Back home in the USA!

The San Diego Customs Dock with the SWYC marina up channel, Pt Loma to the left and beyond.

May 14

Although we arrived in San Diego several days ago, it has taken a while to get past the wonders of living in our own country again and to think about posting. Just for the record, we cast off from here on November 7 and tied up at the Customs dock on May 8, making it six full months in Mexico, the longest time span we’ve ever spent out of the country. (Well, once, before we were married, Charlie managed a 10 month visit to a small SE Asian country, all expenses covered by Uncle Sam.)

Aside from being snugly tied to a dock in flat water, what made being back in the USA so grand? Well, first of all, the Customs people were reasonable. At sea I’d cooked up all the odds and ends of fresh foods into a sublime goulash on which we fed until the last day’s lunch, adding wine to the pot in hopes of diminishing the ship’s stores to a legal limit. Being used to the draconian measures taken at the US-Canadian border, we were delighted to find that the Customs people here don’t even ask about alcohol. All they really cared about was properly displaying our up-to-date US Customs and Border Patrol decal on the boat.

Our friend Frank drove us to Point Loma for a view of San Diego's harbor.

Second, we phoned to see if Southwestern Yacht Club had guest moorage, open right across from the Customs dock. They did! No language struggle to explain the name and size of the boat, and our plans. We were legally admitted to the country and safely tied up all within about an hour of crossing the border!  Then, to add the final a welcoming touch, out of nowhere, a voice shouted, “Welcome to San Diego!” Astonishing us, an SWYC member walked down the dock, holding out his arms and greeted us as the long absent travelers we are. The next day he took us home to do laundry, out grocery shopping and answered questions to help us get set. Incredible.

Small things matter. We notice them every day. I can read all the traffic signs and signs in the stores, speak to anyone on the street and be easily understood. The mail works again! Dinner occurs at the time we’re used to: restaurants have staff and customers at that time. There is India Pale Ale, lots of choices, and terrific local brews. Grocery shopping with a list we find all the items, glow with joy as we see a huge range of green veggies and fruits seldom available over the last half year. At the zoo we could understand spoken directions and informational talks, all of the words!! Sidewalks tend to be continuous and not full of holes, huge steps and broken concrete.  There are big trees, really wooded areas, in town, no cactus forests.

At the zoo we were fascinated by the colobus monkeys sleeping three storeys up. (Zoom in on upper guy.)

I could go on, but suffice it to say we loved our time in Mexico and will always feel kinship with Mexicans as fellow Americans. But it the great words of Dorothy, after seeing Oz, “There's no place like home!”