We have enjoyed being Dock Rats in Santa Barbara for the past 3 days and have been increadibly lazy (a rarity on a sailing vacation I've learned). Our days are spent waking late and sightseeing or running errands in the morning. In the afternoon we nap in the cockpit while reading books and drinking wine. Even just watching near-collissions in this very busy marina can be fun.
This morning, we decided it was time to start heading up the coast towards home instead of going back out to the islands. Based on the weather forecst, it looks like our best window for jumping around Pt. Conception will start early Thursday.
So, a few more days to just hang out on the beach... and if the weather is against us, we can just relocate to Santa Barbara ;-)
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We left early in the morning to meet up with a sea kayaking tour on the North Shore, just above the Anacapa Passage. Short version of the afternoon is that we enjoyed the paddling but entering dark caves with surge chrashing through the blow holes was not our thing. We left the tour at the half-way point.
Wind & waves in the channel were pretty boisterous but after talking about options for anchorage nearby and the expectation of another sleepless night checking our distance from some rocky shore, we pointed Tradition hard into the wind & headed back to Santa Barbara instead.
Crossing the Anacapa Passage again was great fun - we covered the 25 miles to Santa Barbara in less than 4 hours and got the very last transient slip in the marina. The hot showers felt great!
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We have this perfect little spot to ourselves - a semi-circle of gently sloping sandy beach and turquois waters protected by cliffs on 3 sides. We dingied ashore in the morning for a hike into the nearby canyon. Came back to the boat to rig the shade awning and drink wine in the remarkably hot and calm afternoon.
Around dinner time I tuned in to the NOAA weather and heard there was a massive heat wave in Southern California... which also meant unsettled and possibly Santa Ana conditions offshore. I could not find specifics to confirm my hunch except that all other boats in the area had anchored about a mile away in Albert's, which is tucked in behind this massive 500 ft high bluff that looks like the Rock of Gibralter.
I decided to scout out Alberts in the dingy... after all, the water looked pretty calm and the round trip was only a mile. So I fired up the mighty 2 hp Honda and set off. In the process, I learned some important facts about our dingy.
Import fact #1: Waves never look as big as they really are until you are sitting 3 inches off the surface. I got around the point and surfed down the small swell into Alberts with only a mild adrenaline rush. One of the boats there had a weatherfax on board and confirmed my hunch about wind picking up tonight.
I turned around and headed back to Tradition, whereupon I learned Important Fact #2: Dignys without a rigid floor tend to fold up like an accordian when pushed hard into oncoming waves.
We were sad to leave our little Blue Lagoon but not willing to spend another night checking our anchor. So we pulled motored around to Alberts where we set out 170 ft of rode and tucked in under the massive rock cliff.
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In the morning there was a feeding a short distance away as hundreds of pelicans & dolphins thrashed the water all at once. It lasted about 5 minutes and then it was gone... a reminder that our position in the food chain is a matter of luck, and not always guaranteed to be at the top.
We had decided that the south shore of the island would be better shelter from NW winds. Coches Prietos was on the shouth shore almost directly opposite our current position and we had heard that it was arguably the finest anchorage on the island.
As we left Frys, fine weather and a following breeze in the low 20's made for a perfect downhill run. As we neared the Anacapa Passage, waves suddenly got much shorter apart and the wind picked up another 5 knots. So we dropped the main and sailed on Jib 'n Mizzen. Then, as we rounded the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island, the wind just completely stopped and we had to motor the rest of the way. Arrived in Coches late afternoon.
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Joni returned last night after delivering her Masters Thesis - DONE! after two years of nights & weekends. Nice job Joni!
We left Santa Barbara at a leisurely hour this morning - bright & sunny with enough wind to sail by. Forecast calls for gusty winds the next few nights so we are heading for Fry's Harbor, a sheltered spot on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island.
Arrived at Frys late afternoon and it was full. One of the boats at anchor was a small runabout with a father & son who were fishing. We expected them to leave in a while so dropped anchor a bit farther out than we wanted and settled in for an early dinner.
The "harbor" is about 200 yards wide and open to the channel on the north, with tall cliffs east and west and a canyon onshore that runs north & south. We decided to set a stern anchor but had never done it before... so we looked up instructions in one of the cruising handbooks for instructions.
When we went to bed the wind was from the Northwest and we sat snug in the shadow behind one of the clifs. At night the wind shifted and came rushing down the canyon to our South. Being so close to rocks on either side made for a restless night's sleep but the stern anchor held us steady.
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We have sailed from San Miguel Island into Santa Barbara where I will stay for 4 days while Joni returns to Sacramento and completes her Master program. Joni was putting the final formating touches on her thesis right up until she had to leave for the airport. It's a "cookbook" for a program on the American River Parkway that blends visual arts, science and history into a summer camp that I think she will submit later as a grant application.
While she is away, I plan to catch up on my reading, do some boat chores and just hang out for awhile.
Cheers!
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Fair winds, and clear skies my dear friends.
enjoy!
Cheers - Lynn
