Leaving Long Beach

Wandering reestablishes the original harmony which

Once existed between man and the universe.

Anatole France 

Two future shellbacks - Which we became April 2014

Met our target departure date and just left the Long Beach Marina office to turn in keys, fobs, and parking passes, experiencing one last time the slow pace of dealing with Long Beach bureaucracy.

Extremely light winds coming from Catalina where we are tentatively heading for a couple of nights. Several tacks later we finally cleared LB Light. A pod of playful dolphins and a couple of whales swim near; perhaps a good omen of things to come.

For good luck, Kim gave us her favorite traveling Buddha figurine. It already has found a special place in the dining area. We were also graced with a pair of binoculars, some good knives, and a couple of Kindles that are already filled with 60 or so books to read. Several visits, dinners, books, bottles of wines, ginger liqueur and champagne later and Déjàlà is loaded to the waterline but not above!!! We were actually able to prove to Alan that we kept one whole cubby open/empty for whatever goodies we may find along the way. What we cherish most however are the memories and experiences we have shared with all of you.

Our last tie to the world, as most people know it, was to disconnect our 2 cell phones at 2pm once safely outside the breakwater. We are now solely dependent on radio and Wi-Fi…

Once we cleared the breakwater, we let our Hydrovane do the work. Only the second time it was tested, it performed remarkably well even in very light 3 knot winds.

Many marina regulars expressed their farewells and you could pick out a tad of envy from those who have dreamed of doing this for a while.

Fernando biked all the way over to take pictures of Déjàlà as she headed out of the marina. We may find him and his family on Aya (catamaran) in the Caribbean one day.

Thank you everyone for the good thoughts and the continued friendships.