06 January 2018 | Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay
08 December 2017 | Crescent City to Bodega Bay
14 September 2017 | Coos Bay Or
14 September 2017 | Crescent City California
09 September 2017 | Astoria
03 September 2017 | Port Angeles Washington
01 September 2017 | Cowichan Bay, BC
08 September 2016 | Canoe Cove BC
07 September 2016 | Leaving Port Angeles
06 September 2016 | Port Angeles
05 September 2016 | Port Angeles
04 September 2016 | Roche Harbor
I want to get going.
06 January 2018 | Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay
Kandy, cloudy 10deg C NE 7 kts
In all of the years that I did weather briefings I was frustrated by the pilots, that would be impatient because the weather would not cooperate with their plans. The shoe is now on the other foot. We are trying to get to San Diego and the weather is not cooperating. Thunderstorms one day, Fog one day, then 12-24 hours of favourable weather then another front rolls through bringing big winds gusting to 40 kts. From our current location the next port is 12-14 hours then another 12 etc. 21/2 days to Ventura or 41/2 days to San Diego. The shorter winter days don’t help. We get about 10 hours of day light so we leave in the dark or arrive in the dark. On the longer passages we are able to gain or loose some time to make arrivals work out. Then we have tides to deal with. Not a big deal in some ports, but can be dangerous if not timed correctly in others. Dennis says we don’t normally have a plan B. Today I have A to X in my head. My brain is overflowing. Rum anyone?
It’s the 26th and time to move on.
02 January 2018
We decide to make this a short day and travel south to Half Moon Bay. The Pillar Point marina is a full facility Marina run by the San Metao County. It is a very pretty area and an active fishing harbour. It is one of the few place left where the catch can be sold to the public directly off the boats. As a result it is busy. There are crowds of people all the time coming to buy fresh seafood. The boats leave very early to make it back to the docks by mid afternoon to sell their catch. After one night we had to change slips, that when we discovered our starter had bit the big one. Is there a graveyard for dead starters? We went into Half Moon Bay but there are no marine shops there that could help us. We ended out ordering a new one off of eBay and it will be hear by the second.
Dennis brother and his wife got a hold of us on the 28 and asked if we wanted company for New Years. YES!! They drove down in one day and we hiked out to the point where the Mavericks Surfing Competion happens every year. The beaches here are devine but the water is really cold. No surfing for me.
New Year's Eve was spent on Lemanee eating a fresh seafood feast and drinking champagne. It was perfect. The next daywe took advantage of having a car and explored the area, travelling to Santa Cruz and driving some twisty turns wicked mountain roads. Thank you Terry and Kathy. It was wonderful to have you aboard.
Christmas
25 December 2017
Kandy
We decided to spend Christmas in San Francisco at the Travis Airforce Base Marina. It a funky little spot 500 ft east of the north footing of the Golden Gate Bridge. There are not very many facilities but great rates and great peolple. It was an Uber ride either into Sausalito or San Francisco. We explored, rode cable cars, walked miles and reprovisioned. What a wonderful city. China Town was my favourite spot. Wandering, watching, smelling and eating. Also popping into funky pubs and meeting wonderful interesting people. If we didn't want to get to warm weather and oceans we could have spent months there. Traveling by sea and exploring from the water is such an exciting way to travel. It has become about the journey rather than the destination. It feels so right.
Bucket list...check
13 December 2017
We finally made it under the Golden Gate Bridge.
It was a beautiful day at sea, blue sky's, diamond glittering on the water, grey whale and a million bloody crab pots. It's stressful dodging them all day and I had knots in my stomach from yesterday. But taking them out of the equation it was a wonderful day. Looking at This portion of California from the water you would think they had taken the sandstone hills and Cliffs in Kamloops and plopped them beside the ocean. The scenery and colours were a sight to behold. Dennis stayed at the helm all day and the winds travelled around the compass at 5 kts or less so it was another motoring day spent on the edge of our seats listening to prop and motor sounds to make sure nothing was out of sync after yesterday's incident.
We had to make it under the bridge between 4:45-5:30 PM to meet the tides and still have daylight. We spotted the north tower of the Golden Gate about 3 hours before we got there. I was like a kid going to Disneyland. "Are we there yet?" Everything was perfect and we did it. I have been imagining this since we started planning this life about 20 years ago. The excitement and emotions filled me so much it overflowed.
We opted to go over the potato patch. A shoal just north of the entrance and a fair weather route. It was a good choice. The seas got a bit rougher but it was nothing Lemanee couldn't handle. There were dolphins accompaning us as we approached San Francisco, the AIS was going crazy with all the traffic and the radar was painting purple images of all the rocks and the bridge. Dennis worked hard getting us in safely and I took pictures while we oohed and aahed and we both SMILED. We had finally done it. And it was amazing.
Crab Pots
12 December 2017
Kandy
It is crabbing season south of Point Arena and it is a mine field. We left Bodega bay before first light to make the preferred tide entering San Francisco. We slowly made our way out of the 2 mile channel, Dennis at the helm and me using our huge spotlight. We go out of the harbour and made it out of the bay as the sun started to rise. I stowed the now useless spotlight and climbed back into the cockpit. At about about 6:50AM there was a clunk and the engine quit. What the heck? 2 floats came out behind the boat but the crab trap and line were wound around the prop. Dennis hooked the GoPro to a boat hook and looked at the prop. The trap was still hanging down. The line was wrapped in front and behind our peop and another float was jambed in. We were drifting about 2 miles off the headland (point) weighing our options with a fishing boat steaming towards us. (Boats don’t really use steam any more but it sounds better than dieseling towards us) I got on the radio and advised the fishing boat we were drifting and asked him to give us a wide berth. The US Coast Guard over heard this and sent out a Pan Pan. I explained that we were in no danger but unable to proceed under power. Dennis and I were debating if we should put on our dive gear or putting the dinghy in the water so we could cut the line. The USCG instructed us not to get into the water and a cutter was coming out to us. It turns out that this area is the breeding and feeding ground for Great White Sharks. Yikes.
By 8 AM the Coast Guard was on the scene and passing over a huge drogue in case we started going to fast as well as a tow line. We were towed back into Bodega Bay and tied up to the dock by 10 AM. A short but very traumatic day.
We hired a diver who went in and cut off the trap lines and checked out the prop. There was no damage done so we sat back and planned to do it all again the next day. No that is really bad wording, we plannned to depart for San Francisco the next day.
San Francisco here we come.....almost
08 December 2017 | Crescent City to Bodega Bay
Kandy mid teens blue sky’s 2-6 foot swells
We finally had cooperative seas to head out for San Francisco. Seas not winds. We left CC at 10 AM and hoisted the sails. They are dubbed the great white wind killers. After about an hour travelling at great speeds of about 3 it's we gave in and started ole Perky up again. This is becoming one long motoring trip. It was a beautiful day at sea. We are still bundling up and wearing our foulies. I am sick of wearing a woolen cap that makes my head itch. We had dolphins playing all around the boat and because we are later in the year the Humbacks have finished their migration but they have been replaced by grey whales so we still got close up views of whales.
It is just Dennis and I now. Thank you Al for joining us on the first leg of our journey and giving us the confidence and courage to continue on our own.
We are getting a rhythm down, eating meals instead of picking and being able to sleep for 3-4 hours in one stretch.
During the night I finally sat in the cockpit under an incredible star filled sky and listened to Pachabelos Canon and the Haliluah Chorus. I have had this image in the back of my head for about 10 years and I finally did it. It filled my soul. I also had a dance party with Lady Gaga.
The sun rise was amazing. There was a lot of smoke in the air from the Southern California fires so the colours were brilliant.
Day 2 we checked our position and the tides for the Golden Gate Bridge and realized we weren't going to make it in on an ebb or flood. So we went into Bodego Bay. There is a huge breakwater and then a dredged channel that is about 2 miles long into the marina. We arrived and found a pretty little town set into the hills but the closest place to eat or shop was 2 miles away. It's a good thing we didn't need any provisions.