TRIP SOUTH, CALIFORNIA BAY AREAS

Saturday, August 10th, day 37   Bodega Bay, CA to Sausalito, CA (San Fransisco) 53nm

     Up early as usual. John walked the dog this time. It was 7am. I was feeling rather sluggish, the morning was very foggy with a chill in the air. Running the boat in dense fog with limited visibility leaves much to be desired. The fuel dock had many fishing boats coming and going. John began to work on the steering again so I had an opportunity to make some cinnamon rolls before getting underway.

     Ship shape and off the dock at 8:30am. AEgis left about 6:30am. We wound bach through the red and green bouys with little visibility. Once out in the open the radar blew up with numerous targets (other boats) in the water way. We have a course set on our chart, the fishermen are trolling at a slower speed and proved to have little regard for our larger vessel. Dodging the targets on radar lasted for several hours. We could not physically see them until we were almost on top of them. It was very tense.

     The condition didn’t improve throughout the day. I continued to hope the fog would lift for photo opts under the Golden Gate Bridge!  We did see some dolphin and whales today, but they didn’t stick around for any proof of it. 

Pairadice heading to San Francisco in the fog. 

Not much visibility.

Later we could see the coast, but not for long.

Golden Gate Bridge in the fog, as we head to our moorage in Sausalito. 

Our moorage in Sausalito, CA.

Another beautiful sunset.

Sunday, August 11, day 38    Schoonmaker Marina  Sausalito, CA

   That morning we calculated that since we left Portland on July 5th, 38 days ago, we have traveled 691nm. We have made 12 stops, some one night some several nights. Let us refresh the list..... Salpare Bay - St Helens, OR. St Helens to Longview, WA. Longview to Cathlamet - Cathlamet to Astoria, OR..... bar crossing! Astoria to Newport. OR was 105nm!  Moorage was reasonable. Newport to Bandon, Bandon to Brookings, OR.  to Crescent  City, CA, Then to Eureka, Ft Bragg, Sausalito, CA. 

     Once into Schoonmaker Marina and after resting up we went ashore using an uber to take us to San Francisco for the current Fishermen Wharf Pier 39 tourista experience. And that it was! More than we bargained for. It was a zoo, but we found a great place for a late lunch. Later that afternoon we went out to a light dinner at The Pub.

The Gravlax was done curing, time to get it in the freezer, but first a yummy taste!

We used uber to go into San Fransisco.
We found a great place to eat, but the tourista thing left a bit to be desired. 

Loved the Victorian architecture!

Tuesday, August 13, day 40   Sausalito, CA Schoonmaker Point Marina

     We spent most of the day getting things ship shape. It was our last night at that stop. It actually got quite warm, I even wore shorts and a tank top. I took Patches to the beach where she played in the water and cooled off. Spent some time relaxing with John in the cockpit attempting to practice my guitar. John grilled links for an easy dinner. Watched the sunset... Went to bed early as the following day would be a long run from Sausalito to Monterey, CA.

At the marina in Sausalito. 

Our friends Ian and Mary's moorage, m/vEAgis.

Wednesday, August 13, day 41 Sausalito, CA to Monterey, CA   94.8nm 12hrs

We had a clear day heading to Monterey.

Friday, August 16, day 43  Monterey Municipal Marina Slip H9

      Today was my big day to split off from John and play tourists. I had already scoped out the lay of the land. 

And then there was this, Big time car show/auction, all week long!

The eccentric Salvador Dali!

Saturday, August 17, day 44  Monterey Municipal Marina Slip H9

      That days objective was all about walking to Traders Joe’s for provisions and stopping by a UPS store to scan some copies of boat docs for the insurance company in order to be covered in Mexico. We walked past lots of historic buildings but John was on a mission and taking photos and learning about them was not on his agenda. I did manage a nice picture of The Golden State Theatre, the first theater in California built in 1926. 

Sunday,  August 18, day 45  Monterey Municipal Marina Slip H9  

     Maintenance day on Pairadice. While John was cleaning the bildges, he found one of the four main bildge pumps to have gone bad, it was old and needed replacement. We got the mattress up and into the canvas bag where he stores his spare parts under the bed. Sure enough Crusty Chief had two new spares. He grunted, groaned and cussed for the next two hours laying on his belly bruising his ribs while I throughly cleaned the pilot house conditioning the wood and leather. The vacumn cleaner also got a workout. Followed that up homemade tacos and showers. Tomorrow was to be another long run underway to San Simeon, CA.

Monday, August 19th, day 46 Monterey Bay to San Simeon, CA
     85nm 11hours   Anchored in the Bay right below Hearst Castle

Enjoyed some very nice whale shows!

Hearst Castle in the clouds.
It was spectacular all lit up at night.

Tuesday August 20, day 47. San Simeon to San Luis Obispo   40nm 5hours

In the San Luis Obispo (SLO) was our first experience using mooring balls.
These are our friends on AEgis, there Nordhavn 40. They moorded near by. 

A water taxi visited our boat daily, taking us to shore. 

SLO sunset from our moorage. 

Lunch in SLO with Larry (Nordhavn, Hale Kai) and Ian and Mary (Nordhavn, AEgis) 

Shuttle to Avila Beach.

John and Patches relax after lunch while I shopped at the Avila Farm.

Sunset dinner with fresh vegies back on the boat.

Saturday August 24th, day 51  SLO to Santa Barbara  91nm 13hours. 2 over nights.

Monday Auguast 26th, day 53  Arrive at our new digs at Anacapa Marina.
Our friends, Rob and Deanna, on Bella Luna (Selene 55) surprised us by hosting a wonderful steak dinner on their boat moored here at the marina. 

Spent one month in Channel Islands, Oxnard, CA at Anacapa Marina. The services were wonderful, plenty of good friends and visits happened. Lots of shopping for provisioning close by. 

Let the boat chores begin.

It's always something. 

We pass by the local fire station on our morning dog walks. 

Up goes the ladder.

A new anchor light for the Baja Pacific Coast adventure coming soon.

Skipper, detailing the trawler tender. Patches is helping.
Ready to let the fun begin...

We have guests from Utah and California.
Welcome Gwynith and Warren. A quick cruise in the dink... grabbing lunch!

Dink looks like new!

Tracey and Gwynith playing tourita!

Once all that was done... it was time to head farther south. Next stop Long Beach, CA; Alamitos Bay Marina. 

Thursday 3 October 20, Day 91 
Channel Islands to Long Beach, Alamitos Bay Marina (Long Beach); 70nm 11 hours
including fuel stop. Took on 496 gallons of diesel fuel. Arrived in our slip, A4 in time for dinner with our son, Seth & his girl, Christy. 

Alamitos Bay Marina

A surprise visit from our kids!
Seth and Christy drove out from Las Vegas while we were close in Long Beach.

A mother, with her son and her dog. 
It was a short visit, but we enjoyed a great dinner together. 

Spent 2 nights in Long Beach.  Alamitos Bay Marina $62us per night with pwr and water.

Saturday, 5 October 20 was Long Beach to Oceanside, CA  60nm 7hours