Our month's stay in San Francisco has been packed with varied activities: birthday party, sightseeing, working on the boat, sailing in the Bay and under the Golden Gate, shopping, eating out and of course many refreshment occasions. But it is now time to leave and head south back to San Diego.

Sausalito, our home base for the past 2 weeks, is a quiet yet bustling place to visit, one of our favorites with its European village feel, artists' and small tourist shops, inviting bars and restaurants, spectacular homes clinging to steep cliffs, creating row a sharp contrast to the cheek-by-jowl row houses of San Francisco. A coastal cruisers haven...we will return.

We are delighted to welcome aboard Paul [aka Brownie] & Lynn Brown who are returning to New Zealand from their Europe trip via the USA, specifically to share with us our sailing south to San Diego adventure. Our intention is to follow our north route, however we will include new stopover ports that extends our knowledge and stopover experience. Our trip timing is also more relaxed, enabling us to do some on-shore exploring along the way.

Preparation is always a critical step in our planning process: route plan, way-point lock-down, alternate port options in case weather plays out against us, fuel and general provisioning. Whilst in San Francisco we were able to complete our starboard forward storage, designed principally for food frequent use supplies, so in provisioning for this trip we were able to maximize our permanent and long-term facilities.

Brownie and I took control of preparing Wheytogo for sea, checking systems, loading all our navigation way-points, calculating our distances, setting our departure and target arrival times, loading all the provisioning, which most importantly included the necessary lubrication needs for a thirsty crew. Sharon and Lynn were responsible for meal planning and the necessary supermarket visits. Given we were on a mooring ball all on-shore provisions had to be transported by dingy.

On our pre-departure day, the girls applied their lateral thinking skills, having determined to include a visit to Macy's and any other outlet that tickled the fancy of a couple of shopping spree ladies! Uber, the preferred mode of transport in the bay area, was given a 'new transporting experience'. Having spent up large at Safeway they ordered their return Uber. A very small Fiat arrived to be loaded to the gunnels...with just enough space for the driver. Instructions simple and direct..." Please take all this stuff to address X and look for two lazy bum sailors with a dingy!" The Uber driver was still laughing when he pulled up at the ramp close to his assigned address, more so when he spotted said "lazy bum sailors".

We are ready, all systems go, beers being chilled, safety lines in place and time to relax and enjoy our last dinner and evening in Sausalito. Andy and Lauren joined us for our full day sail, 94 nm and 14 hours to Monterey our first stopover. An early 4:00am departure would importantly bring us into Monterey Harbor marina by sunset and also enable us to take advantage of favorable tide and current flow under the GG bridge and departure channel.

As experienced by many intrepid sailors before us, Golden Gate and the SFO channel was shrouded in thick sea fog. With visibility at 50 meters and 13 knots of breeze, we stow our lines and motor, sails furled, towards the entrance... fog horns of inbound and outbound shipping traffic casting an eerie spectrum of what sailing blind was going to be like. With navigation systems, radar and chart plotter casting a dim glow at the helm, our AIS alarms set to 500 feet, we make our channel approach. With Brownie leaning into the wind on the fore deck, his fog piercing eyes on the lookout for large dark fast moving objects of destruction in our path, the dark underside of GG slides behind us as we make our way slowly through the confluence of tidal flow and turbulent seas.

Thanks to AIS we could see the fast moving ships making their channel approach - 'red right returning' I remind myself, keeping an eye on those outbound big boys that can creep up on our a**. Maintaining our starboard course out the channel, we pass Mile Rocks, with its horn sounding out danger and then prepared to cross the inbound traffic channel at Point Lobos and set our southern course for San Pedro some 11 nm distant. We exercise caution and rapidly clear the channel at a right angle to lessen our cross channel distance. As we gain clear sailing space, we glance back and see a large 600-foot container ship pass inbound moving at least 20 knots!... phew! we have successfully and safely departed. The vehicle lights along Ocean beach give us a visible shoreline distance as we raise the main, unfurl the genoa and set our heading to San Pedro and beyond. Our sailing buddies still bundled up below..." Coffee time Brownie", we sit at the helm and reflect on this magical and fun adventure... sailing the Pacific. Another 'hard day at the office' ahead.

Our on-board team have joined us on deck, contributing an amazing breakfast, as we settle in to enjoying another amazing ride on WheytoGo. The winds, now steady at 16 knots on the beam, 7-7.5 knots COG, dolphins and the occasional distant whale spout herald our track down the coast...great company to share this experience... it doesn't get better than this! Its 11'oclock somewhere - beer time as San Pedro, Moss Beach, Ana Neuva pass on our port side. A heading change to 123 deg and Point Pinos -Monterey now just 45 nm away.

We pull into Monterey for our two-day visit, ahead of schedule thanks to favorable winds and a greater COG than our route plan, secure on an end tie, all entry paperwork complete... an early rum awaits!

Monterey is a picturesque city located at the southern end of Monterey bay, a protected harbor entrance with its full facilities marina close to Fisherman's wharf and Cannery Row. Historically, Monterey was the capital of California back in the Mexican rule days until about the mid 1800's. Many original and reconstructed buildings relate to its 'colorful past'. Art galleries, restaurants, bars line both Fisherman's wharf and Cannery Row, in easy walking distance make for an intriguing place to visit. It's world standing aquarium, in the old cannery buildings is spectacular, featuring an immense underwater viewing gallery.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing happenings during our visit was witnessing the birth of a baby Otter inside the marina. A fascinating observation of nature in its finest, to see Mrs. Otter wash, feed and care for her new born was a unique one of a kind experience. She would float and swim on her back, baby on her chest along the dock. When it was Momma's turn to wash she would set aside her baby to float alongside. The baby's human like cries whilst drifting alone illustrating one of nature's special moments... mother & child bonding.

We connected with fellow cruisers, Denis and Holly Michaud on sailing vessel Tango, who are also bound for San Diego. They are 11 year veteran cruisers, having already sailed the mid Pacific, Hawaii and Mexico and we are looking forward to connecting up further south to learn more of their knowledge and experiences.

Time to move on, it is Sept 6th, Andy and Lauren head back with friends to San Francisco as we prepare for a 10:00pm departure. This will be an overnight sail to San Simeon and Morro bay via the Big Sur...a big day ahead of 110 nm over approx. 17 hours, depending on favorable winds and sea conditions.

We let go of the dock and make our way out of the narrow marina entrance, Sharon and Brownie with torches on the bow as we pass the marina sea wall, 'sound your horn and watch out for entering boats' the sign says! We head out past the entrance buoys, raise the main with one reef and unfurl the Genoa. NW winds of 18-20 knots give us a fast yet bouncy ride out of Monterey Bay past Pebble Beach until we can turn the corner at the Carmel coast. The night sky becomes clear and sparkling as we leave the city lights behind, the seas become calmer and less turbulent as we set our new heading to Point Sur West and the Big Sur just 23 nm down the coast. The winds drop to less than 3 knots, car lights on the highway south of the Big Sur show the shoreline some 3-4 nm away. Not a lot of sailing for us tonight, the moon casts a glistening path across the flat seas as Brownie and I settle in for a great motoring ride down the coast. We should be close to Piedras by sunrise...tomorrow.

San Simeon bay is just a short7nm SE sail after rounding Point Piedras. Our initial intent was to anchor, relax, sample another few beers and go ashore in time to meet our pre-booked Hearst Castle tour visit time however an onshore wind and resulting swell to shore, meant staying dry during a beach landing was an unlikely outcome. To give credibility to the logical decision... move to plan B, Brownie shuttled the girls to take a closer look. We quickly re-grouped, told white lies to the Hearst castle folks to delay our booking for one day and headed to Morro Bay. Favorable winds saw us pass the coastal town of Cambria and arrive at the entrance in quick time, a chat to the harbormaster confirmed a safe bar crossing and our mid channel mooring buoy was available.

A short dingy ride to shore brings us to shore and the bustling seaside village of Morro bay...a restaurant or bar perhaps! We book a rental for pickup tomorrow morning in San Luis Obispo and return to Wheytogo...another long yet enthralling day at sea in the life of us cruisers.