We Get A Slip! Redondo Beach to Shoreline Marina – July 18, 2019

There wasn’t a slip anywhere that we could take for a month or two. I had called every marina in Southern California (I wish I was exaggerating, I have a spreadsheet if you need it). We needed to get some work done on the boat, Damien needed Wi-Fi and we just needed a home base for a while. And then it happened. Shoreline Marina called and said they might have one available once the Transpac boats left for Hawaii. I emailed all of our documents and called just about every day. Finally, they said you can take it on the 18th. Woooohoooo!

We had been up in Redondo Beach working on a possible battery charging issue with our new friend Jason. When Shoreline said come in on the 18th, we said “we’ll be there!” We agreed to meet in the afternoon around 2pm. They would complete the inspection on our boat and measure it and let us know if we could stay. Shoreline is very serious with their inspections, which we appreciate. They keep the marina clean and don’t want boats leaking nasty liquids into the water.

Once we passed the inspection, we headed to the slip in the dinghy to check out the location. Woah. Just by looking at the slip, I thought there was no way that the boat would fit. But the marina had assured us that they measured the width of the slip at 25.3’, and we saw them measure our boat which is 24’ wide, and plus we had no other options. We fired up the big boat and slowly headed over. I was a nervous nelly as we approached the slip and there were two or three guys on the path above watching in disbelief. But Damien was able to turn the boat in the narrow channel, avoid the rocks about 20 feet away and ease the boat in. I tied her up and we were home!

               

Turns out, Long Beach is awesome. The people on our dock were very friendly and welcoming and there’s a ton of cool stuff to do in Long Beach. So we Ubered up to Oxnard with Bella, grabbed the Sprinter and then really got into the groove of living in Long Beach.

Besides all of the people we met, the highlight of Long Beach was Rosie’s Dog Beach. If you are ever near Long Beach, please go there immediately. Forget Disneyland (sorry Missy), Rosie’s is actually the happiest place on earth. Dogs romping around together, running in the sand, chasing balls into the water, bulldogs jumping in the waves. It is ecstatic chaos at it’s finest. And the people are all nice to each other because we all love dogs.

We don’t let Bella off leash, pretty much ever. She’s kind of a ditz and we’re terrified that she may run off never to return. But enough people said that it would be fine, she’ll come back. So after 3 times of us having her awkwardly on the leash at the dog beach, we got the smelliest, most delicious treats we could find and we tempted the fates. We released her into the wild. And she just stood there with us watching the craziness around us. Other dogs would come up to give her a sniff and she’d run and romp a bit and then come straight back to our camp. She made plenty of doggy friends and was the perfect beach dog.

                      

2 Comments

  1. Judy B

    Great update, Beth! I’ve been wondering what you two have been up to. Keep writing more, please!

    Judy

    1. Beth Campbell

      Thanks Judy! So great to chat with you the other day. Happy Thanksgiving!

      Beth

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