Tuesday 9 March 2010

First up - thanks to everyone for their supportive comments! It sounds like you all knew I could do it before I even realised that myself, and that makes me feel pretty awesome and has definitely boosted my confidence. We will now be sailing double-handed, just Stu and I, so it's a slightly bigger challenge but as they say regardless of the size of the mountain you still climb it one step at a time. (Do they say that? Or did I just make that up..?? It's good - let's say I made it up!!).

Also - on the topic of comments - a few people have said that their comments haven't worked. The blog is set up so that I can moderate comments before they are posted, so when you add a comment it won't appear immediately but will show up once I hit 'publish'. And I haven't yet rejected a comment, and doubt I will - but I just like the power :)

We're currently in Newport (for TV buffs this is where the TV show The OC was set). I think there's a lot (a LOT) of money here - some of the boats and houses are absolutely massive, and the massive boats are usually parked outside the massive houses. We've found the one we want to buy if we win the lottery :

We're a bit surprised at the conditions of some of the boats though - some look like they've been bought to keep up with the Jones' but are never used and certainly not maintained. One that we go past daily has seals living on board!

Others look like they are sinking, some have torn sails flapping around and some are really looking ratty and rusty. It's quite sad actually! The majority, however, appear to be well looked after but I doubt they get much use. Everyone also seems to have little Duffy electric boats that they cruise around the harbour in, which look like fun.

We're on a mooring so have to take the dinghy to shore, which is a bit off-putting when I feel like going for a run so needless tosay I haven't been running here. We do walk everywhere though, and use our bikes, so the incidental exercise is significant. I am, however, having withdrawals from the full on, high energy boot camp and boxing sessions I was doing 4 days a week back home so I need to start thinkg about that kind of stuff again or Stu is going to bear the brunt of my nervous tics and I'll snap - probably somewhere in the middle of the Pacific where it wil be most inconvenient.

On that note, the sail we took in for repair is only due back on Friday, so we're here until at least then but if all goes well we're hoping to leave for Hawaii (take 2) on the weekend. While it's frustrating sitting around waiting, it's nice to have a chance to explore the area a bit more, and we're going to attempt Universal Studios again later in the week.

Once again, wi-fi is a rare commodity but we've found a place where we can get is easily - Fashion Island! I know a few people (Lanny...and Llani!) who would love it here - lots of the big name brands in one convenient location (but no Tiffany's, unfortunately....)! That said, we're only window shopping (although the Apple shop is mighty tempting!) and milking it for the free wi-fi, plus spending time browsing (aka reading) books in the massive Barnes and Noble shop here. I only have 1 or 2 books left to read, thanks to Caire who kindly left hers on board! We're also making the most of the dvd's that Dave and Jill gave us and that Bruce and Claire left us, and have been watching Dexter each night (for the record - series 4, OMG!!!). I think we'll have to break the budget and invest in some more books for the trip though or I'm going to go insane...