What a ride!

We finally made it out of Santa Cruz and are now in Oxnard after ~50 hours of motor sailing - whew! We adjusted our route because of small craft warnings around the Channel Islands. We figured we didn't need to experience that - especially at night!

Highlights (or interesting notes) from the trip:

• Watching the wildlife go by - even saw a whale tail and it didn't involve a thong!
• Living and sleeping (very little) in the cockpit wearing all of our winter clothes - not the romance cruise.
  
• Hitting something??? at 5am (of course) that made our engine groan, we lost speed and our shaft packing came lose. We think it was a fish trap. We had a diver check it out and the prop is fine - a zync just needed tightening.
• Surviving Point Conception - surfing through the channel with a reefed main with winds gusting up to 35 knots. Wish we would have gone through the experience during the day. Lesson learned!
• Alternator crapped out during the Point Conception pass - of course.
• Dodging huge ships and oil platforms - those things look pretty creepy at night - right out of Star Wars movie. Fortunately, all of our electronics worked just fine so we were able to serpentine through it all.
  

Yesterday, we spent the day catching up on much needed sleep. Did you know that you can actually fall asleep on your feet? I tested it out. Good thing Doug was there to catch me!

Doug is going to spend the day working on the alternator and other boat issues. I am doing provisioning, cleaning, and laundry. Better get busy!

Early tomorrow (3am) we are leaving for Avalon. Really excited to check out the Channel Islands. From there, on to San Diego. Should be there on Friday.