Adventures of Bliss
| Vessel Name: | Bliss |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Pearson 385 |
| Hailing Port: | Berkeley, CA |
| Crew: | Jolanda de Boer, Tod Flak |
30 September 2010
Wine tasting in Napa
Some times a change in plans is the best thing ever. In this case: taking a car with A/C and not a bike to do a wine tour as the weather was still in the lower 100's, and wineries are located on hills. I'm not a kind of person that wears butt padded shorts when I bike, so we'll take that tandem another [...]
28 September 2010 | Napa, CA
Leaving the Delta
We've enjoyed the delta, and were glad we checked it out. For us, September was a good time to go, as it was a quiet during the week, but not so much during the weekend, and we can imagine that the summer can get pretty busy here. It's a place where motor crafts seem to rule, and with that comes a certain [...]
26 September 2010 | Eden Isle
An adventuresome day
Jolanda: Tod wanted to spend some time fishing today, taking the dinghy, so we came up with the plan that we would tow the kayak 2 miles down the river to Paradise Marina, and he would go on his merry way into a more remote slough. Now, 2 miles might not be that much if you walk , however ½ [...]
25 September 2010
Eden Island
Down the Potato slough, up the Disappointment slough, you will find Eden Island, a small private island bought by some members of the BYC decades ago (principally motivated by microcomputer designer Adam Osborne) . Steve and Maureen [...]
24 September 2010
On the hook in the Delta
Friday 9/24: Time for some fishing and trying the tree tie. Three River Reach came up as a good location to anchor, but luck and weeds were not on our side. We approached from the river, and saw a couple of fishing boats close to shore. Ah, times you wish you had a retractable keel....The center of the [...]
23 September 2010 | Bethel Island, CA
Relaxing on pretty Bethel Island
As we sailed under the Antioch bridge on Wednesday and down the San Joaquin River to go to Bethel island, we both were not immediately warmed up to the scenery. Not much hills left, and surrounded by power lines. However, the moment we went up False River, we were more surrounded by tule, and pretty [...]
Ventura's charm
About one hour later, while sailing close to shore, we admired the big waves breaking close to shore. There was a surf advisory that day (not to go surf, but to stay away!), so the waves were really up! It's one thing to admire big waves from the distant, but it's another thing to stare at a 12 feet wave coming right at you...fortunately we were a bit prepared as we saw it coming, so headed right into it with our sails flogging, and it gave us a nice but harmless ride and then broke with a boom a few hundred feet away.
We had read that Ventura Harbor can be a difficult one to enter, particularly with strong NW or W winds and swells. We gave the Harbormaster a call on our way in, and were informed that there was no problem since the waves had gone down since the earlier that morning... thank goodness -- would have hated to see it when it was more swelly!
This marina is really lovely. It is a bit isolated from the town, and does not have a lot of condos amd hotels right around the marina like we have seen in several other SoCal marinas (although there are some good restaurants and services here). It feels a bit like a park setting, much like the Berkeley marina. Plus the ocean is just across the street, and the beach there is really wonderful... very wide, natural and uncommercialized, with some sand dunes between the beach and the road. We took a nice walk there during the afternoon, and went back for the beautiful sunset. This land you can see in the picture is Anacapa Island, only about 15 miles away.
