South of San Fran Sept 26th to 30th

Heading out of San Francisco on a Tuesday morning in beautiful sunshine. I am reminded that ships are always safest in a harbor but that is not what they are built for. After 18 days in port, and now without crew, I am a little anxious heading out under the Golden Gate. It is amazing different feeling from when I came in to port after 8 exhilarating days with Guy and Rob to now out on my own to unfamiliar places with lots of anchoring, docks, customs and similar to deal with.

It didn't take long to get into the rhythm of the swell though and about 4 hours out I noticed a familiar boat name listed on my AIS (you might have to Google that). Borboleta is a Vancouver BCA boat that I knew was out here somewhere, and now he is about 2 miles ahead of me and heading in the same direction. I raised him on the radio and indeed it was Glen Priestly. After a great day's sail, I anchored at Pillar Point. Glen, Tony and Janet invited me to dinner, we swapped stories about our travels over BBQ chicken and a glass of wine or two. None of us went to shore so no idea what is at Pillar point. The next day we motored down to Santa Cruz. It was the most motoring I had done since leaving Neah Bay. Ah well, I guess the Yanmar needed a workout!

I invited the Borboletis back for dinner aboard Carpe Ventus. I wanted to go ashore later so attempted to get the dinghy ready (it has a couple of leaks). The worst one was patched with shoe goo and duct tape as a quick fix. While that was going on, I ran out of propane on the dinner prep so a busy afternoon all around. However, another pleasant evening, and we discussed our overall plans for the coming months. Hopefully we will see more of them as we move down south.

I had no idea what Santa Cruz was like but it has a big pier like the San Francisco Pier 39 and a huge amusement park on the beach. There was no dinghy dock so I had to climb up a ladder, get my bike, backpack and propane tank up the ladder and stairs. I then biked into town for a delightful breakfast then had to go to Starbucks to get internet access for emails and photos. After biking to get propane I did a bit of a tour of Santa Cruz and got back to the boat by 13:00 as planned; reversing the arduous task of offloading everything from the dock to the dinghy.

It looked like a light wind so I just took off from the anchorage figuring I would set up the navigation and put stuff away as I gently sailed along. Rapidly, the wind shot up to 20 knot winds and had to reef once then twice. It is 25 miles across the bay to Monterey and I did it in 4 hours. No harm done, but it has been a tiring day. I picked up a cold in SF. I managed to give it to Kidston but that was no cure. It is wearing me down some. Been through another box of Kleenex and my nose is starting to hurt from all the blowing!

Monterey Bay is about 25 miles across and in. I could see some heavy industry on shore but not much else. Monterey, the city, is at the south end of the bay pretty much across from Santa Cruz. The inner harbor was packed with all manner of craft, so I opted to anchor outside. Bad idea. The swell picked up at night and tumbled me awake in my bunk. The noise of the halyards, dishes, boom, stowage thrashing back and forth didn't help either. In the morning, I dinghied by another boat at anchor and met a couple from Tacoma on their boat Galapagos.

Once in Monterey, I unfolded my bike and went exploring. It is an historic town with yet again another "Fisherman's Wharf". I am sure there is lots going on in Monterey, but I couldn't find it. They have a reportedly fabulous aquarium, but at US$50 a pop, I gave it a miss. I used my savings to buy lunch at the "Crown and Anchor" a nice pub with great beer.

I also found a fabulous used book store and managed to pick up a hard-back copy of "Alias Grace" from Atwood as it is now a TV series that Glenda is currently watching.

As the next leg of the journey is rather long (82 nm or about 16 hours to San Simeon) the obvious plan was to leave early in the morning so that I could arrive in the daylight. Weather forecast was for 25 - 30 kn NW winds so I knew I had plenty of drive! As it was easier to leave from anchor in the dark, I opted to stay out of the marina and spent a 2nd night roller coaster riding.

All along the way are whales (minky and humpbacks and unknown) and dolphins playing in the waves. I savour the time I spend up on the deck in the sun watching these beauties speed through the sea. Around Monterey, there were brown jellyfish by the millions. At least 10 per square meter for miles. The ocean has changed to its offshore blue colour and the sea is full of life.

This morning I am up at 4:00 and off south, as I write this, I am approaching the San Simeon bay after a glorious day in sunshine and wind. Carpe Ventus is a dream to sail. With 30 kn winds behind me, I sat in the cockpit with my feet up and reading a book (John Irving's "In One Person"); knowing that the boat could handle it all. Occasionally I add or reduce sail to match the wind. Koodoos to the folks at Beneteau and to the previous owner, Hugh, that did such an excellent job of preparing her for this offshore saga of mine.