We traveled around West End, down to Cat Harbor for the night. Upon arrival, we joked that where else can you travel 4 hours and then walk 5 min. to arrive back where you departed from?

We were welcomed with a large pod of dolphins, feeding in the entrance to the harbor with their young. This was the largest pod we have seen this summer, and there were dozens of playful baby dolphins learning to hunt alongside their mothers.

Today, we headed to Shark Harbor. We set a stern hook in Little Harbor since it was more protected from swells. Tomorrow, it's back to the leeward side of the island.

Sep. 26, 2025

With today's cooler, gloomy weather giving us a break from the heat, we decided it was a perfect day to go on a hike up to the cross above Buffalo Beach.

Once there, we found ourselves looking out above the cove admiring the view. He had spotted a flag on the tallest peak when flying the drone earlier in the trip. We decided to set off in that direction, but agreed we'd likely turn back since it was a long, steep hike.

Once we made it to the next peak, we were swarmed with a few dozen swallows playing in the thermals. We were in awe at how they seemed to chirp songs back and forth to each other while playing in the updraft.

Our next animal encounter was two young bucks, that bounded across the valley off our path and then again towards the end of our hike we saw a healthy looking doe camoflauged in the valley.

The hike up to the flag is a steep deer trail that is lined with cactus on either side making it quite narrow and challenging. Halfway there and we were begining to walk through the lower layer of the cloud coverage, which encouraged us to keep climbing to see the view from the top.

It was worth the sweat- the view at the top of the tallest peak here is phenomenal. From the top you can easily see the cargo ships clustered along the mainland, the changes in water color from dark blue to a light emerald, and the coastline of the island. The flag was caught on the cleat, causing a tear in the fabric. Rio fixed it, and we wrote a note in the logbook as well as left some paper for future hikers.

Our way down was incredibly steep, so Rio fashioned two walking sticks out of sturdy branches for us. Two sections were especially sketchy, with a narrow trail only frequented by animals and a long ways down on either side, it was hard for me to not feel a healthy fear of heights at times. We stopped a few times to asses whether we were going to have to turn back or not, and ultimately had faith that God would hear our prayers to protect us on our hike down- which He did! Rio of course loved every moment of our adventure. He jokingly commented that instead of feeling like we checked "hiking" off our list, that he would be eager to go again now that we went on such a great hike. 

Once at the bottom, we caught a dinghy ride from a Newport Harbor Yacht Club member back over to the dock where our dinghy was awaiting us. 4+ hours and what we assume was somewhere between 8-10 miles later, it was a great hike and we felt incredibly acomplished having hiked the full ridgeline. Tonight after the sun set we noticed what we had been assuming was a star above the tallest peak each night was actually the solar powered light at the flagpole.

Sep. 2025

After over a month on the island, we were ready for a real re-supply beyond the local Vons grocery store. We sailed across from Buttonshell Beach to Alamitos Bay to refuel, fill the water, do a wash down, and grocery shop.

The Alamitos Bay Marina offers end tie guest slips by the night, and is directly across the street from a shopping center with stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

The wind was picking up as we exited the harbor out into what is coined "Hurricane Gulch" by the local sailing community. With 15+ knots, we figured why run the main and waste diesel? After a couple hours, we sailed into the anchorage at White's Landing and set the anchor in time to watch a beautiful sunset colored by the storm we just skirted on the mainland.

Sep. 2024

11pm at night on the island, the wind is 90+ degrees and gusting 35-40 knots. The first night this happened, we were ecstatic and thought how cool we just experienced that. Then, it happened again a second and third night. By the Grace of God, duOn our sail south back to San Diego, the forecast was calling for gusts over 40 knots so we decided better to use that on a nice downwind run- which we did.