Maiden Voyage!

The voyage of Gaviota officially began on the morning of December 6th as Gaviota pulled out of the Santa Barbara harbor!
It was a mixture of emotions leaving Santa Barbara as we headed for the channel Islands. We had a nice sail out to Santa Cruz and anchored up at Pelican for our first night. We ended up staying at Santa Cruz longer than expected due to some nasty weather. Our third night out at Santa Cruz we were anchored at Prisoners on the front side and at one in the morning had to make a mad dash to the backside of the island when the wind switched from southeast to Northwest. Having never sailed at night it was quite a thrilling experience to sail in strong wind and huge swell around the east end of the island. Our friend Tommy, the captain of the Vision, was out their at the same time and told us that at times all he could see was the top of our mast in between swells as we went around the east end. Lets just say it was a good learning experience. The next two days at the island we were pretty miserable rocking back and forth in the huge west swell that was sweeping through. So maybe we did not pick the best time to leave but it was a good challenge that has only made us more confident.
After almost five days at Santa Cruz we left and headed to Catalina. Our first overnight passage! We had good wind on and off but their was still a good amount of swell in the water that made it difficult to get good speed. Arriving in Catalina was such a wonderful feeling for both of us. With our first big crossing on Gaviota out of the way we pulled into Avalon harbor at about one in the morning and were escorted to a mooring. I have never been so grateful to be in a harbor in my life. After five days of rocking in the swell we were in heaven to be tied up to a mooring. The next few days in Catalina we went diving and hiking and cruised the town. We were pleasantly surprised the first night by the towns local Christmas parade. We are still kicking ourselves for forgetting the camera because it was so beautiful. We also went on a really beautiful hike with awesome views of the island. We decided to hike off the trail and while bushwhacking we came face to face with a buffalo. I don't think we were supposed to get that close because all the tour buses started honking their horns at us but it was awesome to see an animal that big.
After four days of fun and relaxation in Catalina we headed off on our second overnight passage to San Diego. The passage started out as mostly motoring but the last six hours were great sailing under the assistance of our windvane. Arriving in San Diego was quite an eye opener after the quiet quaint harbor of Avalon. Their were warships,aircraft carriers, helicopters and even a submarine as we pulled in. We tied up at Harbor island and had a great stay in San Diego. Our friends, Alex and Jade who live in San Diego were more than generous and showed us good restaurants, bars and most importantly surf. It was a really fun few days! We were back in Santa Barbara for Christmas and then a few days in San Diego doing last minute provisioning before we leave for Mexico!