Pumpkin Carving!

The folks here at Pacific Mariners Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey take halloween very seriously. The members spent the entire day and evening decorating for their big party tomorrow night. We were invited to join them carving pumpkins and we had a great time doing so.

WHEW!

Wow, we've finally cleaned up all of the ash from the boat and are looking much more respectable! We are currently guests at the Pacific Mariners Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey and the people here are most welcoming. We are getting ready to go carve pumpkins for decoration at the halloween party tomorrow night. Tomorrow or Sunday we're planning to explore Venice Beach. Us girls wanted to go see Ellen Degeneres, but she never called back to confirm....so sad!

We've finally got all of our scuba gear and are set to explore the deep blue sea. We're really looking forward to our next stop at Catalina Island which is reported to have amazing aquatic life....we'll report on that soon.

Malibu Fire

The clear blue skies we've become accustomed to since arriving in California were darkend today as a result of a huge fire burning in the Malibu Canyon. As I write, the skies are thick with smoke and ash and the sun looks like a red fireball obscured by the haze. Even with the hatches and port holes closed, a film of ash covers all surfaces down below and cleaning efforts are futile

Santa Barbara

Think you've seen it all? Well take a look at Booger, Kitty and Mousie, three of the most unusual characters we've met thus far!

Congratulations!

I am pleased to let you all know that Jay, Jocelyn and Jenny are now all certified PADI Open Water Divers! After a grueling week of intense study and diving, all three passed with flying colours! I managed to complete everything but the ocean dives (phobia issues) which I'll attempt to complete somewhere that has clear warm water but until that time I'm happy to snorkel on the surface while watching my family below.

It's Lobster season in Southern California and Jay can't wait to go hunting all we need now is some dive gear and a bigger boat to keep it all in!

We'll be moving on from Santa Barbara tomorrow and would like to visit Channel Islands Harbour, Santa Monica and Catalina Island. We are having the time of our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours!

Santa Barbara

We are in beautiful Santa Barbara and it is sunny and warm! Our overnight trip here from San Luis Obispso started out very rolly and windy but evened out sometime in the middle of the night. Diesel faired well and looks mighty handsome in his life jacket. He, like the rest of us girls, always breathes a sigh of relieve once we're secured in port.

We have arranged for SCUBA lessons for next week and will be spending the weekend doing all of the text book work on the boat and will hit the water on Monday, by Thursday we'll all be certified!