I feel like this may become a bad habit. We plan on updating our blog often, but we end up just having way too much fun and put it off. Our days have been spent sleeping in, doing a few boat tasks, exploring the town via Lime scooter, having dinner, movie nights, and sundowners with S/V Luego, falling asleep whenever, and repeating. Oh yeah, and we've done some sailing too!

So, after we left Monterey Bay, buddy boated 108nm South w/ the S/VLuego crew to Morro Bay, where we met up with Stephen, Jen, Dave, and Kelly. Morro Bay is a great little town with a very protected harbor. While there, we celebrated Stephen and Kelly's birthdays, and dinghyed over to the dunes, where we hiked to the beach. We also went to the Sycamore.



After spending a few days in Morro Bay, we then rounded Point Conception and headed for Santa Barbara. We've found SUMMER!! Santa Barbara was so warm that we all took a dip in the ocean and had some great drinks out on the wharf.



We then continued to Oxnard (Channel Islands marina), where we watched SpaceX launch a rocket and I even managed to get a shot of it heading over and behind the boat! We then all hopped in our dinghies and explored this harbor and some of the most beautiful waterfront homes that you will ever see.



From Oxnard we then sailed to Marina del Ray and met up with Captain Jeffrey, who looked over our boats and gave some great advice, and Jason, who showed us the Venice beach boardwalk and introduced us to Lime scooters.



After saying our goodbye's, it was off to Avalon at Catalina Island, where we relaxed and enjoyed this Southern California gem! We hiked around town for a few days, but then it started to get a bit crowded as the weekend approached, it was time to go.



We headed to beautiful Newport Beach, where my parent's picked Chelsea and I up to spend a few days at their house in nearby Sun City. I found a metal fabricator who was able to install the chain stripper back onto our windlass, after I broke a bolt off in it. I also ordered a new anchor and more anchoring gear, so we're pretty set in the anchoring department now, as we'll be anchoring a lot down in Mexico.

A lot has happened since we last blogged! On Sept. 12th we left Crescent City and sailed further South 288nm to San Francisco, along with our buddy boat friends Brad and Sonni aboard S/V Luego. This meant another overnight passage through thick fog, dodging both commercial shipping and fishing boats that love to zig and zag in unpredictable patterns. In the end, it was worth it, as we were greeted by the wonderful sight of the Golden Gate bridge. We bucked a bit of current there and continued over to Richmond.



We spent several days in the Bay area, visiting with our friend Greg and taking the BART tram over to downtown San Francisco for some exploring. We also met up with my Aunt Carrie, which was fun, and we replaced the boat's primary anchor rode with 275' of HT 5/16" chain. (I ordered 300', but 275' is what ended up getting delivered - such is life).



We then said goodbye to San Francisco and sailed down to Half Moon bay (Pillar Point) for more adventuring, before then continuing over to Capitola, which borders Santa Cruz. Capitola is a wonderful little town...with the exception of their mooring balls. We spent two sleepless nights getting tossed around the boat each night and made a run for the dinghy dock at first light. I'm told others have had better experience on these moorings and it was the only downside to visiting this fun little town.



We did spend the good part of a day in Santa Cruz with Brad and Sonni. Even though the boardwalk was mostly closed on weekdays, we still had a blast checking out the pier and hit up the pirate-themed 18-hole putt putt course, which was a big highlight of this stopover.



After two nights in Capitola/Santa Cruz, we sailed South across the bay to the Monterey Bay and explored their must-see aquarium. It made us all think about just what was going on underneath our boats as we sail. After a further couple of days in Monterey, we sailed overnight to Morro Bay, along with S/V Luego and another Seattle area buddy boat S/V Soulstice, with Stephen and Jen. We are currently tied up at the Morro Bay yacht club and are looking forward to more fun adventures here, which we will tell you all about very soon!! =)

Warm sand, blazing sun and blue water is the typical picture one paints when anyone mentions California. Steve and I did not get this when crossing the Oregon-California border. Instead, we were greeted with fog, fishing boats and you guessed it, more fog. Not that we were complaining.

After being stuck in Charleston, OR for six days (thank you PNW weather), we were anxious to get out. Especially when we saw all the town had to offer in the first hour of stepping on the dock. Charleston is a cute little town - in the way you look at someone's old, decrepit dog and say "aww, cute" before diverting your eyes.

The only plus side to Charleston was spending time with friends Mark and Jeff, and meeting Brad and Sonni, another cruising couple aboard their Tartan 37. It made the 20-hour jaunt from Charleston down to Crescent City a little less boring for the one on watch. (Though not sure we can call dodging fishing boats at 3am totally boring).

At any rate, Crescent City has already become our favorite stop since Friday Harbor, WA. Only 20 miles into California and Steve and I are already noticing the differences. The warm sandy beaches, the water that doesn't look that murky shade of grey we're so used to in Washington and Oregon. I can honestly say our first full day in Crescent City felt like the first actual vacation day.

Looking forward to the rest.

After a 43-hour passage, we arrived in Oregon as we crossed the Newport bar at first light, having to dodge a few small, but eager fishing boats zooming out. We immediately topped off the fuel tank, after motoring almost the entire way, due to a light headwind.



We found Newport to be a great little town, with strong fishing roots. Chelsea and I even found the local community aquatic center, where we managed to enjoy a few hours in the hot tub, and we found found some of the best hamburgers we've ever eaten at the Barge Inn tavern.



Monkey and I then tackled a few boat projects, including fixing a running light that decided to stop working on the way down the coast. I also managed to solve our lack of hot water aboard by removing the water tank's temperature control valve (TCV), which was not functioning. So as to not leave us bored with nothing to do, the boat's shore power system decided to no longer function. I replaced the aging shore power cord...no luck. I then replaced the boat's power inlet...still no luck. What else to do when stumped by a project? Chelsea and I headed over to the Rogue brewery, which we found to be pretty cool!



We then departed Newport for Coos Bay. We had to work our way around a dredging boat at the end of the jetty when leaving and another one while arriving in Coos. This was a short 7-hour passage and was pretty uneventful, other than the fact that the fog was so thick that we couldn't see much past our bow lights. We had our fog horn blaring for much of the passage and kept a keen eye on the AIS.

We're sitting in Coos Bay (actually, the adjacent city of Charlston, where the marina is). We were able to meet up with my friends Mark and Jeff, who both showed us around town a bit. Aaron and Christine had to head back home, so it's just Chelsea, Monkey, and I from here on out. Now we wait out heavy winds before we can continue onto Crescent City in a few days. California, here we come!!!

"You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." -Christopher Columbus

So much has been going on and we've been neglecting our blog! =( For those of you wondering, the little map of our location isn't automatically working, due to changes in Garmin's policy to no longer allow automatic transmissions on the InReach.

We are just about to leave Neah Bay and take S/V Jean Anne out into the Pacific Ocean, where she hasn't been for years. Next stop (hopefully) - Newport, Oregon!! Wish us luck!!

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain

So, a few things have happened since our last blog...we left the dock!! Week 1 has been full of little speed bumps and unexpected challenges. Things that worked just fine days before have suddenly decided to give up the ghost. Namely, the diesel heater and the water heater. Yes, it is August and everything is great during the day, but things get cold during the night. Also, a boat with no heat welcomes dew in the early morning hours. We spent a few days on the hook (at anchor) in Eagle Harbor and in Port Ludlow, but the last two nights we have been tied up to the dock at the marina up in Friday Harbor so that we could use our electric heater.

Our staysil didn't fit into our new Profurl furler initially, so we just got it back from the sailmaker with a new bolt rope in the luff. We will be hanging around the San Juans until we're able to get the diesel heater oil metering unit mailed to us, which will likely happen on Monday. Then we will be off to Port Angeles for a night before heading out to Neah Bay to await a good weather window, which will likely happen sometime around the 23rd. Then it will take approximately two days to sail to Newport, Oregon.