After Cojo Anchorage, we motor-sailed over to San Miguel in the Channel Islands. As we were coming into Cuyler Harbor to anchor, a huge motor yacht practically ran us over in order to beat us to the best anchorage. We didn't have any trouble setting our anchor in a more exposed location, but we sure were glad to have such heavy-duty ground tackle because the wind picked up quite a bit, and we were definitely rocking and rolling all night.
In the morning we had a nice sail to Santa Cruz Island and Coches Prietos Anchorage. It was the quietest anchorage we'd had in several days and very pretty. Most of the waves were caused by dive boats (like the one that beat us out of our spot at Cuyler Harbor) bringing people in for night dives.
This morning Märzen woke me up early with her crying. She'd thrown up in her bed, and she hasn't been able to keep anything down since last night. She even turned her nose up at the Tillamook cheese I used to hide another half a Benadryl. That's a sick puppy! So we decided to skip Anacapa Island and motored over to Oxnard (Channel Islands Harbor). We're taking her to the vet here in a little bit.
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The passage from Port San Luis was long, but it was exciting too. It turned out that we had to be more than 12 miles out to avoid the security area for Vandenberg. We were rewarded by an incredible display of marine mammals - seals, several kinds of dolphins, humpbacks, and some other whale - and a rocket launch that went right over the top of us. Awesome. The seals were porpoising just like the dolphins, so we had to look closely to identify them.
There were hundreds of dolphins between Point Arguello and Point Conception. Earlier we had identified bottlenose dolphins playing in our bow wake. Now there were also common dolphins and possibly another species as well. We first saw them as splashes in the water while we were watching a pair of whales in the distance. There was no wind, so we knew we weren't seeing wind waves. Soon it was clear that they were dolphins heading our way while behind us dozens more were approaching. We were cruising through their evening meal!
We heard an announcement on the radio that blue whales had been spotted in Santa Barbara Channel. (That's where we are now.) It's time for their annual migration down to Baja. I'm really looking forward to seeing them, although I'm not really sure how to identify them unless we get close. The whale guide says they're enormous, but humpbacks look gigantic to me too. Maybe we'll just know it when we see one.
We've spent an extra night at Cojo Anchorage, not because it's such a great or beautiful place, but because it was time to change the oil. In fact, this is one of the rollier anchorages we've been in, and it doesn't seem all that sheltered from the wind either. We're not in the ideal place here because the anchorage was pretty full by the time we came in. We thought about moving yesterday, but the boats that were in the sweet spot seemed to have as much swell and wind as we did. In fact, a couple of people have been surfing over there. Our anchor was firmly set, so we stayed put. It was kind of a rough night the second night.
Märzen has been under the weather. Yesterday morning she refused food until mid-morning, and she has thrown up a couple of times over the last few days. We've thinking it could be motion sickness even though she's never had a problem with it before. The swell here is different. In the afternoon and evening, she was fine again. We're going to try half a Benadryl to see if it helps.
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Four times a day the boats that are moored across the channel from us turn around. It happens when the current in the channel changes because of the ebb and flow of the tide. Tom knew this, but he had never witnessed the turn.
So last night we checked the tide table, set the timer, and went out to watch. It took about a half hour after high tide before the boats started to turn. Even though we were watching, we missed the first one. They don't all turn at the same time. When all of the boats were facing the same way again, we went to bed satisfied.
We're leaving Morro Bay in a few minutes and continuing south.
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