To The Beach: July 2013

Morrow Bay to San Francisco

According to the Log book we left Morrow bay, after fueling up, at 1:30pm. The trip from Morrow Bay to Monterey itself is a like a faded dream. It was not quite the longest leg of our journey north, but it felt like a millennium to me and poor James. It started out foggy (of course) which got incredibly dense as the hours wore on. On occasion it was so bad we couldn't see the bowsprit. I know I took a lot of dramamine, and ginger pills, and wore funny bracelets on my wrists, but nothing helped. I was completely incapacitated. I just lay on the galley berth watching James who was desperately trying to stay awake. We had a Jack line attached to his life vest with one end and the other clipped around a cleat so if he did fall asleep the jerking motion would wake him. We arrived in Monterey around 9:30 am on the 23rd.

These are the only photo's taken.

he slept while I read and waited for his son Chad to show up.

absolutely nothing could wake him up

So Chad came to the rescue on September 23 and helped James with the last leg of the journey while I drove Chad's car back to the marina.

They left Monterey at 2pm. Chad was a little seasick for the first few hours but pulled thru and took over for James. They arrived at the Berkeley Marina at about 10:30am September 24th. THE END.

Just kidding. If you know us, you know it's just the beginning.

Santa Barbara,Cojo anchorage, San Luis Obispo, and Morrow Bay

It started out ok. When we left Santa Barbara it was still kind of dark. And very foggy. And this is when I began to experience my first horrific bout of seasickness.

maybe taking these pictures started the nausea

last photo for a while as I'll be either hurling over the edge of the boat or trying to sleep it off below.

these guys made me feel well enough to start snapping photos again.

a place we hope never to see our boat

dark spots on the beach are the shadows of a flock of pelicans

We anchored at Cojo around 2pm. It was a rocky night and James did not sleep well worrying about the anchor (wise as this was our first time using it). I on the other hand was exhausted from doing nothing but throwing up all day.

Early risers we are, so we pulled anchor at around 6:30 am heading towards San Luis Obispo.

I was sick the first part, fog, waves and I have yet to get along. But I pulled through it this time and was able to give James a bit of a break.

View from anchorage.

Rowing ashore. We were told it was only "bout half mile" to town..
it was closer to two. The town was lovely, the groceries were expensive.

rowing back to the boat I noticed a little head popping in and out of the water.

then there were two and I wondered if those seals were going to try and tip
our little dingy. I've heard of them doing just that.

our sturdy little boat at anchorage.

cormorants woke us up.

hundreds of cormorants

this giant dock it looks like we might hit is actually the fueling dock.

and these were the friendly "attendants"

of course they were no help. they just "laughed" at us and our funny means of navigating the seas.

Heading away from San Luis Obispo I took the first watch.

not so bad at first

there's that fog again. It kicked my a** once more and James took over.

magical.

We got hot showers and were able to get wi-fi and watch a movie. Don't remember what we watched but it the most exceptional part was..everything was free!

Channel Island Harbor and Santa Barbara

We left the marina a little after 6am. The sun hadn't come up and it was a bit foggy at first.

beautiful new sail isn't she?

But it soon started to lighten up and the sun shone on us for the rest of our journey to Channel Island Harbor where we arrived at 6:30pm.

looks surreal doesn't it?

we spent a nice relaxed evening at CIH, then set off the next morning for Santa Barbara. We motored most of the way, but had nice winds for the last two hours. Perfect sailing weather.