10/25/2009, waiting in San Diego
When we first started planning this trip, long long ago, we made up a "rough" itinerary. I call it rough, because any number of things could change our plans as time went on. As it turns out, so far we are right on schedule with that original time line which was:
1. San Juans/Gulf Islands June - July (well, we didn't go beyond the San Juans)
2. Neah Bay and down the coast in August
3. San Francisco and down the coast in September
4. San Diego all of October
5. Leave San Diego 1st week of November
So as October is coming to a rapid close we have made our final lists of things to accomplish each day to be ready for our departure sometime that 1st week of November!
This next step, Phase 5, is the biggest step of all because we'll be leaving all the familiarity that traveling in the US provides. Communications will change -- we won't have the nearly constant cell phone and internet coverage we've come to enjoy on our trip down the US coast. We won't have the luxuries we've enjoyed at the Yacht Clubs and marinas here in the states with swimming pools, showers and laundry. Sure, those can all be found in Mexico in the larger cities, but at a greater price than we would want to spend on a regular basis.
But as we leave the familiarity and the conveniences behind we gain the enjoyment of remote anchorages teeming with wildlife and the great sense of accomplishment that comes with being totally self sufficient. We'll grow from the challenge of making our way in a foreign country and learning the language.
So as departure day draws near, it is with the same bittersweet emotion that accompanies any passage -- sadness at leaving friends, family and familiarity behind mixed with the excitement of a new adventure.
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10/20/2009, Disneyland!
Our daughter, Carly, got to come down and visit for another mini vacation! Her last visit was in September when we were in San Francisco.
She flew in Friday night and we had a nice dinner at the Galley Restaurant here at the marina, then the next day was a relaxing "beach day". We crossed the bay in our dinghy and spent the afternoon on the Silver Strand reading and watching a surfing class. The fog rolled in that day (it finally caught back up with us! We thought we'd lost it back at Point Conception!), but it was a "warm" fog, so it was still a nice day.
We got up early Sunday and made the 2 hour drive to Disneyland for a fun family day. We've never managed to be in California for any length of time without squeezing in a Disney trip -- and since Terry used to spend so much time working in California there weren't many years that we didn't make it to Disneyland -- it's a Kotas Family Favorite. After a full day going from park to park (We really enjoy California Adventure, too) and doing all the rides and eating all our favorite treats, we headed home for a good nights sleep.
Carly flew out Monday afternoon and we are back to preparations for Mexico. Things are wrapping up quite well. Terry completed the installation of the new motor for the autopilot, our Mexican insurance is in process and provisioning is basically done (just fresh foods to pick up at the last minute).
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We toasted our arrival into San Diego with orange juice at 7 am on September 30th as it was another major milestone on this adventure. We had made it safely down the entire West Coast of the United States!
We had reservations to stay at the Chula Vista Marina for the month of October because we wanted that time to re-provision and make preparations for the next phase of our journey: Mexico.
We also needed to make decisions about how much time we would spend in Mexico -- and where we would spend that time. Since a major goal of this cruise is to see the Galapagos Islands, and the best time to leave Mexico to head there would be the month of March (due to hurricane seasons), we would either stay in Mexico 5 months (and go to the Galapagos in 2010) or a year and 5 months (to leave March 2011).
10 years ago on our last voyage to Mexico we spent most of our time on the Mainland coast and only had about a month in the Sea of Cortez before it was time to haul the boat out of the water in La Paz and go back home to work. What we saw we enjoyed and we knew we wanted to spend more time there. Our desire to explore the Sea of Cortez was further fueled looking through the beautiful guidebook we bought at the Seattle boat show: Sea of Cortez: A Cruiser's Guidebook by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer (check it out on our links to the right).
Since the "best" months to visit the sea are spring and early summer we would miss those days if we left for the Galapagos next March, so we have decided to stay in Mexico until 2011. Now the next decision was whether we go straight up to the Sea, or spend time on the Mainland coast 1st? We've had mixed reviews from cruising friends that have spent the winter months in the Sea of Cortez. One couple enjoyed it and one thought they made a mistake in doing it. The winter months are relatively cold in the Sea (but like Shawn and Heather pointed out when I asked their opinion, cold in the Sea of Cortez is nothing like cold in Seattle), the water is cooler (enough that a wet suit would be needed to spend much time in the water) and the dreaded "Norther's" can blow. But with reassurance that there are many anchorages to snug into during the well forecast Norther's (I guess they can blow 20 to 30 knots for 2 to 5 days) and the lure of the beauty of remote anchorages with great hiking and bountiful sea life, we are heading for the Sea of Cortez!
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10/08/2009, Chula Vista California
We arrived in Chula Vista Marina a little over a week ago and when we realized it had already been that long we're again asking ourselves "Where does the time go?"
We came here armed with lists of things we wanted and/or needed to accomplish while here and we were happy we'd have a whole month to do everything.
So every day is busy. Terry's had a major boat project in repairing our autopilot that has had problems with the old motor. He actually put his great McGuiver skills to work in Monterey and repaired the old failing motor that 2 guys had looked at there and said it was unrepairable. It has worked great since, but he wanted a new motor for it in case his fix gives out someday. Better to deal with it here than in some remote atoll down the line. This is no simple fix to find a replacement and get it going, so it consumes a lot of time but hopefully we'll have it all taken care of next week.
In between working on that he has been doing all of his normal cleaning and polishing and is now striping the teak dock ladder so he can put new Cetol on it. He's always working on something!
My main focus has been to get all the paperwork (Visas, Insurance and Fishing Licenses) ready for Mexico and to restock the boat with the provisions we'll need for the next phase of this trip.
It doesn't sound like much, but without a car, everything takes much longer than it does with that convenience. But I'm not complaining -- I really like doing things this way. We get our daily exercise in while doing our errands!
We needed to get passport photos taken to take to the Mexican Consulate tomorrow to get our FM3's (Visas), and found that they take them at the Costco we go to, so that made for a nice one stop shop experience -- and a great walk since the Costco is 3 miles each way.
Tomorrow when we go into San Diego to the Consulate, we'll also go to the Mexican Fisheries department (they're about a mile apart). Mexico requires that everyone on a boat with any fishing equipment on it has a fishing license.
Luckily, San Diego has a great Trolly (light rail) system to get us the long distances and the $5 daily pass lets you get on and off that and any of the buses you need to get to where the Trolly doesn't go. It will be a full day tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong -- life isn't all work and no play -- it's really a nice balance. We get out in the dinghy, still enjoy beautiful sunsets and have had fun listening to and dancing to the music of Gary Seiler at the Galley Bar & Grill here in the marina. He's a great entertainer that Dave Calhoun told us about and we actually saw for the 1st time the day we pulled in. He plays a couple days a week -- check out his website at the link to the right.
This morning as we were walking some errands and talking about how busy our days are, it had me pondering what it will be like when we're off to Mexico and all the preparations are behind us and we're in a remote anchorage -- what will we do all day?
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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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