Nice Nice Newport

While not completely foreign to us Newport ended up being a wonderful place to anchor and have a boat. We thought we knew the area because this is where we bought the Joy Ride and spent the night on her before bringing her back home to San Diego. Little did we know there was an abundance of boating to do here. We arrived around 1p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. Jeff had already reached out to his old college buddy and fraternity brother Eric who has a place here to get together. After getting settled in Eric called and said he was here and to come over. We dropped the dingy and left for a short ride up the channel to Eric's place. When we arrived he and his girlfriend Lena had the best peach martini's and homemade guacamole and chips waiting for us. We ate, drank and talked awhile and then the four of us dinged back to our boat so we could show Jeff's friends. More drinks and laughs later we were settled into Newport Beach.

                                                    Jeff and Eric "the fish" Spitz on the Tidings of Joy

Thursday we had a nice slow morning and stayed in p.j's until after one o'clock. Finally we decided to motivate a bit and went for a really long dingy ride exploring up and down the endless channels. We ended up on Balboa Island which is a tourist destination full of shops and restaurants and a charming "main" street. We strolled, stopped for a snack of proseco and fries then dinged back to the boat. We were debating on what to do with the rest of our evening - go out, stay in, what to do? Then out of the blue what seemed like a thousand tiny sailboat all appeared around the boat. A nice man in a pontoon asked if we minded if he anchored behind us and their yacht clubs sailboat race could take place all around the boat. We were thrilled. Of course! We grabbed another bottle of wine and settled in for the show. Boats of couples, older men, young guys all zipped and plotted around us. It was thrilling. 

Newport Harbor Yacht Club Sailboat Race

We were so happy that we had decided to stay in for the evening to watch the races. When they finally concluded after the wind died down around 7p.m. I made dinner and we went to bed. 

Friday was our final day in Newport. Much like every other day we slept in, lounged around until after lunch, played our summer gin card tournament then decided what to do. Today's activity needed to include some movement. Too much laying around and not moving isn't good but super easy to to while long term cruising. Again we hopped in the dingy and headed towards the beach. Unlike San Diego, Newport's boardwalk is a long way from the ocean and the water isn't visible from the walkway. We thought this was so bizarre but managed to get a nice 4 mile walk in anyway. 

End of Newport Pier

After our long walk we took a long dingy ride and checked out all the boats and the incredible houses here in Newport. I am so amazed that they get to have a huge house and a dock with a huge boat right in front. Those kind of places don't exist in San Diego. We love just cruising around looking at boats. Many hours later we returned to the boat. We hoisted the dingy back up top of the Tidings and got all ready for our departure Saturday morning. Another quiet night with dinner and a movie and lots of boat watching. Here we are now underway heading to Long Beach where we will grab a morning ball for a couple of days.