October 12-15, 2007

Many thanks to Tony for letting us use his yacht this past weekend.
Flew into Long Beach Friday night and was picked up by stretch Limo for 30 minute ride to Newport beach. Boarded the beautiful Home Stretch. Had supper: hors d'oerves, sandwiches with french fries & advocat based , Duckhorn Merlot ( my favorite of the weekend), before heading to bed.
Woke up early to the start of the engine & the rustling of the anchor being pulled. Trip over to Catalina island took a couple of hours and was lucky to catch sight of school of dolphins playing in the wake. Not the mini spinner dolphins either but the big ones!

Had breakfast upon arrival. Then headed to shore for some diving in the casino underwater park with divemaster Jeff from Catalina Divers Supply. First dive took us to the Jacque Cousteau plaque and to the over turned sailboat/glassbottom boat. Remember for future that for 7mm 3 piece with hood , I require 20lbs + steel tank. 2ND DIVE took us to the Sujac wreck ( which was the 1st wreck I ever dived over 7 years ago with Trevor) and then to visit the resident octopus living in a steel column. Garibaldi were very friendly and there was a very large fish that resembled a parrot fish but wasn't. Apparently Jeff has been diving the underwater park almost daily for the past four years and the fish know him. They came to surround us when he called on them by hitting to rocks together. Diving kelp is still as magical as I remember- I feel like jack and the beanstalk. First time kelp diving for Mike, I think it lived up to his expectation despite all my tales talking it up.

Lunch that Angus prepared was an amazing buffet: my favorite was his scallop cerviche. We also had raw oysters, dungeoness crab salad, Alaskan king crab legs.
That evening we went to the catalina jazz festival at the Casino Ballroom. Very nostalgic for me being back in that ballroom. Some of the best nights of lindy hop dancing ever took place there.
For dinner, Angus prepared us some lovely seared scallops followed by ciopinno and an apple flan for desert. Bottle of chateau Margaux to accompany.


Sunday morning, we met Lane the marine biologist who took us out diving. Home Stretch took to waters to take us towards our dive sites. The first was Ship rock (?). Beautiful kelp forest. Saw many tiny nudibranchs, tons of fish and several thrasher sharks. During our safety stop, a sealion came to check us out.Swam right behind Lane , past Mike. Mike was busy staring at his dive computer and completely missed it. I called out to it and held my hand out and it came and took a sniff at my fingers before swimming off.
Had some seared salmon over seaweed salad for lunch. Then headed to second dive at Sea Fan Cove. Surprisingly few sea fans. Huge rocks covered with beautiful bright yellow coral.Again a very fishy kelp forest. Huge schools of bait fish. Love swimming amongst them and just pretending to be one of them.
On Home Stretch, soaked in the jacuzzi tub at the front of the yacht whilst she cruised back to Avalon. That night, Jeff took us out to catch lobster. Night diving in a dense kelp forest is quite eerie. Was always worrying about getting caught in kelp you can't see. Also easy to get lost and separated form others as our lights get blocked off by the kelp. Catching lobster is not an easy task. They are very fast and you have to be faster in order to grab them. I probably made 15 attempts and caught only one. Jeff caught 5. Mike caught none. I think next time I try this, I have to remember to push the lobster down into the rocks to pin them against something rather then just grabbing. Unfortunately my one was too small and had to be thrown back. Many seafans on that night dive.



Dinner was surf and turf. Local lobster with herb butter dressing and petite fillet mignon with mushroom sauce. Appy was a goat chesse crostini. Soo yummy but way too much for my tummy. Then Angus' famous cheesecake to end.

Monday morning, Mike's birthday, we took the jet ski's out for a run. Very powerful,very fun. We scaled probably 1/3 the length of the island. Saw some pelicans on a rock, several sealion playing with kelp. I was thinking that if I could go 30 mph bumping on a jet ski, I could probably go riding now.( feeling hopeful).


Then we went into Avalon and rented a golf cart to take an hour's scenic drive. Very pretty views.

Stopped at the bookstore to pick up gifts for the crew. Ghost ship for captain Jeff, a recipe book on tropical cocktails for Dave, tales of travel for Zane, Chicken soup for beach lovers for Fran and a book about a food critic for Angus.
Lunch was halibut. Discovered new found respect for halibut. Never liked halibut before but this preparation was delicious. Cruise back to Newport was uneventful. Was sad to leave Home Stretch and her crew.