We finally had a change in the weather pattern here in San Diego. Since we arrived in late September the humidity levels have been much higher than usual and the days have been partly to mostly cloudy with low clouds in the late afternoon obscuring the sunset. We were lucky on the night of the SpaceX launch as it was one of the few cloudless skies.

Last weekend, the humidity levels dropped to a more normal level – ranging from 25% to 40% relative humidity. Clouds have been higher or non-existent since then. It made for a nice sunset last Saturday.

Sunset on the bay last Saturday

On Tuesday morning, the alarm clock was pinging at 5am. We had to be up early so I could drive Donna to the airport. She flew to Vermont to spend some time with her parents and also have a girls’ weekend with friends from her college days. We have Sini’s car – Sini generously left it with us while she’s up in the northwest.

Donna left just as another weather condition arrived – Santa Ana winds. Santa Ana winds occur in southern California when high pressure develops inland over the desert areas. This creates an airflow over the coastal mountains with strong wind gusts and dry air mass. The wind flows offshore and often makes great surfing conditions. Our daytime highs have been in the low 80s with clear skies and overnight lows in the upper 50s. It’s a few degrees cooler at night with clear skies.

I’ve spent most of my week playing pickleball and handling domestic chores. I’ve just about emptied the refrigerator of leftovers and I still have over a week before Donna returns. Of course I have a cold one at happy hour with the guys. Yesterday I had a Belgian ale at Dan Diego’s called Duvel  – it’s one of my favorites. I think I first tried this beer when we were in Amsterdam – it’s popular in The Netherlands along with another beer I’ve never seen in the states called Jupiler.

Duvel ale

Tomorrow I’ll be up early. My buddy from high school, Gary Stemple, invited me to join him on a fishing trip. We’ll take a fishing boat from the Freedom Boat Club location on Shelter Island and head out from San Diego Bay. We plan to hit 9-mile Bank and hopefully find some tunas – bonita, yellowtail, skipjack and, if we’re lucky, yellow fin.

9-mile Bank is like a mountain under the ocean. It’s about 11 miles from the mouth of San Diego Bay on a southwesterly heading. The bank itself is approximately 10 miles long and the water depth is a little over 300 feet. Today I’ll head over to Dana Landing and buy a California one-day sport fishing license and also a one-day Mexican fishing license. The California license costs $15.69 and the Mexican license will be $20. You can get the Mexican license for less money if you buy in advance online. I didn’t do that because I wanted to wait until the day before to be sure the trip wasn’t going to cancel for weather or any other reason. We’ll be straddling the California-Mexico border.

I’ll be up early again on Sunday. The Chargers are playing the Tennessee Titans in London, so the game will air at 6:30am PDT.