The Adventures of PK: Post Doo Dah Doin's in the Delta

8-9 & 8-10-12 - Discovery Bay, CA

This is how you draw a map to your
house when there are no roads.

I would be negligent if I didn't mention one of our favorite stops of our trip to the Delta. Adams Marina, cantina and cruisers hangout in Discovery Bay, CA. They only have three slips, two of which are almost always occupied, unless they are in Mexico; so call ahead for reservations. With power and water dockside the slips are quite nice. The cost is nothing for friends; I'm not exactly sure how we receive the privilege of that label, but I guess we made the cut. When we arrived we were greeted at the dock, the rum bar was laid out and ready and fresh pico de'gallo was being prepared. After a nice evening tour of Discovery Bay on the pontoon boat, owners Jim and Betty sat down with ourselves and another couple for a delicious dinner of Mahi Mahi, salads straight from the garden and chocolate souffle. The last two contributed by Bob and Lori who were joining us for dinner. Embarrassingly, we had little to share except a cheap bottle of wine as we hadn't seen a real market or grocery store in ten days or so. Thankfully everyone allowed us to share what they had prepared even though we had little to contribute. Stories of past sailing exploits were swapped as Elizabeth and I soaked up the ideas since they have many more miles under their keels than we do. We talked about religion (I mean anchors and ground tackle) and places we want to go that they have already been.

The Adams Mini Marina

The following day Jim and Betty offered up the use of their car to go shopping. Remember that we had known them about a week and there is a good chance they didn't even know our last name. They ended up joining us and we spent the day learning tips and tricks for cruising and stocking up on needed provisions. To top off the day, Jim talked the guy at West Marine in to giving us a 40% discount on our propane tank and then took us to dinner at the yacht club they belong to, where we were not allowed to pay for drinks.
The next morning a knock on the cabin top announced that blueberry pancakes were being served under the palapa. After a heap of pancakes and some garage saling we had to undo the dock lines and say goodbye.

Houses in Discovery Bay

Elizabeth modeling our waterproof Gill jacket we
bought for $0.25 (yes 25 CENTS) at a garage sale

Betty, Jim, Me, Elizabeth under the palapa

We met Jim and Betty on the Doo Dah the previous week when we found ourselves at Mildred Island. (see previous post for details on the "island") They had done the Baja Ha Ha (not the Delta Doo Dah) to Mexico twice before on a boat of similar size as Autumn Wind. We picked their brains a little and compared our setup to theirs. They were very accepting of our compromises and reassured us that not everything needed to be 100% "marine grade" to work. They invited us to dinner the next week. This worked out great as 1. we had nowhere to be, 2. they have a dock in their backyard for Autumn Wind to stay. Apparently, that is the deal in Discovery Bay; Check it out on the location button to the right. Discovery Bay is deep, deep, deep into the Delta. It's about as far as you can go in a sailboat. Let's just say they stop putting depths on the chart when you get this far into the delta, probably because the chart makers figure anyone transiting this area has a powerboat. I spent a lot of time staring at the depth gauge on this leg of the trip. Anyway, they hosted us for two nights at their dock/house and made it very clear that we would be welcome as long as we liked. Betty and Jim are some of the many people who have continued to inspire and encourage us that we are not crazy and this trip is very accomplishable. At some time during our stay they reminded us that we were actually already on our trip. We had moved beyond the planning stage and the "when we leave" stage, and we should accept that fact and stop talking about maybe we'll do it and start talking about the fact that we are doing it. While at dinner at their yacht club they introduced us as their guests and Betty mentioned that we ARE (not maybe) doing the Baja Ha Ha. So with that; all of the Stockton Sailing Club now knows Autumn Wind is going to Mexico. I guess there's no backing out now! In fact the day after we left them we hoisted the Baja Ha Ha burgee in recognition that the trip has in fact already begun.