On October 14, 2011, Dave Grundies, Howard Walker, and John Penhune moved Empress from Shelter Cove Marina in San Diego harbor to an end tie in Marina Village Marina in Mission Bay. Our trip was unexpectedly challenging due to dense fog in San Diego harbor that reduced visibility to 100-200 feet. We crawled along at 4-5 knots blowing our air horn, listening for other horns, watching for boats with lookouts, radar, and AIS, and listening for calls from Navy ships on channel 16.
The move to Mission Bay will reduce the travel time to Catalina by about two and one-half hours, which will allow the Penhune family and our friends to spend more time in both Avalon and at the Fourth of July Yacht Club in the Isthmus. Having an end tie will allow Empress to come and go much more easily than our old slip that was tricky to exit in windy conditions. The Google Earth image below shows the new location of Empress and the photo shows Empress tied up at her new berth.
Location of Empress in Mission Bay
Empress at her End Tie in Mission Bay
