Now we were three…. heading to one of our favorite cruiser stops…. Morro Bay
06 August 2015
We experienced a wind shift during the evening in San Luis Obispo and with our anchorage close to the entrance channel and the western breakwater, led to an uncomfortable night so we were looking forward to an early 5:30am start north towards San Simeon Bay some 40 nm north. Giving a wide rounding of Westdahl rock we set a heading of 291 deg to Point Buchan.
Given the weather and sea conditions at Port San Luis Obispo we chose not to get fuel but change our today's destination from San Simeon to Morro Bay, further Morro Bay promised to give us a more sheltered anchorage and on shore facilities.
A great run up the coast and with winds NW on our beam as we rounded Point Buchan for Morro Bay we actually were able to shut down the engines and sail the last 10 miles…. awesome!
Without doubt, Morro Bay, a busy fishing port with unique bars, tourist shops, seafood restaurants, general provisions and fuel, is one of favorite stopover ports. The landmark of Morro Rock, a cone shaped natural landmark named by the Spaniards and the power station stacks stand out on either a north or south approach. The entrance can be hazardous in W or SW conditions with breaking waves over the bar particularly at low water however the mandatory harbormaster call on channel 16 gives great advice and bar status, assuring a safe entrance into the narrow channel and the moorage areas. We were assigned a mooring ball close into the harbor area, so given our early afternoon arrival it didn’t take us long to settle in and take a short dingy ride to check out the town.
Provisioned and with full fuel tanks again we departed at 8:00am for the short 23 nm sail to San Simeon Bay a popular cruisers stop over. A spectacular sail along the Cambrian coast, a pod of whales, spouting and playing on the surface showing their delight at sharing their ocean waters with the WheytoGo crew as we sailed by.
San Simeon is also the location of the Hearst Castle, a Californian State Historical Monument built by William Randolf Hearst, a colorful and wealthy newspaper publisher in the early 1900’s. [more on our Hearst Castle visit in a later post].
We anchored in 25 feet in the lee of the south headland sheltered from prevailing winds, sipped our arrival rums whilst we prepared to dingy to look around on shore. A long jetty, built originally to service the Hearst Castle materials supply, now is just a fishing pier and a viewing deck for the abundant sea life and passing whales. We explored the beach and the small group of buildings on shore before heading back to WheytoGo, dinner, wine and a brief rest in preparation for a 9:00pm departure and an overnight sail up the Big Sur coastline.