Long Beach, CA

The Orange County Sheriffs finally kicked me out of the anchorage at Corona Del Mar; apparently there is a three day limit at the outside anchorage, so sailed to Long Beach for provisioning before heading back to Catalina.  Five miles from the breakwater of the harbor, I noticed my fishing pole doing a promising little bounce and reeled in a 2 foot barracuda!  This is the first edible fish I’ve caught since leaving San Francisco!  After making sure the anchor was set and I’d settled in, I cleaned, filleted, and barbecued ½ of one of the fairly large fillets.  Apparently, I need to brush up on my fish preparation skills.J  Many folks fish all around the harbor but with the looks of the water, I don’t think I would eat anything from it; it’s pretty murky and yucky looking to me. 

During my stay anchored behind Island White in the Long Beach Harbor, my daughter Jennifer called to tell me to be sure and stay put until Sunday as she was planning to visit me for Father’s Day!  With a few extra days available to me, I spent several days exploring downtown Long Beach which has changed quite a bit since the 70’s, the last time I spent any time there.  I was also able to get to Kelly’s Marine Supply in San Pedro to get a couple of items needed to complete the aft deck projects I’d been working on.  Jennifer wasn’t able to make it down here after all, but I’ve been using the added time for further exploration and getting online once again, hence this latest update.  The anchorage is pretty calm and secure, so may stay on here for a bit longer but am anxious to get back out to the island and do some more fishing; need to get more practice cooking it!

I have also had the time to finally, after many years of beginning it, finish reading “Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad.  It is one of several stories in the book “Tales of the Sea” that I picked up at the annual parking lot sale at Minney’s in Newport Beach, one of the few deals I found there.