Chula Vista

Location:  Chula Vista Marina, Chula Vista, California

Hard to believe that we have been here for a month already.  We have been busy…  mostly doing boat chores and finding our way around, but also doing some fun stuff.

We spent our first few days at the marina on “M” dock where there are a lot of local live-aboards (people who live on their boats full-time but never rarely leave their slip).  The marina office mentioned that they don’t like to put too many live-aboards next to each other, so after a few days we moved to “L” dock which is much quieter.  There have been two new boats tie up to “L” dock within the last week and things are becoming more active with the start of the summer season.  It is definitely different being here compared with the places we’ve recently visited where most people sailed on a regular basis.  Here, people who live on their boats don’t take them out much and many of the non-live-aboards come and stay on their boats for the weekend but don’t take them out.  This is similar to what we found on the east coast of the U.S.  Many people used their boats as weekend condos but rarely went anywhere in them. 

"The Bill of Rights" is docked at our marina.  They are
departing for a Saturday morning cruise of San Diego Bay.

We don’t have a car so we purchased monthly bus passes and use walking and the buses as our primary transportation.  I had to pay full fare ($72 for 30 days) but since Dave is a senior citizen he got a discounted pass ($18 for 30 days).  Riding the bus or the train is always an experience.  You get to see a lot of sites and people that you wouldn’t be exposed to while driving in a car.

Boat chores, maintenance and cleaning are a never ending process.  Now that we are back in the US, we have access to parts and resources that we didn’t have while south of the border.  Some of the things we’ve been working on include:

·         The fuel valve on the forward starboard tank – you may remember from previous blogs that it leaks and needs to be replaced.  Dave disassembled it and a local valve supplier tried to find us an equivalent valve.  They didn’t have any luck but recommended a machine shop that might be able to repair it.  He said he wasn’t interested and that the cost of the repair would be as much as a new valve.  Pete Watson, our boat designer and builder, was able to source one in New Zealand.  The fuel valve, along with parts for our bilge valves and replacement fuel transfer pumps are now on order.  If you want to learn more about our boat (the Watson 48) or other trawlers built by Watson, have a look at their website.  www.realtrawlers.com

Fuel valve piping removed and the fuel valve (bottom left inset)

·         The starboard anchor windlass pin – if you don’t take the brake-off before deploying or heaving the anchor, things break.  We bent the anchor windlass pin while we were in the Sea of Cortez.  Dave has been trying to remove it from the windlass housing but so far hasn’t had any luck.  We’ve had a welder look at it and hope that if we apply some heat, it will come out.  There are also some cracks in the housing, so the welder can repair that at the same time.  We’ve had two guys look at it but neither wanted to do the work so we have another one that we’re going to try later this week.

The windlass.  The bent pin is circled in red.

·         The engine room fan motor has been squealing for at least 6 months.  We disassembled it and carried it on the bus to a local motor repair shop.  They replaced the bearings and serviced the motor.

The new deck storage box.

Engine Belt Replacement

·         The hydraulic pumps for the stabilizer system have been leaking.  We removed it and the hydraulic hose and took them to a pump repair shop.  We haven’t heard back from them yet, but it should be ready in a week or so.

·         General maintenance and cleaning including: changing the main engine oil, changing the alternator belts, cleaning the engine breather, flushing fuel filters, defrosting the frig/freezer, replacing the zincs in the frig/freezer cooling system, checking the coolant, re-torqueing the battery bolts, cleaning the soot and salt off the decks, applying fabric guard to the boat cushions, replacing the galley faucet, troubleshooting the grey/black water tank level gauges, installing a new deck storage box, etc. etc. etc.

New galley faucet, it swivels and has a sprayer.

Engine breather gasket

Of course, we’ve also been having fun.  You know how the saying goes “All work and no play…”

·         Exploring around town:  We’ve discovered  farmer’s markets, shopping areas and restaurants.  Except for the restaurants, Dave would call this “chores” and not fun.  We have found some good local restaurants including Italian, Vietnamese, hamburgers and sushi.

Shopping for new running shoes.  The
bottom right inset is the winning pair.

Herbs on the boat deck - 3 types of basil, mint, peppermint,
cilantro, oregano and parsley

·         Balboa Park:  Balboa Park, originally City Park, was the site of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal.  Most of the buildings in the park were built as temporary structures for the expo.  Since then, most have been restored and upgraded to permanent structures.  There are numerous museums, gardens, fountains, nature areas and walking trails.  The weather was beautiful while we were there so we did an outdoor audio walking tour in order to get an overview of the park.  Balboa Park is also home of the San Diego Zoo – we haven’t been there yet; we’re saving it for when we have visitors.  www.balboapark.org

·         Memorial Day Weekend:  The RV park next door had an outdoor concert on Saturday afternoon. We walked over and listened to the music, ate tacos and drank beer.  It was a nice family crowd and many people danced along to the music.  Sunday morning, they hosted a pancake breakfast so we treated ourselves to that.

Memorial Day Concert at the RV park.

·         Anchoring out at Shelter Island:  Getting restless from sitting still at the marina, we cast-off our lines and went north to stay at an anchorage near Shelter Island for a weekend.  There are a lot of marinas, marine stores and boating activity in the area along with three fuels docks.  We will need to take on fuel before leaving here so we checked out all the fuel docks and their prices.  We took the dinghy ashore, did some shopping, tried a few restaurants and walked along the beach.  The anchorage is weekend only and has a 72-hour limit so we heaved anchor on Monday morning and headed back to the marina.  Although we didn’t go very far (about 10 miles each way), it was a nice weekend and we enjoyed our mini-vacation. 

View of the San Diego skyline and Midway Aircraft
carrier as we were heading north to the Shelter Island anchorage.

·         Kayaking on Mission Bay:  Mission Bay is just north of San Diego Bay.  It is relatively quiet and a nice place to kayak.  It is also home to Sea World.  We are thinking about buying sea kayaks so we signed up for a two-hour lesson at Aqua Adventures www.aqua-adventures.com.  We started out with basic strokes and maneuvering, and then learned two methods of capsize recovery.  We enjoyed our lesson and plan to rent kayaks several more times so that we can try various types and sizes before buying anything.

·         Little Italy:  We wandered around the Little Italy neighborhood and got sugared-up at Extraordinary Desserts extraordinarydesserts.com.

Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy.
Top left: view through the display case;
Bottom left: slice of coconut cream pie (B's dessert);
Bottom right: dulce de leche cheese cake (Dave's dessert)

The cats are doing well.  They have been treated to a new scratching post and catnip plants.  As always, the projects, chores and fun will continue.  Until next time…  

Puddy enjoying the catnip plants.

Doofus in her chair on the stern.