Drakes Bay to Golden Gate Photo Gallery


Bodega Bay to Drake's Bay

After almost a week in Bodega Bay, the weather gods said it was time to move on. We've always loved Bodega Bay, and spending time getting the local tour with Cap TD made it extra special.

We've been harbor hopping with a couple of boats down the coast, Wasabi from Nanaimo, B.C., and Tranquility from Port Orchard, WA. Seattle friends had told us to be on the lookout for Yer and we finally met them in Bodega Bay.

Sunday morning, September 20 dawned sunny, not foggy as predicted, and we stopped for fuel on the way out. We called Cap TD to say goodbye, and he was already on his way down to the end of the jetty to wave us fair well.

Exiting the channel in daylight when you can see all of the day markers and buoys is a piece of cake compared to our nighttime entrance. And the width of the channel, which appeared to be only about 20-feet wide at night, was really more like 100-feet wide in daylight.


Leaving Bodega Channel ~ farewell Cap TD, we miss you already!

As has been the norm for this trip, once we were out of the channel and into the ocean, the waves and swell were on the beam (read ROLLY), and not enough wind to sail. So once again it was a beautiful motor-boat trip down the coast from Bodega Bay to Pt. Reyes, around the corner into Drake's Bay, which took about 4 hours. Heidi kept her eyes pealed for marine mammals as many whales have been spotted in the area, but we didn't see any on this leg.


Point Reyes Lighthouse.

Beautiful Drake's Bay is just around the point from Pt. Reyes Light House. Kirk had wanted to show Heidi Drake's Bay, as he'd stopped there before on a previous delivery and loved it. Turns out it's also Cap TD's favorite anchorage (he once holed up there in 100+ kt winds when he was out fishing!), so he was glad to know we were stopping there as well. We pulled into Drake's Bay and anchored near by Yer and Wasabi.


The lovely Drake's Bay.

What a memorable occasion using our brand new Rocna anchor for the very first time in Drake's Bay. [Thanks for the great bon-voyage gift Mom & Pete!] Other Rocna owners joke about getting whiplash when the anchor sets. No joke, she set fast and hard, and the bow whipped around. Hang on! We will always sleep well knowing our Rocna 25 with 300' of chain is holding us tight all night.

Cool animal sighting of the day: Sitting on the hook in Drake's Bay, watching the sunset colors on the beautiful cliffs, Kirk noticed some dolphins a ways away. As the pod of 5 swam closer, feeding and loping along, we determined with our Dolphin & Whale guidebook that they were most likely inshore Bottle Nose Dolphins. SO COOL!!! Too dark and dusky to get any pics, but so magnificent to watch! All in all a fantastic evening and we wanted to stay a week! But once again the weather gods were telling us to leave the next day, before a 20-30kt southerly rolled in. (It never did!)

Drake's Bay to San Francisco Bay

More dolphins (or the same ones?) swam by again, feeding, in the morning. We hoisted anchor about 10am, and boy was that Rocna buried deep and muddy! Leaving Drake's Bay we had 10-12kts of wind and rolled out the genoa, heading back out into the rollers. We sailed out of Drake's Bay till we were past the point but shortly after wind quit, and we took down the sail. The story of our trip thus far: big rollers, not much wind, lots of motoring.

Cool animal sighting of the day: The five hours from Drake's Bay to the entrance along the beautiful northern California coastline was punctuated with a breaching Humpback whale! Kirk saw the spout first, and Heidi grabbed her camera to head up to the bow. As she leaned down to clip her tether into the jacklines (safety gear to ensure we stay aboard!), the whale breached about 100 yards right in front of us. By the time Heidi looked back up from clipping in, all she saw was the big splash and the tail going down. Bummer for her, but so glad one of us saw the whole thing!

We were both super-excited to be heading towards the Golden Gate. Having delivered several friends boats down the coast before, passing under the Golden Gate is always a momentous experience, and had long been on Due West's bucket list. The chartplotter ticked off waypoints along the way until the bridge was finally in sight.


Chartplotter "Marianne" showing the way into San Francisco Bay.


The majestic Golden Gate Bridge.




Heading to Haight Ashbury soon to get new Tibetan prayer flags, ours have been wind-whipped down the coast!

We planned to enter on a flood tide, and were lucky to have no fog, not much wind, medium rollers, and not much shipping traffic to contend with, just one freighter and a few commercial boats.



We tried to take a "selfie" going under the bridge, but by 1500 hours as we were approaching the bridge, the sun was behind us and at the wrong angle, so we couldn't get that classic shot (ironically fog is better for that shot! and we have several from other deliveries.)


Luckily Heidi knows Photoshop! ;-)

A few of our friends gave us bottles of Champaign and tequila to celebrate our long-awaited entry into the San Francisco Bay. We opened one bottle of Champaign and saved the tequila till the hook was down. Heidi, a 3rd-generation Californian, felt like she was coming "home" having spent a lot of time around the Bay Area ~ her grandparents and mom were all born on the Bay!

We decided to anchor out in Richardson Bay in front of Sausalito. Second time dropping the Rocna, more whiplash. Time to celebrate with shots of tequila, a beautiful sunset and view across the Bay to downtown San Francisco.



Unfortunately, Heidi's Dad, Verne, had a stroke that afternoon, about the same time we were headed under the Golden Gate. Thankfully he got to the hospital and got the stroke meds quickly, and is making a good recovery. We were grateful to be in cell range and get the call, not out at sea. Thank you weather gods for moving us along!

We are currently on the hook in Richardson Bay, Sausalito, where we've met up again with Tranquility (Becky & Dave) and Wasabi (Karen & Al), and have met a new boat from Gig Harbor, WA, Huzzah (Gerry & Jody). Fun making new friends along the way!

Now awaiting a visit from the RayMarine technician on Thursday morning to give "Marianne" a lobotomy. She has been acting up this whole trip, randomly losing data for depth, wind, radar, and AIS among other things. Fingers-crossed he will be able to fix her, but there is also a good chance we'll need to send her back-east for her lobotomy, in which case we'll stay put here for another week or two, and Heidi may go visit here dad.


Heidi with her dad, Verne, this past June.

Tosh continues to be a sea-faring cat, even coming into the cockpit while we're under way, while timid-shy Tikka is still unsure of this whole life-at-sea thing. We are hopeful that she will become more at ease as the days go on.

We plan to stay in the Bay Area for a couple of weeks, including a stop in downtown San Francisco for a few days, before heading on to Half Moon Bay...