As predicted we arrived at the mouth of Cuyler Harbor, San Miquel Island, around 3am Friday. As there was no moon, and clouds covered the stars, we were in pitch dark. The incoming clouds were the remains of Tropical Storm Fabio. The winds picked up to 20 - 25 knots with gusts to 35, so we were sailing in the dark and surfing waves which continued to get larger. After staying up to watch the stars come out, Kris and Becca headed to bed where they discussed washing machines and aquariums, not because they were talking about buying those items, but rather how the rocking and rolling felt like what it must feel like to live in them! Kris says he acted like a starfish all night, every hand and foot glued to a wall!

On our way in to the bay we saw a boat already anchored in the harbor in the spot we had planned to anchor so adjusted our position on the fly with the radar, charts and depth sounder as the winds had increased to 35 - 45 knots. There was no visible shore line, nothing except the anchor light on the other boat. We dropped our main anchor, set it, dropped a second anchor and used the spotlight to survey conditions. By the time both anchors were set we ended up anchored about 1/16th of a mile off of a very large rock, which we knew about, but the shoreline south of the rock looked like a monolith, it just didn't match what our charts were telling us so KC and I decided to stay on anchor watch!

Around 5:30 a.m. the sky began to lighten so we could see where we actually were. The "monolith" was actually a very nice sandy beach at the base of a large sand dune/mountain but the large rock was exactly that. In addition, there was a 3rd boat in the harbor which wasn't on AIS nor did it have its anchor light on when we came in so we assumed it was an uncharted rock. It was anchored in the area we actually wanted to anchor originally. Around 6:30 as the wind wasn't abating we decided to pull both anchors and move north to gain the protection of some large cliffs. Right after we anchored in between the two boats along the north shore they both pulled anchor and left leaving us the pick of the litter so to speak of anchoring spots. We pulled our anchor again and took what we consider to be the prime spot, it dropped the winds about 5 - 10 knots (we've had 25 knot winds with gusts to 30+ all day, as I write the winds are raising the stakes to the high 30's).

This storm is supposed to pass through by Sunday morning so we decided Friday would be a movie and popcorn day after we napped and showered. We'll probably spend today, Saturday, finishing the "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" trilogy, reading and heading to shore as the winds toned down early this morning. Even with all of the wind we've had it's been pretty smooth riding at anchor. There hasn't been any rain, which is nice, even a few sunny spots, not long lived though and the temperature is in the mid-60's.

The area is really quite beautiful, very rugged and desolate but wonderful white beaches and caves in the cliff plus some places that would be fun to hike. In addition there are numerous elephant seals on the beaches, as Kris says "guarding the trails".