Day 1

Tonight we left the protective harbor of San Pedro, California and headed out to sea. The weather is the story of the day as a major low pressure system has moved into the area dumping significant quantities of rain on southern California causing mud slides and of course creating some high seas. As I write this the ship is pitching about and there is no one we can see outside of their stateroom. Chris and I each had a small piece of candied ginger at dinner which is supposed to have a calming effect on your body and minimize the chance of sea sickness. So far we can report it has worked successfully. No doubt we will have to follow up with a report tomorrow after our first night.
We suffered a major blow to our planned communications with the kids via the use of SKYPE. The boat blocks the use of SKYPE because it takes up so much band width. We will have to rely on this blog and email until we can find some place that will allow it.
We have altered our planned course and headed almost directly south to try to get out of the clutches of the storm as quickly as possible. Our next land fall will be in Hawaii in five days.

We are now fully unpacked, which was an interesting test of cramming 4 months of clothing into a barbie doll house chest of drawers. Nevertheless, we are pleased with the accommodations and had a delightful dinner.