California or Bust - Missive 5

October 2, 2010: Our exit from Monterey harbor early in the morning was uneventful with no fog but it rained! You would think we were still in Washington. The seas were unruly until we rounded the point and were going with the waves and swells. Later in the morning, however, the fog settled in missing the views of Big Sur and the coastline for the majority of our passage but the waters calmed into a milk toast passage.

We anchored in San Simeon Bay and spent a most uncomfortable night rocking and rolling; didn't need this especially after a long day. I could barely get dinner warmed up and eaten while being tossed around the cabin ... bedtime came early and even then it was hard to sleep. I couldn't wait until morning to leave!

October 3, 2010: Yuck what a night! The swells, although not large, rocked the boat unmercifully. At least the morning was clear and we made an easy 24 mile trip to Morro Bay. The bar crossing was a piece of cake with Morro Rock guiding our entry. What an awesome geological formation - it is the 7th in a chain of volcanic peaks called the "Seven Sisters" that follows alongside Hwy 1. The rock is home to 250 species of birds.

Morro Bay was a hopping place with a harbor festival in progress. It's a crazy little harbor with a huge anchorage area with mooring balls down the entire west side of the harbor. We snagged a Morro Bay Yacht Club mooring ball ... it will be our safe haven for the next few days as we wait out high winds.

October 4, 2010: We explored the harbor waterfront and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast but we both felt lethargic ... well I did. Anyway the winds were picking up as predicted so we made our way back to the boat and lounged around the rest of the day. The weather predictors were correct; we saw 30 knot gusts thru the anchorage.

October 5, 2010: The winds finally settled down so we proceeded to take care of chores - the usual stuff of grocery shopping and laundry. Later we took a dinghy ride to the estuary and were entertained by gray pelicans diving for tasty morsels. The white colored pelicans were significantly larger than the grays and fed differently by swimming along and dunking their large beaks down into the water. We notice large dead trees along the waterway and wondered about their demise; turns out bird guano killed them.

We barely got back to the boat and it started raining and didn't bother to stop most of the night. I was beginning to get confused on our location.

October 6, 2010: Our mission was to visit the Hearst Castle. The bus ride was quite enjoyable providing an overview of the area. We missed seeing the Castle since they sold out all the tour tickets. Couldn't believe it ... 3 hours earlier I checked the status of tours on-line and 43 tickets were available. I was bummed but at least we took in the IMAX movie about his life and building the castle, then toured the visitor center with its exhibits. It wasn't a total bust.

October 7, 2010: Time to go; the winds and seas are calm, the sun is shining ... no fog! We will be passing by Pt Arguello and Pt Conception, the last of the major problem areas for rough water. Life was good to us. We anchored at the Cojo Anchorage just around the corner from Pt Conception. Swells are not my friend but we got thru dinner and hit the sack early.

October 8, 2010: It's a lovely day in the neighborhood! We finally have crossed the magical line to Southern California and cruised on down to Santa Barbara in flat water and sunshine; Bob even wore shorts, sandals and t-shirt.

Oil rigs dotted the horizon and were quite an intimidating sight. All of them were named on the chart - Irene, Hildago, Hondo, Holly, etc. and they continue down the coast. Thru the morning haze we saw the Channel Islands to the west; hopefully we will have time to visit them. Pacific white-side dolphins came and played with the boat several times in our trip. They were so much fun to watch ... I swear they were smiling at us.

The harbor in Santa Barbara was crazy with activity and they have some crazy rules. First we had to stop at the "accommodations dock" to show proof of registration and have a dye tablet dropped into our toilet. Guess they have had problems with boats discharging waste overboard. Once we were blessed for entry the harbormaster assigned us a slip. It's bad enough to dock once in an unknown harbor but twice? By the way we had less than 5 knots of wind the entire day until coming in the marina to dock ... then it kicked up to 20 knots!

October 9, 2010: It was Harbor & Seafood Festival in Santa Barbara today so the marina was a buzz of activity and flood of interesting characters. We strolled by the food and arts/crafts booths then moved on to the maritime museum and eventually to Stearns wharf for lunch and ice cream. We jumped the trolley and rode it up and down State Street, the main thoroughfare; what an incredible clean, beautiful downtown. It didn't look like an economic downturn in this community.

Our biggest decision now is where to next! I suspect a few days at the Channel Islands will be in order.