the absolute best boat of this size for toddlers because of of all the places they could fall but I now see I was wrong--especially now that Aya is better balanced and coordinate and I don't have to worry about her falling as much as before (off the stairs down the hulls esp).  I love that we can put the saloon table down, assemble the cushions together and it instantly becomes a boat gymnasium.  It's really a terrific boat for kids.

And E got intimate with our yammies.  The redneck deep down in him somewhere and all those days of tinkering on car engines in FL when he was younger helped him to easily troubleshoot weird things that popped up on the cruise.  He can poke his head around the engines and catch problems quickly.   But there's also that redneck side in him that says to hell with all those people still sleeping in the marina aboard their boats at 7:30 am and then run the dang engine (in gear) to finishing troubleshooting.  I was like, um, I think there are some marina etiquette rules which saythat's not cool.  But I'm a newbie sailor after all so I can't say for certain.  I just point my finger at him when anyone throws some stink eye our way and respond, "I know, I told him, but he's Cuban..."  (he's gonna get me back for this with a black/japanese diss on his next post).  I'll be nice and won't post the pics of him and the quintessential buttcrack at work as he was bent over working on the engines. He just better be nice hehehehe.  

I really, really liked sailing and being aboard with the kiddos, even after all the tantrums and the screams of terror as I tried to comb through Aya's raggedy, matted, wind blown hair...or their whines from being tired or hungry or bored.  Now, who said it was best to space out kids only 2.5 years apart?  Anyway... It all worked out well and am looking forward to more rallies, more sailing, more week long/weekend anchorages/explorations.  

The next day we all decided to peek in on Potato Slough where we found a good number of folks from our rally.  We rafted up with the lovely family from Hapa Girl in "Bedroom 2" and arrived in time for the dinghy race.  

The kids went back and forth between the boats but I think they missed the beach.  I certainly did. They read books, performed a show with the origami figures we made, created shadow puppets, and spilled many, many hundres of legos into every tiny crevice of the boat.  It is said that parents should cherish these days because they go by too quickly.  Gotta remember this as I clean a zillion spills each day.  At one point on the trip, I smelled of pee (from Aya) and vomit (from Mario) and thought-- I must, I hope I will laugh at this all one day.   

Both of our families decided we weren't going to finish up in Stockton for the big party.  Perhaps if the kids were older (and maybe if Stockton seemed more appealing -- sorry Stockton folks-- that's snobby as hell but it was named  "America's most miserable city" after all.) Nah, in all seriousness, it was mostly because we really needed to have a chill return home with the kids because E had to go to work early on Monday and I need to start preparing for our move to Japan in a few months.  Didn't want that final journey home to be a stressful rush back.  

We headed to the town of Benecia the next day since we had never been.  Really cute place to stop --nice facilities at the marina and just a few blocks from there is a very cute, walkable old town with some great antique shops, toy stores, cafe's and surprisingly a few hipster attractions.  

 

A short video of the kids at play in Potato Slough:

Delta Doo Dah -- Potato Slough from mitzi on Vimeo.

Next post:  our final night in China Camp before heading home

 

So the next few days of the rally were "free days."  There were no official rally activities so everyone could explore on their own and were expected to make their way down to Stockton Sailing Club by Friday.  A rather large group headed to Potato Slough and another sizeable group took off for Walnut Grove. I'm sure others explored independently.  The other family of hapas on the trimaran "Hapa Girl" came up with the brilliant idea of just anchoring at the beach nearby.  As multihulls with shallow drafts, we could anchor pretty close in, and the the kids could have a beach to play at together.  And by the the time everyone took off for their exploring, we'd have the place to ourselves.  Worked out quite well indeed.  It was the perfect anchorage.  Good times.  Unfortunately I missed out on many sweet moments while the kids were at play on the beach because I forgot to bring out the camera until the end of the day.  A few are below--not the best ones but some good ones. I included a short video clip below too.  You can watch it in HD directly on vimeo. 

Our very good friends and their two kids drove in from San Francisco to join us aboard for a night.  They parked overnight at a nearby marina and the Hapa Girl crew were ever so generous to lend us their motor dinghy (mil gracias!!) to pick them up.  Mario was thrilled to have his best bud there and I was thrilled to have my girlfriend aboard.  The kids played hard and baked into lil dulce de leche colored munchkins in the sunshine.  So yummy.  Such pure joy.

Delta Doo Dah- Beach time from mitzi on Vimeo.

This was my favorite leg of the rally.  It was just a short sail to Sugar Barge and I could see cruisers could easily get lost in the labyrinth of tulle grass islands and also how one could easily get stuck in the mud if they don't pay attention to their charts.  Lucky for us, our draft is just a little over 3 feet so we didn't have to worry too much.  Mario was a good sport--he got bored when Aya napped but sang almost the entire way as he layed about the boat.  

We arrived at Sugar Barge and rafted up again with good boat neighbors and enjoyed the night and the beach party around the bend--about 5 minutes away if one has a good motor on their dinghy.  We still have not invested in one and E started rowing against the rather strong current.  Fortunately for us comraderie was high in the rally and folks were incredibly generous and many gladly offered to tow us behind their powerful motored dinghies to the fiesta.  It was a good night.  We pretty much missed out on all the singing going on in the bar later that evening 'cause we were exhausted and the kids were out but we could hear all the good times from our boat.  There were some folks with some chops on them!  

Check out this video of the sail to Sugar Barge here.  

Delta Doo Dah 2011 -- Owl Harbor to Sugar Barge from mitzi on Vimeo.