The week in San Diego went too fast! It was great to go to our home on land and see so many friends. We saw Sharon Green and Betsy Crowfoot as they promoted Sharon’s new book 30 Years of Ultimate Sailing at SDYC.  A memorial for friend and fellow sailor/windsurfer/surfer Barry Ault on the Cliffs was another opportunity to check in with friends. Sally is a pillar of strength and the amount of support was beautiful. Later in the week a surprise party for Eric at our house gave us another chance to visit everyone at the same time. We were so tired it took a long time to recover!

When we returned to Europe, sister Elizabeth and her husband Maurice picked us up in Barcelona and drove us to El Gato which is still on the Catana dock in Canet-en-Roussillon.  Three days of visiting with a bit of touring and of course eating and wine tasting combined.

After they left we continued our hope for the West Marine shipment and finally, yesterday, on Eric’s official milestone birthday (he’s 25 in his mind which is good with me!) we went to Perpignan to pick it up.

Perfect timing as our technician Glo arrives next week to help Eric install the radar, chart plotter, and lots of other B&G goodies. A few days later Lewie Wake arrives and overlaps Glo’s visit.  He has already started helping us by figuring out the Iridium Go! and will be guiding us through the navigation tools. And since we are not crossing an ocean the pressure is off!  The decision to stay has helped us relax and learn at our own pace. How cool to order the cruising guides for the Med and learn how to navigate here. hoping in a few weeks we can go to Spain as heading south and even being a few degrees warmer would be nice.  Who would guess we’d want less, not more wind! Then back up through France towards Marseille, then over to Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey. Wow. Psyched is not a big enough word!

A big shout out to some folks who have really helped a lot so far.  Ray Marchetta who advised us on which systems would be good for us and how to install them. Rags from the Maritime School in San Diego who has guided us with everything from onboard safety equipment to great locally made binoculars.  Friends Gary Weisman and Brett Wilmot for giving us fishing lures and making sure we know how good the wood plugs are for big fish.  Peter Isler helped us with navigation tools, safety and advise. And our friends have been super supportive with love and laughter.

Thank you to everyone and we hope at some stage you will come aboard!