Check out the October issue of Blue Water Sailing to read Terry's humorous and informative article on replacing our engine in Tahiti!
Also look at the noonsite link to the right for the latest information from the cruisers that were in Pago Pago American Samoa when the terrible tsunami hit. It's a chilling account.
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09/30/2009, Off the Southern California Coast
We left Marina del Rey with a bit of unease Tuesday morning because of some somewhat disturbing and conflicting weather reports. The area we would be traveling thru starts in one of NOAA's districts, but before the day was over we'd be in a new area with a different forecast. Near Marina del Rey the weather would be getting rougher as the day went on (with the worst of it by point Conception: 40 knot gusts and 12 foot seas!), but the forecast for the San Diego area looked pretty benign. Then there was the inland report of the strong gusty Santa Ana winds piping up -- would that effect us?
So we gambled that the weather wouldn't move south faster than predicted and this time we won!
Then a strange turn of events. It started with a message from some cruising friends in the Cook Islands sending out a note that they were fine despite the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Samoan islands. Then as I checked a weather report I saw a tsunami advisory for the California Coast!
I knew we were safe out deep as we were -- they aren't even felt. So we were VERY glad we'd left the marina that morning after all!
We were also very concerned for anyone that might be waiting in Port San Luis for weather to round Pt. Conception (as we had), because San Luis was one of the Bays they mentioned as a possible threat. If we were anchored in San Luis and heard there "might be" a tsunami type surge coming in would we go out to sea when the winds were gusting to 40 and the seas were 12 feet high? That would be a tough gamble to make.
So we listened to the updates on the advisories and I searched the internet looking for more info on the Samoan tsunami and word on the California prediction. I never did hear if any areas had any problem on our coast and am assuming there wasn't. But it's very sad how much destruction occurred on those islands.
Other than that it was a very uneventful passage with very light winds that forced us to keep the engine on the whole time -- we were afraid if we didn't move fast enough that weather system might catch us before we got far enough south. We did have great visibility well lit by a 3/4 moon -- it was the 1st passage since leaving the San Juans that we didn't have ANY fog! And we were treated to some outstanding shows by traveling dolphin, too.
We pulled into the dock here in Chula Vista exactly 24 hours after leaving the dock in Marina del Rey, and since we plan to stay here a month (we don't want to go into Mexico until November -- the "official" end of hurricane season) we're at home now.
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We left Channel Islands Harbor (Oxnard) very early Saturday morning with clear skies and enjoyed another beautiful sunrise on the Santa Barbara Channel -- then the fog returned! But the Southern California fog is a bit nicer than the fog we've had to this point -- warmer and dryer if you can imagine that. It also hasn't been near so dense.
We pulled into the reciprocal moorage at PMYC at two in the afternoon and have had a delightful stay. It's a casual club with great hospitality. We've even talked with members that we remember from when we were here 10 years ago! We'd planned to just stay 2 nights and then head to Newport Beach, but now have decided to stay here one more night and then forgo Newport Beach and do an overnight trip to San Diego. After checking the weather forecast, however, that one more night might extend to a few more nights as it looks like some weather will be passing through Tuesday night through Wednesday night.
Yesterday we walked down Venice Beach and saw all the sights -- it's like a circus! We're off exploring more today and then we'll watch Monday Night Football up at the clubhouse -- complete with a turkey dinner for $8 per person! What a hoot!
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09/25/2009, Channel Islands Harbor
We got up early and took a walk around the harbor enjoying a beautiful sunrise behind sailboat masts and palm trees. After breakfast and a couple boat projects we walked to the nearby grocery store and West Marine -- where we were finally able to find a copy of Blue Water Cruising with Terry's article "Re-powering in Paradise"!
Then we walked about 3 blocks to a beautiful ocean beach and just sat in the sun with our feet in the sand and luxuriated in the sights, sounds and smells of the ocean.
We went back to the yacht club for a swim in the pool followed by a shower then up to the upper deck overlooking the harbor for dinner and drinks.
Now we're back on the boat reminiscing about the past 4 months since leaving Gig Harbor and preparing for another adventure tomorrow. Next stop is Marina del Rey where we'll spend two nights at the Pacific Mariners Yacht Club. Gotta love the free reciprocal moorage!
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We had a fantastic sail around Point Conception last night!
We pulled up our anchor in San Luis about 2 in the afternoon and we were able to sail as soon as we left the harbor, even though there was light fog cover. As night drew near, the fog settled in pretty heavy and the winds lightened so that we were motor sailing for several hours until we closed in on Conception. The winds picked up (as we knew they would from the buoy reports I was getting on my cell phone) and soon we were sailing again.
There was still a lingering fog and Terry was startled when he looked up and could see stars! Something we've only seen on one other night passage of this entire trip. It wasn't long before the fog disappeared completely and we were sailing under starry skies in 20 - 25 knots of wind! What a rush!
Even before we rounded the Point, we could see the big brilliantly lit oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel. Turning that corner was like entering another world as the seas smoothed and the wind calmed. Once again we were motor sailing, but this time with clear skies and great visibility -- simply beautiful.
Early this morning we were able to take turns getting a few hours sleep as we continued on our trip to Oxnard. We should be docked by about 3 this afternoon and then will spend a couple days at the reciprocal dock for the Channel Islands Yacht Club -- and we'll enjoy the Southern California sunshine!
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09/23/2009, Port of San Luis
"Weather is a crapshoot" our friend Lois, of S/V Blind Faith stated17 years ago when we were in Hawaii. Now, even with all the sophisticated new resources, it really still is.
In addition to the traditional NOAA reports (which many refer to as the "liars club") we have grib files, weather faxes and intenet based weather services such as Passage Weather and Buoy Weather. There's so much you can look at all day! And then go away not having a better clue than when you started. There definitly is such a thing as too much information.
The biggest problem is that marine weather can change unexpectedly when a system either slows down or picks up speed throwing the whole forecast off. It's not a problem when you're just doing a day hop, but when you're going to be out over 24 hours it can make a big difference -- like what happened when we were heading to Crescent City and the big winds and seas started developing about 12 hours before the prediction.
Planning to round Point Conception is a difficult one, because it is known for it's high winds and the recommendation is to round it at night (when the winds are generally lowest). And from San Luis, the closest jumping off place, it is 60 miles to round the point to Cojo anchorage and another 40 if you want to make it all the way to Santa Barbara.
Yesterday it was our intention to leave about midnight and go to the Cojo anchorage. That way we would only have a 6 hour night at sea instead of 12. But, the winds were predicted to be strong through this morning so we changed our plans and now will leave later this afternoon and go all the way to Santa Barbara or even Oxnard (another 30 miles) if we're up to it.
One piece of information that has really helped are the buoy reports -- real time data showing what's happening out there. While in San Francisco I found an ap for my iPhone that gives us the buoy reports, so now we're able to check them anytime I have phone service (which is just about all the time now). We checked them last night for the point and were very glad we stayed put!
Now we'll have another long night at sea, but we are well rested -- this is a great anchorage! And only time will tell if we've made the right decision, because it's always a gamble and you get what you get. But I always keep in mind another thing that Lois would say: "and this too, shall pass".
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09/22/2009, San Luis Obispo, California
We left Monterey with hopes of staying out 2 nights and rounding Pt. Conception so we would officially be in Southern California, and hopefully leaving the land of sand and fog behind us.
Anxious to get going, we left Monterey earlier than we should have to time the rounding of the "treacherous" cape for the night hours, so we amended our plan to stop in San Luis for a brief rest -- and check the weather report -- then continue on.
Again we traveled all day with no wind and light fog. At least this fog was high enough we had about 2 mile visibility during the day and we could even see shore for once! This made the traveling so much more interesting and much easier since you could keep a sense of direction just by looking around instead of having to stare at the compass and other instruments.
The highlight of the day was passing a north bound sailboat, because Richard Reppy, the old cruising friend we met up with in Monterey was onboard! He'd driven down to Santa Barbara the day before to help a friend bring his boat back up to Monterey -- so we knew we might happen to pass on the way, but what a delight to actually see the boat (right as night fell) and talk to a friendly voice and get an idea of the weather ahead!
Shortly after that the fog enveloped us and we had a long night of motoring along depending on the instruments to see our way. The sky began lightening up as we approached San Luis and we were able to pick our way in from buoy to buoy and set the anchor at 8 am.
Once situated we took a nice nap and awoke to sunny skies! Now we'll spend the day enjoying the sun and plotting when the best time to leave to round Pt. Conception -- right now the weather reports are leading us towards leaving here around midnight so we round the point just before sunrise.
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Walking down the dock this morning we were talking about how we hadn't seen any otter's here this time -- lots of sea lions and seals, but no otters.
Less than 2 minutes after making the statement, we came across this cutie floating in an empty slip!
Check your local book stores or marine stores for the October issue of Blue Water Sailing! Terry has an article about our adventure of replacing our engine in Tahiti -- another look at the exciting cruising life.
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After pulling into the dock in Monterey last Wednesday I walked up to the Harbormaster's Office to check in. She asked me if we'd ever stayed here before and when I told her 10 years ago she typed our name in the computer, and much to both of our surprise we came up! Then she said the last time we'd checked in was September 16, 1999 -- exactly 10 years to the day!
Then she asked me if the Gig Harbor address was still the same (it was) and another guy in the office said "I grew up in Gig Harbor" -- and we chatted a bit about what a small world it is. He's a fisherman and left Gig Harbor about 15 years ago for Alaska and also comes down here fishing.
While chatting with the Harbormasters one related a story about someone from this marina that had a bee infestation when they left their boat in Mexico and the other one said, "was that the Reppy's?". Well, the Reppy's were in Mexico with us in 1999 -- they had a daughter, Lauren, that Carly spent time with -- and now here they are living in this marina -- on the very dock we're on! It's a different boat than they had then, so had the harbormaster not mentioned the name, we never would have known they were here. It's a small, small world!
We've had a great stay here in Monterey. Spent the day yesterday (Terry's Birthday!) going to the aquarium and then having a nice lunch at Bubba Gumps on Cannery Row. After that we walked a beautiful sandy beach and topped it off with drinks and snacks at the Yacht Club.
Now we're busy getting ready to leave tomorrow. We're planning on being out two nights so we can get around Point Conception when the winds are down. It's a lot like Cape Mendocino -- the winds and seas can get pretty nasty, so you need to time it to round it in the night to early morning. So that's the plan, but if we get out there and the forecast changes, we will go into Morro Bay or San Luis to wait for benign weather to round the point. Next stop: Santa Barbara!
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The weather forecast looked good for leaving Half Moon Bay on Tuesday, September 15th, so we plotted our course for Capitola (just a little past Santa Cruz). We had a friend to meet up with there and they have a seasonal "marina" where they put out about 40 mooring buoys off the town wharf. It looked a little more protected than Santa Cruz, which we remembered from 10 years ago was a pretty rolly anchorage.
We woke to clear skies and began hauling the anchor at 6:15 and by the time we were heading out of the breakwater the fog was rolling in! We spent the next 7 hours motoring in a windless foggy bubble of visibility of about 1/4 mile.
Then about 2 pm the fog lightened giving us nearly a mile of visibility! We still couldn't see land even though we were only 3 miles off shore -- but there was hope! And the wind started coming up gradually -- even more hope!
Finally, at about 2:30 we were sailing along and actually able to see the California Coast for the first time! And we had sun!
We hooked up to our mooring buoy and went to shore and met up with our friend and after visiting his house had a nice dinner on the water at the Paradise Grill. Heading back out to the boat was a bit of a test as the swell had come up and the waves were a bit steep. The worst part was the dinghy dock on the pier -- it was treacherous! It was like walking across the back of a bucking bronco. Once safely back on Cetus we spent a rolly, tho not miserable, night and decided to move on the next day. I just did not want to deal with that dinghy dock again!
So up the next morning to cross the bay to Monterey. Again we had sun! And wind! Hurray! We'll be here in Monterey a few more days -- right now plan to leave on Sunday, Sept. 20th.
Next blog: Stories from the small world department!
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09/11/2009, Half Moon Bay
We had a beautiful morning traveling across San Francisco Bay yesterday -- the city was clearer than we'd ever seen it and it was fun to travel along the waterfront that we'd just walked the lengths of the day before.
There was, however, heavy fog around the Golden Gate Bridge that we were hoping would lift in the hour and a half it would take us to reach it, but no such luck. So armed with our chart plotter and AIS we traveled into the mist and couldn't see the bridge until we were right next to it. We continued to pick our way through the fog all the way to Half Moon Bay. We were just thankful to not have to be traveling in the night -- fog during the day is one thing, but traveling through fog in the night is down right creepy.
The fog lifted just as we entered Half Moon Bay about 3 in the afternoon, and we were happy to drop the hook amongst some other cruising boats in the harbor. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening and a very peaceful night.
Our plan had been to spend the night here and continue on to Capitola in the morning. But the weather forecast has us a bit concerned about the weekend there because a nasty storm in the Gulf of Alaska is sending a bigger than normal NW swell down along the coast. The anchorage off Capitola is open to the sea, so will feel the effects of the increased swell, and since we've never stayed there before (they have mooring buoys available) we weren't sure how rough it might get. So we decided to stay put here where we're protected by a breakwater and know we will be comfortable.
When we looked out at 6 am this morning, we were glad we'd made the decision to stay, as the fog was so thick we couldn't see the breakwater! It is lifting a bit already, but it will be nice to not have to travel through fog again today.
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09/06/2009, Emeryville, CA
Wow! Where does time go?
I thought that once Terry retired and we started out on this cruising life that time would slow back down, but it certainly hasn't! But I must say the quality of life is much better, for even though the hours slip away just as fast, now the hours are filled with doing things we like to do instead of spending way too much time driving I-5 and generally rushing around.
So now we've been in San Francisco Bay -- at the Emery Cove Marina -- nearly 3 weeks! We've had great visits with friends and daughter Carly and we've walked miles upon miles through San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond and Emeryville. We've enjoyed beautiful sunsets and have gotten some nice boat projects done -- and now we're starting to check the weather and plan our next stops. We will leave later this week with our first planned stop a mere 20 miles away: Half Moon Bay.
Then it will be down the coast to Santa Cruz/Capitola and Monterey, then possible stops at Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Marina del Ray and Newport before settling in at Chula Vista for the month of October.
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08/24/2009, Emery Cove Marina, SF Bay
We left Fort Bragg/Noyo River at 9 am Tuesday August 8th and crossed under the Golden Gate bridge at 7 am the next morning!
We had an uneventful rounding of Pt Arena, which is why we waited in Fort Bragg. The last time we came down the coast in Cetus we encountered huge seas and strong winds with gusts to 50 knots in that area and we didn't want to do that again!
Unfortunately, the winds on the coast this year are either feast or famine, and though we took off the first day the gusty winds and "dangerous seas" subsided, the forecast for some 10 - 15 knot winds from the West and Northwest didn't materialize and we headed out into south winds and fog. So once again we motored along in our little bubble of fog and had little visibility that night until we rounded Pt. Reyes and the fog began to lift, making it easier to spot the buoys we needed to follow through the Bonita Channel to reach the Golden Gate. Were excited to see a large killer whale go by on the 1st day, and that was our only sighting of this short passage.
At 6 am it became light and made for very easy transiting of the channel and we could suddenly see all the huge ships going in and out of the bay. The night before they had just been images on our radar and AIS. Even with the top of the bridge shrouded in clouds, it was an awesome sight to round Pt. Bonita and see the Golden Gate -- it's really a great feeling of accomplishment and we celebrated by opening a small bottle of champagne to toast as we passed under the bridge.
One unusual announcement to mariners came over the VHF radio as we were going through the Bonita channel -- they were telling everyone to proceed with caution through the channel because there were to be swimmers crossing the channel at 7 am! We didn't see the swimmers, but had we been even 15 minutes later we probably would have.
We then proceeded across the bay to the Emery Cove Marina -- it had been our home from 1998 -1999 when Terry worked in the Bay area before we headed down to Mexico the last time. It was nice to pull into a familiar place.
We've been enjoying being here and walking all over town. Yesterday we had a big adventure! We took BART to San Francisco where we caught the ferry to Sausalito and met up with our good friends Liz and Tom (they were in the area for a wedding). We had a fantastic day with them, checking out the Bay Model and then going back to Cetus and then out to dinner at Trader Vic's (the home of the original Mai Tai)
Now we have a free week to explore some more, get some boat projects done and plan the rest of our journey south.
Then Carly flies down on the 31st for a short visit!
Life is good.
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08/12/2009, Ft. Bragg/Noyo River
Our passage from Crescent City to Ft. Bragg was only about 180 miles, but was full of unusual sightings.
We travel at an average of 5 - 6 knots -- a slow pace, so we have the opportunity to see a lot on the way. Every day we see dolphin (or porpoise), seals and sea lions, lots of different birds including puffin and now pelicans. We've seen shark and whales and even a couple of sunfish, which are a very strange sight. It always amazes us that on the small path we cut through the big ocean we see so much.
We started out with clear skies for leaving the marina, knowing that the fog would soon roll in, but best to find our way out to sea before that happened. After clearing the last buoy, the fog did surround us, but it was light enough that we could see pretty well -- it was like moving across the ocean inside of a bubble because you could see about a mile all around, but then there was the wall of fog. And within our little bubble the seas were smooth, so it was easy to spot every little thing that passed by. We traveled along this way all day and it was pleasant, but as the sun began to set it got a bit eerie...
Because at that time we were approaching the dreaded Cape Mendocino -- noted for it's high winds and waves -- and we have been through there in tough conditions. That's why we chose a light wind window for this passage -- we would rather motor around this notorious cape. We also planned our passage to round it at night, winds are generally lighter after sunset and before noon, so we timed accordingly.
But our little circle of visibility became no visibility when darkness fell, so we had to depend on our chart plotters and radar. Then, BOTH our depth sounder started reading low low numbers -- 30 feet, 15 feet -- and the charts indicated we were in 400 fathoms! Now depth sounders do this occasionally, but we've never had both doing it at the same time -- at the same numbers. Both chart plotters (that get their GPS info independently) were showing we were in the right spot and plotting our position on the paper charts assured us further, but the shallow depths just kept continuing and it was rather unnerving not being able to see anything to get your bearings. All the while there was a blip on the radar about a mile and a half out from us and then we passed a tall buoy that we thought might be a fishing buoy of some sort -- so maybe there were nets under us? We gave a call to Gallatea who was traveling about 2 miles behind us to give them a heads up, and they had already been experiencing the same thing. We felt like we were in a strange episode of "Lost"!
So we very uneventfully rounded Cape Mendocino about 9:30 shrouded in the thick dark mist and thinking it would be a very long night traveling in these conditions. But when it was time for the moon to rise at a bit after 10 we were delighted to see it's light brightening the sky and within 20 minutes the skies were clear and the moon and stars were lighting up the sky -- it was beautiful! We had better visibility than we'd had all day! A bit of wind came with the clearing and we used our genoa to pull us along for a while and it was another good nights travel. Then the real treat came as we watched hundreds of shooting stars dart across the sky during the meteor shower!
When the sun rose at 6 I watched it peak over the coastal mountains, and I could see the high fog forming, then just as suddenly as it lifted the night before, it settled in around us and we were traveling in our little bubble once again. We would be to our destination, Ft Bragg, in just a few hours.
Once again we had to depend on chart plotters and radar to pick our way from buoy to buoy to enter the harbor, but luckily the fog lifted just as we entered the channel and we were fascinated by the sight of the narrow river that we were winding up to the marina. We thought it looked like a movie set out of Universal and it's been described by others as looking like Cannery Row in the 60's as it's lined with wooden buildings built on pilings. Very colorful and full of character -- I hope to get internet access in a couple days and get some pictures posted.
So, 26 hours after we left Crescent City, we happily tied up to another rustic dock amongst fishing boats and we're content to sit here until the predicted heavy weather passes and we can continue on south. Now to explore the town!
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