San Diego, First Morning

It is 8.15 AM and the sky is clear and sunny but the air is surprisingly nippy. Arnold is still in the sack. He must have been very tired if after more than 11 hours of sleep the smell of fresh coffee did not rouse him.

I plan to leave our AIS on for another day. I expect this region to be covered by that world wide AIS network that can be accessed via the internet so it will give FOP (Friends of Pachuca) a chance to see exactly where we are.

The authorities already know where we are. After repeated failures to get mobile telephone service as we approached SD harbor so that I could report our arrival I hailed the SD Coast Guard on VHF 16 to inform them that this Australian registered yacht was entering their zone. Using working channel 22A he got the name and description of Pachuca then asked me to stand by. A minute or two later he called telling me that all was OK. I was so relieved to hear that there was no problem that I broke the terse professional protocol to chirp "Thank you, Have a Nice Day! About 20 minutes later a pair of camouflage painted unmarked helicopters approached from the NE, did a low slow circle around Pachuca, then disappeared back to the NE. I had VHF 16 on but they had nothing to say. The would clearly have seen the name "Pachuca" on the sail cover and if they were as well equipped as we figured (including radiation detectors, Arnold figures) they would have seen our AIS data. We have no doubt that these people mean business with all sorts of surveillance that we are not aware of. And that is to be expected because they have a tough job to do. This is the US-Mexico border and possibly the biggest hot spot for immigration and narcotics contraband.

I've started a list of tasks and procurements during our stay here. We have 10 days at this facility and according to Noel there are no extensions. I plan to phone a few marinas to explore possibility of spending another 5 days or so in San Diego, but we are unlikely to pay the $120 per day reported by Noel.

Today is boat cleaning day. We need to fold up and bag the staysail, take out the bicycle and unfold it, stow everything back in its place, clean the head, wipe the walls with a bleach solution, and do some exploring of the area if we still have some time. I'll also hand wash this lambs wool sweater that Brenda sent from Australia and I wore during the entire passage, as well as a wool cap that got a dose of sea water. The big laundry day will be closer to departure.

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