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San Francisco to Oxnard |
Hello everyone, After a week in the San Francisco Bay area we are on our way again. We had a quick but enjoyable visit in the Bay area. After two days of sailing around the Bay, we dropped anchor off of Sausalito and went looking for a place to stay. Sugar went out in the inflatable to see where he could find us a slip. He ran into Zeke, another Port Townsend boat person. Zeke is staying at Pelican Marina trading work for a slip. He introduced Sugar to Tony, who said we could stay at one of their docks. The docks are waiting to be taken out and replaced. So as long as the wreckers didn't show up we had a slip. It is amazing how fast the ambiance of the boat changes once we hit a dock. The girls were off and running having met a nine year old girl who lived on the docks. There was laundry to do, contacts to make and a steady flow of visitors on the dock and down below. Our tight knit group seemed to scatter in every direction. We enjoyed visits with friends, dinners ashore, hot showers, bubble baths and movies. The girls had fun excursions with aunties to the Exploritorium, the Marine Mammal Rescue Center, the Bay Model Facility, the beach, and kite flying . On Wednesday the new crew joined the boat. We are down to eight on board. Tom, Trevor and Rich joined us. Chris who is part of our permanent crew had to get off the boat for a while and take care of an infected foot. He headed down to L.A. by car. We called him the other day and his foot is doing better, we will keep our fingers crossed. Our timing for leaving the bay was less than perfect. We couldn't get out of our slip in Sausalito except near a high tide, and that corresponded with the start of a strong flood current through the Golden Gate. So we had a beautiful sail, tacking back and forth, doing all of our safety orientations and slowly going away from the bridge. We started motor sailing and made it under bridge about one o'clock. After clearing the Gate and the tide we turned off Mr. Bedford shook out the reef in the mains'l and with four lowers and fly jib we enjoyed a gentle sail down to Half Moon Bay. This leg of the trip we are staying close to shore and "harbor hopping" down the coast. The next morning we were up early and heading for Monterey. The afternoon wind filled in and again we enjoyed a broad reach down the coast. We have had a pretty big swell running since there are still gale warnings offshore up North. Our downwind sail compliment is the course and raffee (the square sails) and a big drifter that sets aft in place of the main sail. With this combination we roll gently along. We arrived in Monterey just before dinner. Motored in the harbor past the hundreds of sea lions that decorate the breakwater and barked a welcome at our arrival. We did a quick tour of the very crowded harbor looking for the possibility of a dock and decided on the anchorage out off the beach. The anchorage was rolly, but it did have the advantage of being away from the chorus of sea lions. Traveling at such a gentle pace let's us get a good look at all the sea life and birds that abounds off this coast. School was interrupted by cries of "hey dolphins!" and "whales off the starboard bow!" We had an adventure sailing through a mass of purple jellyfish and some hydromedusa. Sugar, hanging by his ankles, caught some for a closer look and although we stirred them up in a dark cabin we couldn't get them to show their bioluminescence. Night watches, however, have been replete with phosphorescence. We have been repeatedly "torpedoed" by dolphins racing at us through the dark waters, lit up by bioluminescence. Common Dolphin , and Pacific White-sided Dolphin have come to play in our bow wake and Alyce, crouched below the bowsprit, touched one. Darby and Bridget climbed out with her to try their luck but only got wet. One afternoon we saw what must have been a blue whale throwing its tail high in the air. Other mammal encounters included sea lions, seals, porpoise and even sea otters playing close to the boat. Since we have been close to land we have been treated to seeing shore birds as well as the murres, gulls, albatross, and other sea birds we saw farther north. We have become used to the pelicans, cormorants, a variety of terns and gulls and keep our eyes out for curlew and oystercatchers. We had a great visit in Monterey. The girls took their scooters ashore and we were off for a day at the aquarium. Having seen a lot of sea life while we have been sailing down, it was fun to get a closer look at some and to learn more about them. There was a great display on jellyfish and a huge tank full of tuna, sharks and turtles. It seems in the Fall there is a lot of krill in the bay that attract the filter feeders, everything from Blue Whales to jellyfish. We spent most of our day in the aquarium and probably could have spent another. That evening though we got underway again heading down toward San Simeon. The great winds that we hoped to see sailing down this coast (they are always there when we have to sail up the coast) just didn't materialize. We had a rolly motor over night down to San Simeon, at least is it wasn't blowing Southerly. Another California anchorage, not the greatest protection, that NW swell that had been running managed to wrap into the bay, but a beautiful rugged spot with great sea life. We had a sea otter hanging out next to the boat eating his clams, seals clowning around, dolphins swimming around the bay and pelicans diving in the water all around. The ladder on the pier where we usually make our shore landing had gone missing, probably the victim of a big storm, so we got to attempt or first surf landing of the trip. Surf landings aren't bad if the goal is to go play on the beach, but when the object is to get there dry and go on a shore outing it is a little more tricky. Our goal was to head to Hearst Castle for a tour. We had the girls put on their bathing suits and put the rest of their clothes in a dry bag. The landing ashore was successful. Sugar in his bathing suit headed back out through the surf to stay with the boat, while the rest of us headed off to Hearst Castle. Darby thought it would be fun to live at Hearst Castle, but that there was a lot to take care of. The rest of us were impressed by the swimming pools. It is a beautiful setting, and the sun came out and we had a lovely visit up the mountain. Heading back out to the boat was a little trickier, coming into a beach one just has to worry about one wave and surf onto the beach and jump out quickly before the next one hits. On the return trip you have to deal with two or three waves. We put Leslie into the bow waited for the smallest set of waves and charged out. The first wave broke over the bow, lightly dousing Leslie (she felt a wee bit like a sitting duck) the rest of the crew jumped in wet to the lower shorts level and we charged out over the next few waves an almost successful run through the surf. The rest of the girls, Trevor and later Sugar after his return trip from the Alcyone played in the surf teaching Alyce and Darby the finer details of surviving in breaking waves. They even caught a few waves and body surfed onto and into the sand. We have had a few comments about our playing in the rather cool water, but Darby just tells them the water is warm and after a summer of morning swim calls around the San Juan Islands she's right. (isn't she?) The surf in San Simeon was good practice for our next destination: San Miguel. We motor-sailed South to the Channel Islands, passing through oil rigs and a busy traffic lane at night, finally arriving in San Miguel at two in the morning. The entrance to Cuyler Harbor is unlit and unmarked but we nosed in through the darkness and dropped the hook. We awoke in the morning to the beautiful and quiet harbor. There were light winds for three days, a rare and lucky occasion, which allowed us to stay and explore. San Miguel is part of a natural preserve and people are only allowed on a small corner of the island unaccompanied by a ranger. As a typically wind-swept and uncomfortable place to anchor it naturally does not get many visitors. The beach was full of interesting shells and the water was full of seals. We took the inflatable and dories ashore, more practice in the surf. Steep dunes were fun to climb up and even more fun to jump down. The top of the island is covered with low vegetation and is the site of Cabrillo's grave monument and a caliche forest (trees that look petrified by sand and salt ). There was enough to explore and play with that we stayed for two days. When we finally left, we headed East to meet Grandpa on Santa Cruz. As we approached the island, the wind filled in from the West and we cruised along under a course and raffee. We sailed close to shore and peered into the rugged cliffs to look at Santa Cruz's caves. Of course we needed a closer look, so into the inflatable and into the caves we went. The Painted Cave goes 600 feet into the cliffside. We motored into the darkness, the ceiling arching above, dozens of disturbed sea lions raised a cacophonous protest. Their barks echoing eerily all around us, we ventured further toward the sound of waves breaking at the back of the cave. We used flashlights to see the "paint," plant life, on the walls of the cave but could really get a better view of it nearer the mouth of the cave where daylight flooded in. Early that afternoon we made it to Pelican Harbor where Grandpa was anchored on his boat, Cheerio II. Some of us swam ashore and climbed up the steps that once led to the Eaton residence. Unlike San Miguel, there were few shells on this beach because it was very rocky. We collected some very colorful rocks (yes, we swam back with rocks in our pockets.) That evening on Alcyone we enjoyed a barbecue feast and a little after dinner theater provided by the girls. Up early the next morning we had a quick swim call and boat clean up before raising anchor. Alyce and Darby sailed on Cheerio and the rest of us followed along on a very pleasant sail into our final destination, Oxnard. We'll be here for a substantial amount of time so out come the sail covers and with solemn ambition we stare at a long list of work jobs. This is our last port before we leave the country. We've got a lot to do, but Grandma and Grandpa are here and that's always a priority. So off to the beach on the scooters and for rides in truck-truck and lots of fun around Southern California. Fair winds, The Crew of the Alcyone |