The Adventure North
After our Aniversary romance cruise to Catalina Lisa and I returned to Marina del Rey to iron out a few wrinkles in the electonics. With the help of our neibor who just sailed in a few days prior, and with whom we had shared a bottle of wine. We got everything working. The fact he is an electrical engineer gave me some confidence that he might know what he was doing. Thanks Jim.
We left on June 9th and headed West along the coast to The Channel Islands Harbor just east of Ventura. After a quick layover and fuel stop in the Channel Islands Harbor we left and headed due west to spend Lisa's Birthday in the Beautiful town of Santa Barbara. One of our Colorado friends has a condo here where we stayed for 2 days. When we arrived at the dock we were greeted by John, a good friend of Robert and someone Lisa and I now consider a friend of ours. John and his son T.J. were fantastic hosts and we spent a good part of one afternoon chatting over a couple of beers. Thanks Robert, for the introduction. Lisa and I had dinner at a fantastic restaraunt called the Enterprise.
June 12th John got up at 05:00 so that he could take us back to the boat and help us to shove off This would be our last day of sailing west. We arrived at The infamous Point Conception around 14:00 and decided as the weather was still OK and there was another sailboat going around that we would also go ahead and go around the point. Point Conception is Nicknamed " The Cape Horn of the Pacific". Point Conception wasn't so bad, in fact we picked up some welcomed companions for about 10 minutes as the largest pod of Dolphin yet joined us, and surrounded us, they were everywhere. After we started around the next point, Arguello it was just as we were told point Conception would be, Breezy, about 25 knots on our bow. The swells were also larger, and now from a couple directions. the next 10 hours prooved to be quite a challenge until we found refuge in a cove on the lee of point Sal. We dropped anchor there for a few hours and tried to get some sleep before pulling anchor again at 05:00 and heading North to Morrow Bay. Morrow Bay is an old fishing village turned coastal tourist town. The people here are extremely nice, and very helpful. Lisa and I have spent 3 days here and will be pulling out early in the morning for San Simeon Bay. There we will anchor for 1 night then spend a long day at sea as we head up toward Big Sur.
If you click on any picture there are captions, but you can only see them when you click on individule pictures
We left on June 9th and headed West along the coast to The Channel Islands Harbor just east of Ventura. After a quick layover and fuel stop in the Channel Islands Harbor we left and headed due west to spend Lisa's Birthday in the Beautiful town of Santa Barbara. One of our Colorado friends has a condo here where we stayed for 2 days. When we arrived at the dock we were greeted by John, a good friend of Robert and someone Lisa and I now consider a friend of ours. John and his son T.J. were fantastic hosts and we spent a good part of one afternoon chatting over a couple of beers. Thanks Robert, for the introduction. Lisa and I had dinner at a fantastic restaraunt called the Enterprise.
June 12th John got up at 05:00 so that he could take us back to the boat and help us to shove off This would be our last day of sailing west. We arrived at The infamous Point Conception around 14:00 and decided as the weather was still OK and there was another sailboat going around that we would also go ahead and go around the point. Point Conception is Nicknamed " The Cape Horn of the Pacific". Point Conception wasn't so bad, in fact we picked up some welcomed companions for about 10 minutes as the largest pod of Dolphin yet joined us, and surrounded us, they were everywhere. After we started around the next point, Arguello it was just as we were told point Conception would be, Breezy, about 25 knots on our bow. The swells were also larger, and now from a couple directions. the next 10 hours prooved to be quite a challenge until we found refuge in a cove on the lee of point Sal. We dropped anchor there for a few hours and tried to get some sleep before pulling anchor again at 05:00 and heading North to Morrow Bay. Morrow Bay is an old fishing village turned coastal tourist town. The people here are extremely nice, and very helpful. Lisa and I have spent 3 days here and will be pulling out early in the morning for San Simeon Bay. There we will anchor for 1 night then spend a long day at sea as we head up toward Big Sur.
If you click on any picture there are captions, but you can only see them when you click on individule pictures
6/17/2011
As planned we pulled away from Morrow Bay, CA. at 05:00 and started North for San Simeon Bay, where we dropped anchor around 11:30 am. The fog was very thick as we searched the coast in vane for a glimpse of the Hearst Castle. Around 14:00 the fog cleared and we were finally able to see the magnificent castle sitting high on a mountain overlooking the Bay where we were anchored. The swells were soothing and rocked us all night long, until we pulled anchor again for our longest day yet as we set sail for Monteray CA.
6/18/2011
We Finally bought some fishing gear and I tried a bit of trolling as we motorsailed North against building winds and swells. I decided trolling wasn't going to work, as we had so much distance to travel and the swells were working against us, so away went the rod.We made it as far as Pebble Beach before the swells grew to a size that I felt a bit uncomfortable so I decided that we were going to stay in Stillwater Cove at Pebble Beach. They might have a beautiful golf course, but the cove is NOT a good place to anchor. The entire cove is choked with kelp and the bottom is very hard, after 3 attempts at setting an anchor and using a couple different anchors and methods of anchoring, we gave up. We saw an empty mooring ball and took it. While trying to anchor we got a bunch of kelp wrapped around the shaft and the rudder so I had to jump in and cut it away. Talk about brain freeze.
6/19/2011
The next morning we had to go back out through the kelp to get out of the cove, the mornings are very cold, and I was dressed apropriately, but I soon shed my warm clothes for a cold wetsuit that hadn't dried from the night before. Again I had to jump into the icy water and free the prop. I went and bought a dive hood the next day. Lisa took the helm in moderate swells from Pebble Beach to Monteray, about 3 hours, Lisa docked the boat for the first time in a strange habor, and did it like a pro. We are both learning alot as we go and Lisa is amazing as her sailing experience has been very limited before this adventure.
We arrived in Monteray to find the marina is closed on the weekend, found that very strange. I went up to the fuel dock and talked to a worker that was able to take my information and give me a key to the gate and a slip for the weekend. While in Monteray we had a visit with one of Lisa's Jet Center buddies, Michael. Great fun and another beautiful city with a lot of history.
6/20/2011
Happy Fathers Day.
Slept in til 07:30 the latest I've slept in months, I must have been tired. Got a welcomed call from Lauren, then Lisa, Michael and I went to the Monteray Aquarium. Very cool. While at the Aquarium watching the Sea Otters I got a call from Kristian. Great Father's Day.
If you click on any picture there are captions, but you can only see them when you click on individule pictures
As planned we pulled away from Morrow Bay, CA. at 05:00 and started North for San Simeon Bay, where we dropped anchor around 11:30 am. The fog was very thick as we searched the coast in vane for a glimpse of the Hearst Castle. Around 14:00 the fog cleared and we were finally able to see the magnificent castle sitting high on a mountain overlooking the Bay where we were anchored. The swells were soothing and rocked us all night long, until we pulled anchor again for our longest day yet as we set sail for Monteray CA.
6/18/2011
We Finally bought some fishing gear and I tried a bit of trolling as we motorsailed North against building winds and swells. I decided trolling wasn't going to work, as we had so much distance to travel and the swells were working against us, so away went the rod.We made it as far as Pebble Beach before the swells grew to a size that I felt a bit uncomfortable so I decided that we were going to stay in Stillwater Cove at Pebble Beach. They might have a beautiful golf course, but the cove is NOT a good place to anchor. The entire cove is choked with kelp and the bottom is very hard, after 3 attempts at setting an anchor and using a couple different anchors and methods of anchoring, we gave up. We saw an empty mooring ball and took it. While trying to anchor we got a bunch of kelp wrapped around the shaft and the rudder so I had to jump in and cut it away. Talk about brain freeze.
6/19/2011
The next morning we had to go back out through the kelp to get out of the cove, the mornings are very cold, and I was dressed apropriately, but I soon shed my warm clothes for a cold wetsuit that hadn't dried from the night before. Again I had to jump into the icy water and free the prop. I went and bought a dive hood the next day. Lisa took the helm in moderate swells from Pebble Beach to Monteray, about 3 hours, Lisa docked the boat for the first time in a strange habor, and did it like a pro. We are both learning alot as we go and Lisa is amazing as her sailing experience has been very limited before this adventure.
We arrived in Monteray to find the marina is closed on the weekend, found that very strange. I went up to the fuel dock and talked to a worker that was able to take my information and give me a key to the gate and a slip for the weekend. While in Monteray we had a visit with one of Lisa's Jet Center buddies, Michael. Great fun and another beautiful city with a lot of history.
6/20/2011
Happy Fathers Day.
Slept in til 07:30 the latest I've slept in months, I must have been tired. Got a welcomed call from Lauren, then Lisa, Michael and I went to the Monteray Aquarium. Very cool. While at the Aquarium watching the Sea Otters I got a call from Kristian. Great Father's Day.
If you click on any picture there are captions, but you can only see them when you click on individule pictures
6/19/2011
Freshwater pump went out on Saturday night, we got lucky and found one at the only marine store in Monteray that is open on a Sunday. I was able to get the new one installed with some effort and seemingly new joints in my arms, the simplest maintenance becomes difficult when they put 20lbs. of potatoes in a 10lbs. sack. I learned how to get my hands and tools where they don't fit working on airplanes with Larry and Terry.
6/20/2011
We said goodbye to Michael and to Monteray and as we left the harbor we realized, for the first time we had good wind and it was in our favor. We turned off the motor, and for the first time we sailed from harbor to anchorage without running our 70hp Yanmar work horse. We were able to stay on the same point of sail and didn't tack until we reached our anchorage.
Along the way we saw some whale watching boats stopped in a huddle and sure enough there were a couple of humpback whales, we got a glimpse of their flukes from some distance as we sailed by. Several hours went by with little excitement, some relaxing and reading and just staring out over the waves, when Lisa kind of freaked. I asked her what was going on and she said she thought she saw a submarine coming to the surface. I thought you're nuts, just then, about 100 yds. off our starboard beam a HUGE Blue whale surfaced took a breath and it was gone. Truely a magnificent sight. Sorry there is no picture to share with you but it is an image that will always remain with Lisa and myself.
Santa Cruz is a busy waterfront, sailboats, paddleboards, and kayaks everywhere, a very active community that seems to really love the water. I watched one person who looked to be in his early 20s paddle by our anchorage on a paddle board and just kept on going, he litterally disappeared over the horizon, all by himself with no lifejacket. I wonder where he was going?
6/21/2011
Another beautiful morning, not a breath of wind the ocean was like glass. I pulled the anchor after trying in vane to wipe the moisture from the iesenglass (sp) enclosier of our cockpit. Fortunately it was a warmish morning, because all the windows had to be opened so we could see where we were going.
We started motoring up the coast at 05:30, a beautiful day all the way to Halfmoon Bay. We watched the coastline change from flat to mountainous. No sealife today until we were almost to our destination and we saw a sea lion thrashing about on the surface as it was tearing apart a large fish. ( no more horror movies for Lisa, she thought it was a person thrashing around 2 1/2 miles out.) Thats OK it makes me laugh.
Halfmoon Bay is a well protected anchorage with a breakwater that goes all the way around it so we should be able to get a good nights sleep not worrying about our anchor holding. The very loud foghorn that is on the breakwater may keep us up however. Enjoying a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers and fruit on deck, may help us sleep through the moaning of the fog horn.
6/22/2011
The wine worked, a great nights sleep. We pulled anchor early hoping to reach the enterance to San Francisco Bay with the tides and currents working in our favor. NOAA radio said that low tide was at 10:00 am. They were wrong the tide was still rolling out at 11:00 when we got there. Our instruments said we were going 7 knots. The GPS said we were going 2 we fought the currents for 2 hours as we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. We had heavy fog all the way from Halfmoon Bay to The Bridge even when we were under the bridge we could only see a small part of it. Had a beautiful sunny day in the Bay, however, the Bay has its own weather. We docked at the Clipper Yacht Harbor and spent the rest of the day relaxing and downloading photos. At 19:00 we had a visit with one of my high school friends and his beautiful family. We went out for dinner at a little locals Italian restaurant and did some catching up and reminiscing a great night that went way to fast. Thanks Paul for a fantastic evening.
6/23/2011
Lisa and I spent the day getting more provisions and spare parts,( just in case.) We were picked up in the evening by Harry, an extremely nice man that we met on the flight from Ohio to L.A. Harry and his wife Sondra were sitting next to Lisa on the flight, we had a wonderful conversation and the flight went very fast. By the end of the flight they invited us to join their Yacht Club, The Tiburon Yacht Club. So Harry picked us up and brought us to their house for dinner and to meet some other members of the club, John and Deb. We have to have a sponser and a second to get into the club and Harry and John filled those requirements. We had a tour of the club, and were very impressed. After the tour we went back to their house and had a wonderful dinner prepared by Sondra. Another fantastic evening with more nice people, if nothing else this adventure we are on has shown us that people are inherantly good.
6/24/2011
Going into San Francisco to see the city. Took the ferry from sausolito to San Francisco wonderful ride, great views of the Bay. Lisa and I spent the day touring around the city, it was a perfect day weatherwise for walking around. We saw the financial district, fisherman's warf, the marina district and China town. A full day of hiking, we'll have an early night tonight then one more day in the Bay as we wait for a good weather window to head out and North, looks like Sunday and Monday are supposed to be good
6/25/2011
We left Sausolito and sailed a bit in the Bay then over to Tiburon, where we spent the night at the Corinthian Yacht Club right next door to the "Famous" Sams Anchor Cafe. Lisa and I stopped in there for a cocktail on the deck, then back on the boat for Sea Bass Sausages on the grill. Very tastey. We were able to use our new membership at the Tiburon Yacht club to stay free at the Corinthian, The reciprocities from our Membership are going to really be helpful on our travels.
6/26/2011
Up early again, need to be leaving the Bay between the eb and flow of the tides to avoid the Washing Machine Effect that we got on the way in. (see how fast we learn) Left the dock at 04:30 so we could be outside the Bay by 06:30. this all went smooth and the exit was fairly calm. We had a nice trip up the coast to Drakes Bay, (named for Sir Francis Drake, the first European to sail these waters.) As we pulled into Drakes Bay our depth gauge decided to stop working as we looked for an anchorage everything said 98ft. We stayed a few hundred feet off shore and dropped anchor. The anchor was in about 15ft of water but in the middle of the night we swung on the anchor toward the shore and the tide went out.
6/27/2011
Low tide was at 03:28, at 02:45 we woke to the Keel hitting the bottom after a swell lifted us a bit. we both hurried top side to move the boat as the swells lifted us, but it was to late we had to sit for a few hours until the tide came back in. Not being able to get back to sleep, we left as soon as the tide came back in, and headed for Bodega Bay around point Reyes. we sailed for about 4 miles then as we got to point Reyes the swells and wind grew rapidly, since we were sleep deprived and the water was so squirrelly I decided we would go back to Drakes Bay, and with the depth gauge now working, get a better anchorage and some sleep. I awoke some hours later, and Lisa said,"the winds have calmed lets go." So we did.
6/28/2011
We stayed docked at Spud Point Marina, we got some good rest and did some laundry, not much here but some fishing boats and some more nice people. Have to leave early in the morning for an 80 mile + day on the water, talked to plenty of local sailers and checked the charts, Nowhere to stop between here and Fort Bragg.
Freshwater pump went out on Saturday night, we got lucky and found one at the only marine store in Monteray that is open on a Sunday. I was able to get the new one installed with some effort and seemingly new joints in my arms, the simplest maintenance becomes difficult when they put 20lbs. of potatoes in a 10lbs. sack. I learned how to get my hands and tools where they don't fit working on airplanes with Larry and Terry.
6/20/2011
We said goodbye to Michael and to Monteray and as we left the harbor we realized, for the first time we had good wind and it was in our favor. We turned off the motor, and for the first time we sailed from harbor to anchorage without running our 70hp Yanmar work horse. We were able to stay on the same point of sail and didn't tack until we reached our anchorage.
Along the way we saw some whale watching boats stopped in a huddle and sure enough there were a couple of humpback whales, we got a glimpse of their flukes from some distance as we sailed by. Several hours went by with little excitement, some relaxing and reading and just staring out over the waves, when Lisa kind of freaked. I asked her what was going on and she said she thought she saw a submarine coming to the surface. I thought you're nuts, just then, about 100 yds. off our starboard beam a HUGE Blue whale surfaced took a breath and it was gone. Truely a magnificent sight. Sorry there is no picture to share with you but it is an image that will always remain with Lisa and myself.
Santa Cruz is a busy waterfront, sailboats, paddleboards, and kayaks everywhere, a very active community that seems to really love the water. I watched one person who looked to be in his early 20s paddle by our anchorage on a paddle board and just kept on going, he litterally disappeared over the horizon, all by himself with no lifejacket. I wonder where he was going?
6/21/2011
Another beautiful morning, not a breath of wind the ocean was like glass. I pulled the anchor after trying in vane to wipe the moisture from the iesenglass (sp) enclosier of our cockpit. Fortunately it was a warmish morning, because all the windows had to be opened so we could see where we were going.
We started motoring up the coast at 05:30, a beautiful day all the way to Halfmoon Bay. We watched the coastline change from flat to mountainous. No sealife today until we were almost to our destination and we saw a sea lion thrashing about on the surface as it was tearing apart a large fish. ( no more horror movies for Lisa, she thought it was a person thrashing around 2 1/2 miles out.) Thats OK it makes me laugh.
Halfmoon Bay is a well protected anchorage with a breakwater that goes all the way around it so we should be able to get a good nights sleep not worrying about our anchor holding. The very loud foghorn that is on the breakwater may keep us up however. Enjoying a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers and fruit on deck, may help us sleep through the moaning of the fog horn.
6/22/2011
The wine worked, a great nights sleep. We pulled anchor early hoping to reach the enterance to San Francisco Bay with the tides and currents working in our favor. NOAA radio said that low tide was at 10:00 am. They were wrong the tide was still rolling out at 11:00 when we got there. Our instruments said we were going 7 knots. The GPS said we were going 2 we fought the currents for 2 hours as we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. We had heavy fog all the way from Halfmoon Bay to The Bridge even when we were under the bridge we could only see a small part of it. Had a beautiful sunny day in the Bay, however, the Bay has its own weather. We docked at the Clipper Yacht Harbor and spent the rest of the day relaxing and downloading photos. At 19:00 we had a visit with one of my high school friends and his beautiful family. We went out for dinner at a little locals Italian restaurant and did some catching up and reminiscing a great night that went way to fast. Thanks Paul for a fantastic evening.
6/23/2011
Lisa and I spent the day getting more provisions and spare parts,( just in case.) We were picked up in the evening by Harry, an extremely nice man that we met on the flight from Ohio to L.A. Harry and his wife Sondra were sitting next to Lisa on the flight, we had a wonderful conversation and the flight went very fast. By the end of the flight they invited us to join their Yacht Club, The Tiburon Yacht Club. So Harry picked us up and brought us to their house for dinner and to meet some other members of the club, John and Deb. We have to have a sponser and a second to get into the club and Harry and John filled those requirements. We had a tour of the club, and were very impressed. After the tour we went back to their house and had a wonderful dinner prepared by Sondra. Another fantastic evening with more nice people, if nothing else this adventure we are on has shown us that people are inherantly good.
6/24/2011
Going into San Francisco to see the city. Took the ferry from sausolito to San Francisco wonderful ride, great views of the Bay. Lisa and I spent the day touring around the city, it was a perfect day weatherwise for walking around. We saw the financial district, fisherman's warf, the marina district and China town. A full day of hiking, we'll have an early night tonight then one more day in the Bay as we wait for a good weather window to head out and North, looks like Sunday and Monday are supposed to be good
6/25/2011
We left Sausolito and sailed a bit in the Bay then over to Tiburon, where we spent the night at the Corinthian Yacht Club right next door to the "Famous" Sams Anchor Cafe. Lisa and I stopped in there for a cocktail on the deck, then back on the boat for Sea Bass Sausages on the grill. Very tastey. We were able to use our new membership at the Tiburon Yacht club to stay free at the Corinthian, The reciprocities from our Membership are going to really be helpful on our travels.
6/26/2011
Up early again, need to be leaving the Bay between the eb and flow of the tides to avoid the Washing Machine Effect that we got on the way in. (see how fast we learn) Left the dock at 04:30 so we could be outside the Bay by 06:30. this all went smooth and the exit was fairly calm. We had a nice trip up the coast to Drakes Bay, (named for Sir Francis Drake, the first European to sail these waters.) As we pulled into Drakes Bay our depth gauge decided to stop working as we looked for an anchorage everything said 98ft. We stayed a few hundred feet off shore and dropped anchor. The anchor was in about 15ft of water but in the middle of the night we swung on the anchor toward the shore and the tide went out.
6/27/2011
Low tide was at 03:28, at 02:45 we woke to the Keel hitting the bottom after a swell lifted us a bit. we both hurried top side to move the boat as the swells lifted us, but it was to late we had to sit for a few hours until the tide came back in. Not being able to get back to sleep, we left as soon as the tide came back in, and headed for Bodega Bay around point Reyes. we sailed for about 4 miles then as we got to point Reyes the swells and wind grew rapidly, since we were sleep deprived and the water was so squirrelly I decided we would go back to Drakes Bay, and with the depth gauge now working, get a better anchorage and some sleep. I awoke some hours later, and Lisa said,"the winds have calmed lets go." So we did.
6/28/2011
We stayed docked at Spud Point Marina, we got some good rest and did some laundry, not much here but some fishing boats and some more nice people. Have to leave early in the morning for an 80 mile + day on the water, talked to plenty of local sailers and checked the charts, Nowhere to stop between here and Fort Bragg.
6/29/2011
Up early, 02:30 disconnected power and docklines and we were off. The day started off very foggy and rainy another day relying on instruments, we pushed North through the dark and fog for several hours, the sun came up around 05:30 without much relief, still too foggy to see anything. The seas however were cooperative and stayed relatively calm to our surprise, the winds were blowing from the northwest at about 15 - 20 knots usually with winds like that the swells grow larger with wind waves on top of that, today that wasn't the case. The sun came out around 11:00 and stayed out the rest of the day we had a great day motorsailing north, it turned out to be the best day yet for weather, wich is a good thing as it was our longest day 110 miles at about 4.5 knots. We came across a pod of whales around 18:00 they were small whales, not sure yet what they were, maybe pilot whales. The whales were all around the boat, our closest encounter yet with whales, very cool. We had our best sunset of the trip just before turning into the Noyo River at Fort Bragg The river is shallow and narrow for about .5 miles. We pulled into the marina about 22:00 and the slip we had reserved was taken by a large crabbing boat, we were in their neiborhood so we just found an empty slip and pulled in for the night. We were TIRED. One of the many fisherman in this marina pulled in right next to us and told us that the slip we were in belonged to another Salmon fisherman and that he would be pulling in about 03:00 so he showed us a third slip that would be available all night, then he helped us move the boat.
6/30/2011
We woke up to a low tide we were still floating but many of the boats that were in closer to shore were sitting in only a couple feet of water. Lisa and I took the dingy to the other side of the river and walked up to town, a couple miles. We hit the safeway and walked back with our groceries, when we got back the crab boat had moved and we moved to a deeper dock where the harbormaster had told us to tie up. Our neighbors are extremely nice and gave us loan of their Chevy Tahoe for a few days while we were in town, they told us where to go exploring and even gave us an abalonie to try, never had one, I'll have to update you on how that goes when we actually try it.
7/1/2011
Another beautiful day, slept in until 08:00 seems like mid-day. Lisa and I started with some house keeping, sanding and staining of teak on the boat. We have very little, I don't know how people with wood boats keep up with all the work. We were able to buy our neighbors lunch, very little compensation for their enormous generosity. We continued working on our boat while Bill, and Peggy and their crewman Tyler prepared their boat for Tuna, a real conversion from a crab boat to a tuna boat. They too will be headed north as soon as the boat is ready, to fish for tuna.
Lisa took the Tahoe and went to the point to watch the sunset over a now rough and rolling sea. I declined on her offer to go, just too tired and wanted to do some reading.
7/2/2011
Saturday of the Holiday weekend Fort Bragg puts on the "Largest Salmon BBQ in the world" along with fireworks in the evening. Lisa and I drove about 20 miles into the Redwood forest then took a hike up into the woods, about 5 minutes into the hike we came across a California King snake about 4' long he didn't want to move off the trail so after trying to nudge him off the trail we went around. The redwods are awsome and the forest was very peaceful. We then took another drive to a second trailhead that went down to a small but beautiful waterfall.
The fireworks were lame, but the setting, along with the independent fireworks off the beach and the boats were amazing. I think the town must just tell people they are having fireworks to get everyone out there, then the fishing boats put on the real show.
7/3/2011
A relaxing day doing laundry and cleaning the boat, checked the NOAA weather forcast and it looks like we may become residents of Ft. Bragg. The Northwinds are going to increase this week, Gale Force thru the week it seems, even the fisherman are staying inside the harbor walls!
We decided to take the dingy up the Noyo River, the scenery is terrific ,including Osprey nesting above us, very peaceful, except for us, with our little 9.9hp mercruiser on the back of our dingy. Got back to the boat in the late afternoon, put on some Jimmy Buffet and had a few Beers. After dinner Lisa and I took a walk back up to the bluffs where we can't get enough of the amazing views.
7/4/2011
Happy 4th of July!!
Not much planned for today, as we had hoped to be moving on. We spent part of the day at Glass beach, named for all the washed glass everywhere. Apparently there used to be a glass dump on the beach and all the broken bottles have been washed smooth by the very rough surf here and many people spend hours collecting it!.
The coast is extremely rocky and very much like the Northern California, Oregon coast that I heard about. very dramatic.
The marina we are staying in was hit by the Tsunami after the Earthquake in Japan. For the most part all the boats were OK, apparently there were surges up to 6 feet for several hours that pushed at least one boat on top of another however, about 1/8 of the docks were lost as well as the pumpout station and some of the power hookups. This may pose a problem if we are stuck here to long, we have been good about using the restrooms on shore but sometimes in the middle of the night its hard to walk up there. Soon there won't be that option.
Up early, 02:30 disconnected power and docklines and we were off. The day started off very foggy and rainy another day relying on instruments, we pushed North through the dark and fog for several hours, the sun came up around 05:30 without much relief, still too foggy to see anything. The seas however were cooperative and stayed relatively calm to our surprise, the winds were blowing from the northwest at about 15 - 20 knots usually with winds like that the swells grow larger with wind waves on top of that, today that wasn't the case. The sun came out around 11:00 and stayed out the rest of the day we had a great day motorsailing north, it turned out to be the best day yet for weather, wich is a good thing as it was our longest day 110 miles at about 4.5 knots. We came across a pod of whales around 18:00 they were small whales, not sure yet what they were, maybe pilot whales. The whales were all around the boat, our closest encounter yet with whales, very cool. We had our best sunset of the trip just before turning into the Noyo River at Fort Bragg The river is shallow and narrow for about .5 miles. We pulled into the marina about 22:00 and the slip we had reserved was taken by a large crabbing boat, we were in their neiborhood so we just found an empty slip and pulled in for the night. We were TIRED. One of the many fisherman in this marina pulled in right next to us and told us that the slip we were in belonged to another Salmon fisherman and that he would be pulling in about 03:00 so he showed us a third slip that would be available all night, then he helped us move the boat.
6/30/2011
We woke up to a low tide we were still floating but many of the boats that were in closer to shore were sitting in only a couple feet of water. Lisa and I took the dingy to the other side of the river and walked up to town, a couple miles. We hit the safeway and walked back with our groceries, when we got back the crab boat had moved and we moved to a deeper dock where the harbormaster had told us to tie up. Our neighbors are extremely nice and gave us loan of their Chevy Tahoe for a few days while we were in town, they told us where to go exploring and even gave us an abalonie to try, never had one, I'll have to update you on how that goes when we actually try it.
7/1/2011
Another beautiful day, slept in until 08:00 seems like mid-day. Lisa and I started with some house keeping, sanding and staining of teak on the boat. We have very little, I don't know how people with wood boats keep up with all the work. We were able to buy our neighbors lunch, very little compensation for their enormous generosity. We continued working on our boat while Bill, and Peggy and their crewman Tyler prepared their boat for Tuna, a real conversion from a crab boat to a tuna boat. They too will be headed north as soon as the boat is ready, to fish for tuna.
Lisa took the Tahoe and went to the point to watch the sunset over a now rough and rolling sea. I declined on her offer to go, just too tired and wanted to do some reading.
7/2/2011
Saturday of the Holiday weekend Fort Bragg puts on the "Largest Salmon BBQ in the world" along with fireworks in the evening. Lisa and I drove about 20 miles into the Redwood forest then took a hike up into the woods, about 5 minutes into the hike we came across a California King snake about 4' long he didn't want to move off the trail so after trying to nudge him off the trail we went around. The redwods are awsome and the forest was very peaceful. We then took another drive to a second trailhead that went down to a small but beautiful waterfall.
The fireworks were lame, but the setting, along with the independent fireworks off the beach and the boats were amazing. I think the town must just tell people they are having fireworks to get everyone out there, then the fishing boats put on the real show.
7/3/2011
A relaxing day doing laundry and cleaning the boat, checked the NOAA weather forcast and it looks like we may become residents of Ft. Bragg. The Northwinds are going to increase this week, Gale Force thru the week it seems, even the fisherman are staying inside the harbor walls!
We decided to take the dingy up the Noyo River, the scenery is terrific ,including Osprey nesting above us, very peaceful, except for us, with our little 9.9hp mercruiser on the back of our dingy. Got back to the boat in the late afternoon, put on some Jimmy Buffet and had a few Beers. After dinner Lisa and I took a walk back up to the bluffs where we can't get enough of the amazing views.
7/4/2011
Happy 4th of July!!
Not much planned for today, as we had hoped to be moving on. We spent part of the day at Glass beach, named for all the washed glass everywhere. Apparently there used to be a glass dump on the beach and all the broken bottles have been washed smooth by the very rough surf here and many people spend hours collecting it!.
The coast is extremely rocky and very much like the Northern California, Oregon coast that I heard about. very dramatic.
The marina we are staying in was hit by the Tsunami after the Earthquake in Japan. For the most part all the boats were OK, apparently there were surges up to 6 feet for several hours that pushed at least one boat on top of another however, about 1/8 of the docks were lost as well as the pumpout station and some of the power hookups. This may pose a problem if we are stuck here to long, we have been good about using the restrooms on shore but sometimes in the middle of the night its hard to walk up there. Soon there won't be that option.
July 5th
Went to town one last time to get supplies.
Changed the oil in our overworked engine, (fighting the North Winds most days) and the filter, that was a job and a half!
Pulled out the dingy and stored it then got the rest of the boat ready to leave early the next day.
Our friends Bill and Peggy from the fishing boat "Shirley" gaves us an Abalone to try, they are pretty special as you can only bring up 24 a year.
They gave us some instructions that included beating the living daylights out of it first (using the Hammer in the picture above) then frying in bread crumbs. We did ok but I'm sure with different tools we'll do better next time. Still we do have a beautiful shell for all our efforts :)
Went to town one last time to get supplies.
Changed the oil in our overworked engine, (fighting the North Winds most days) and the filter, that was a job and a half!
Pulled out the dingy and stored it then got the rest of the boat ready to leave early the next day.
Our friends Bill and Peggy from the fishing boat "Shirley" gaves us an Abalone to try, they are pretty special as you can only bring up 24 a year.
They gave us some instructions that included beating the living daylights out of it first (using the Hammer in the picture above) then frying in bread crumbs. We did ok but I'm sure with different tools we'll do better next time. Still we do have a beautiful shell for all our efforts :)
July 6th
Finally moving!
Left Ft Bragg out on the Noyo river heading to the 3 mile regulated minimum before we could use our mascerator and empty our waste tank.
We found the swells and wind waves still to be very large out that far so we moved closer to shore as soon as possible. After about 5 hours we arrived just outside Shelter Cove, our next stop so I tried fishing again...unfortunately they were'nt biting!
After setting the Anchor we inflated the Dingy and went to see what Shelter Cove had to offer . There wasn't much in the way of supplies, but so far one of the most beautiful places we've been.The Fog rolls in and out most days leaving the grey cliffs partially exposed with the foamy white water breaking at their feet. We took pictures but they don't do justice. I wish Lauren was here , she would do better!
while on shore Lisa took a bit of a nature walk around the airport, that was surrounded by a golf course that was along the beautiful lost coast of California. I felt it would be prudent to stay behind and keep an eye on the boat, the anchor hasn't let us down yet, but I wasn't going to let it out of sight for several hours while hiking. Lisa saw a bunch of wildlife sea lions, deer, pilots flying through flocks of seaguls all kinds of wild things.
July 7th
Left Shelter Cove at 03:00 to go around the infamous Cape mendocino, known for it's huge waves and mixed swells due to the large point and deep underwater canyons. The water moves in all different directions like a washing machine. After 3 hours "the weather started getting really rough and our tiny ship was tossed" so we said , "screw it" and turned around and went back to Shelter Cove.
This was th first time I had felt Sea Sick so Lisa offered me some Dramamine which I have never had before. She asked how many I wanted, I had two. Bad idea! I couldn't keep my eyes open!
Lisa took us back to Shelter Cove but the fog was so thick she woke me up to help look for fishing boats, they were everywhere and most did not show up on the radar because they were hidden in the large swells.
We made it safely back to Shelter cove and hid out in the cabin, as the kelp flies had taken over the boat, there were litterally thousands of them. Only a dozen or so made it into the cabin.
July 8,9,10
Trapped in Shelter Cove as a high pressure system has parked itself out off the coast of Northern California & Southern Oregon, causing high winds and large swells. This would be a great place to be stuck if weren't for the damn flies.
Because the winds change direction every night and blow off shore, the boat tends to swing on the anchor and lay abeam to the swells making for an uncomfortable nights "sleep."
During the next couple of days we filled our time fishing, watching the many Osprey fish, and swatting flies.
Finally moving!
Left Ft Bragg out on the Noyo river heading to the 3 mile regulated minimum before we could use our mascerator and empty our waste tank.
We found the swells and wind waves still to be very large out that far so we moved closer to shore as soon as possible. After about 5 hours we arrived just outside Shelter Cove, our next stop so I tried fishing again...unfortunately they were'nt biting!
After setting the Anchor we inflated the Dingy and went to see what Shelter Cove had to offer . There wasn't much in the way of supplies, but so far one of the most beautiful places we've been.The Fog rolls in and out most days leaving the grey cliffs partially exposed with the foamy white water breaking at their feet. We took pictures but they don't do justice. I wish Lauren was here , she would do better!
while on shore Lisa took a bit of a nature walk around the airport, that was surrounded by a golf course that was along the beautiful lost coast of California. I felt it would be prudent to stay behind and keep an eye on the boat, the anchor hasn't let us down yet, but I wasn't going to let it out of sight for several hours while hiking. Lisa saw a bunch of wildlife sea lions, deer, pilots flying through flocks of seaguls all kinds of wild things.
July 7th
Left Shelter Cove at 03:00 to go around the infamous Cape mendocino, known for it's huge waves and mixed swells due to the large point and deep underwater canyons. The water moves in all different directions like a washing machine. After 3 hours "the weather started getting really rough and our tiny ship was tossed" so we said , "screw it" and turned around and went back to Shelter Cove.
This was th first time I had felt Sea Sick so Lisa offered me some Dramamine which I have never had before. She asked how many I wanted, I had two. Bad idea! I couldn't keep my eyes open!
Lisa took us back to Shelter Cove but the fog was so thick she woke me up to help look for fishing boats, they were everywhere and most did not show up on the radar because they were hidden in the large swells.
We made it safely back to Shelter cove and hid out in the cabin, as the kelp flies had taken over the boat, there were litterally thousands of them. Only a dozen or so made it into the cabin.
July 8,9,10
Trapped in Shelter Cove as a high pressure system has parked itself out off the coast of Northern California & Southern Oregon, causing high winds and large swells. This would be a great place to be stuck if weren't for the damn flies.
Because the winds change direction every night and blow off shore, the boat tends to swing on the anchor and lay abeam to the swells making for an uncomfortable nights "sleep."
During the next couple of days we filled our time fishing, watching the many Osprey fish, and swatting flies.
July 11
02:30 we escaped Shelter Cove and rounded Cape Mendocino, the high has moved out and the ocean is fairly still. The coast of California between Shelter Cove and Cape Mendocino is known as " The Lost Coast" due to its rugged landscape and impassable terrain, there are few if any roads to the coast here only trails for the strong and agile hiker. They say the coastline is stunning here, we'll have to take their word for it, as we passed this area in the middle of the night and saw only stars and a few lights from commercial fishing boats.
The stars were brilliant like those at Lake Powell. We kept Polaris off the starboard bow and sailed NNW through the night. As we approached Punta Gorda just south of cape Mendocino the winds were gusting near 30 knots again and the ocean got pretty wild, these were the worst seas we have seen yet, however, we were warned by a fisherman in Ft. Bragg that this would happen as we crossed Delgada Canyon; an underwater canyon just off the coast at Punta Gorda. We rode out the seas and pushed on for about 15 minutes, then just as we were told the seas calmed again. We have found the fisherman to be as valuable a resource as the charts. Lisa and I made our way into Humbolt Bay, then 3 miles up the channel to the town of Eureka, where we had to stay for 2 nights for repairs. We had someone come look at our depth gauge that has been broken for too long. While he did confirm that it was not working, he was unable to figure out why, or to fix it. Chris (the electronics guy) suggested it may be more important to move on while we had favorable weather, than to wait there for a new transducer to be ordered. Chris refused any payment as he couldn't fix the problem, wich I thought was pretty nice since he came down to the boat at 8pm and looked for about 1.5 hours to find the problem.
July 12
We talked to Chris again and he told us he had gone ahead and ordered the parts we needed and had them shipped to Coos Bay, and that they would be there waiting for us when we got there. Since Chris wouldn't take any money and his family was out of town we invited him to the boat for dinner at 7:30pm. Lisa started on Laundry while I went up the mast to fix our anchor light at the top and deck light wich is about half way up. Chris showed up right on time, ukelele in hand. I was still half way up the mast working on installing a new L.E.D. deck light, and Lisa was still trying to dry the laundry 4 hours later. dryers weren't very good. While we finished a long day of work, Chris kept us entertained with his ukelele and some sailors shanties. We finally got to grilling fresh salmon and drinking wine about 9:30, just a couple hours late. We had a really fun night.
July13
Cruised on up north towards our last stop in California, Cresent City. On the way up there Lisa went below for a nap and I saw what I thought was a boat on the horizon way out in the ocean, as I sailed closer it looked less like a boat, so I got out the binoculars and looked. It was a huge rock. I found it on the charts its called Reeding Rock. I could see how ships in the 1800's could pile up on this rock in the middle of the ocean, of course now there's a big light on it. We pulled into the outer harbor at Cresent City and dropped anchor, as the inner harbor and marina have very few docks left and no room for transients after the tsunami devestated this marina. Most of the damage was done by a large steel hulled fishing boat that broke loose and the surging water pushed it over all the other boats and docks. Another beautiful sunset.
02:30 we escaped Shelter Cove and rounded Cape Mendocino, the high has moved out and the ocean is fairly still. The coast of California between Shelter Cove and Cape Mendocino is known as " The Lost Coast" due to its rugged landscape and impassable terrain, there are few if any roads to the coast here only trails for the strong and agile hiker. They say the coastline is stunning here, we'll have to take their word for it, as we passed this area in the middle of the night and saw only stars and a few lights from commercial fishing boats.
The stars were brilliant like those at Lake Powell. We kept Polaris off the starboard bow and sailed NNW through the night. As we approached Punta Gorda just south of cape Mendocino the winds were gusting near 30 knots again and the ocean got pretty wild, these were the worst seas we have seen yet, however, we were warned by a fisherman in Ft. Bragg that this would happen as we crossed Delgada Canyon; an underwater canyon just off the coast at Punta Gorda. We rode out the seas and pushed on for about 15 minutes, then just as we were told the seas calmed again. We have found the fisherman to be as valuable a resource as the charts. Lisa and I made our way into Humbolt Bay, then 3 miles up the channel to the town of Eureka, where we had to stay for 2 nights for repairs. We had someone come look at our depth gauge that has been broken for too long. While he did confirm that it was not working, he was unable to figure out why, or to fix it. Chris (the electronics guy) suggested it may be more important to move on while we had favorable weather, than to wait there for a new transducer to be ordered. Chris refused any payment as he couldn't fix the problem, wich I thought was pretty nice since he came down to the boat at 8pm and looked for about 1.5 hours to find the problem.
July 12
We talked to Chris again and he told us he had gone ahead and ordered the parts we needed and had them shipped to Coos Bay, and that they would be there waiting for us when we got there. Since Chris wouldn't take any money and his family was out of town we invited him to the boat for dinner at 7:30pm. Lisa started on Laundry while I went up the mast to fix our anchor light at the top and deck light wich is about half way up. Chris showed up right on time, ukelele in hand. I was still half way up the mast working on installing a new L.E.D. deck light, and Lisa was still trying to dry the laundry 4 hours later. dryers weren't very good. While we finished a long day of work, Chris kept us entertained with his ukelele and some sailors shanties. We finally got to grilling fresh salmon and drinking wine about 9:30, just a couple hours late. We had a really fun night.
July13
Cruised on up north towards our last stop in California, Cresent City. On the way up there Lisa went below for a nap and I saw what I thought was a boat on the horizon way out in the ocean, as I sailed closer it looked less like a boat, so I got out the binoculars and looked. It was a huge rock. I found it on the charts its called Reeding Rock. I could see how ships in the 1800's could pile up on this rock in the middle of the ocean, of course now there's a big light on it. We pulled into the outer harbor at Cresent City and dropped anchor, as the inner harbor and marina have very few docks left and no room for transients after the tsunami devestated this marina. Most of the damage was done by a large steel hulled fishing boat that broke loose and the surging water pushed it over all the other boats and docks. Another beautiful sunset.
