Southing Again

Maui has healed up fine, all he needs now is for his fur to grow back and to continue drinking more water.  So we are on the move again. We did get a couple more opportunities to have lunch with Scott, and dinner with Scott and Susan.  They often brought us fresh vegies from their garden, and I got to cook with tomatillos for the first time.

September 11th we motored from Alameda to Clipper Cove, where we set the anchor and hung out for two nights.  This allowed Maui to roam the boat without fear of him jumping ship to investigate other people's boats.  And time for us to unwind and rest up away from the marina.  On the 13th we motored out of San Francisco bay and around the point to Half Moon Bay.  Sad that in the 5 weeks we were in San Francisco bay, we never made it in to the city, and we never hoisted sail it one of the best sailing areas on the west coast.  That will have to wait for the trip back north.  We anchored overnight, quiet and sheltered.

 The next  morning we got up early and headed out for Monterey.  Light winds and flat seas.  A pod of pilot whales caused us to kill the engine, by then the wind had picked up and we were able to sail for the next 3.5 hours before the wind died out.  We then motored the rest of the way in, and were treated to dolphins and a breaching Humpback whale (too far away for pictures but amazing to see).  The anchorage was very exposed to ocean swells, but the Monterey marina is full of barking sea lions.  We chose the roll over the bark.  Good choice, we were entertained by dolphins and sea otters most of the next morning.  We got showers on board, and Cindy got a nap to prep for the next segment.

Early afternoon we headed out for Morro Bay, about 120 nautical miles down the coast.  On the way out we came upon four groups of feeding humpback whales.  They were a bit further away than the pod off the Oregon coast, but I was able to get some video this time.   I'll get that edited down and posted.  The forecasted winds were on again/off again, we were able to sail about a 3rd of the way.  One long stretch has us wing on wing (one sail out each side of the boat) going directly down wind at 7 kts.  Got in to Estero bay about sunrise, were greeted by another breaching whale, several whales making passage out of the bay, dolphins, seals, sea lions, and sea otters.  Then in to Morro bay about 0900, where we are anchored now.  Sea otters are darn cute.  We're taking care of business, and drying last night's dew off of the sails.  Later on I'll take the dingy over to town to get groceries.

Where to next and when?  Depends on weather.  Hurricane Odile is making for some potentially rough seas for the next few days.  We'll keep you posted, hopefully more frequently than we have been doing.

We took Maui in for stitches to be removed and he was rather insistent that he was done having his privates messed with!  Would not let them.  They had not told me not to feed him for 12 hours so we came home and went back on Friday.  They anesthetized him and removed them.  With all the repeat caths and then surgery he has been anesthetized 6 times in last month.  Was scary seeing how dopey he was and for soooo long.  Just too much drug buildup in his system.  He is much better today and even being good with out his collar, which we learned yesterday he should be wearing for 2 more days.  Translate to we watch him like a hawk or collar him.

This being the 3rd long delay in plans means we have not made it to LA yet to see dear friend Cindy and daughter Sally and her family.  We realistically won't be returning north before this winter.  Have spent some time analyzing and deciding but bottom line, staying south is much safer.  We had been told by many that the winds turn in favor to return in September and October.  After adding our own research and experience into this we realize we heard 1/2 the story.  Seas, winds and waves continue to pick up and get worse!   Meaning winds and wind waves generally from the South, but mixed swells from any and all directions.  We have gotten much more comfortable with our boat but still not thinking it is wise to push north.

We have also done much reflecting on our adventure which we have enjoyed but flexed  A LOT over dream trip and still want to experience anchoring out and island hopping.  We both hoped, expected,etc more like San Juans had been.  Major differences have been

We knew our turf.  Been there several times, knew the land, sea, currents, weather, types of ocean bottoms for anchoring, names and locations of stores and provisioning options, etc

Kitty Cat was already outfitted for our needs, Spartan is very much a work in progress.  Major thanks to Scott for his many creations in his wood shop!  At least we are warm and dry while we are fixing lots of new projects.  Many more surprises keep popping up for a boat the surveyor said was ready to go.  Good thing we are do-it-yourselfers or the bank would be broke.

While we did have some open ocean experience and lots of semi protected (Islands) we ahve so far been mostly open ocean or in a marina.  Some concerns over our ground tackle (anchors have now been replaced but we have not had opportunity to use them yet) and many various bottom conditions -gravel, rock, shale, sand, mud, clay, seaweed... and each of varying density. 

Most marinas so far had bars at the river entrance that concentrates the wind and water flow and can be quite dangerous.   We knew that part.  : )  Columbia River is said to be the worst.  We are not sure we agree with that anymore but it is a major access with much traffic and publicity.  The smaller and shallower are actually more dicey and closed or restricted more.   They also channel the wind in such that anchoring inside can still be very rough.  Many frequent cruisers have said this year has been one of the worst for weather and all most all say the Pacific is the worst part of their world cruise.


We are far from learning to read the weather.  The San Juans is PNW and we could feel the change and often interpret it.  Here all is new.  Threats of hurricane effects and Santa Anna winds all of which seem to come up suddenly or at least severely when arriving.  We have been warned to always be prepared to leave most any anchorage on a moments notice.  And thus always listening to weather.  Ummm we are the ones that don;t watch TV  or listen to news or radio....  We do ALWAYS check weather before we go out and make decisions accordingly.  We just didn't expect sudden and drastic changes that we would not 'recognize'. After all it is still Pacific west coat and neither of us had spent much time here.....

Feeling confident that all this adds up to us getting to where the islands near Santa Barbara and LA are approachable!

In the mean time we will be visiting Cindy and Sally and then take up residency in the San Pedro Cabrillo Marina.  We have friends Steve and Vicky on SV Loch Fyne that also reside there.  We will have a safe storm hole and can play as we are ready and comfortable.   We will also take this opportunity to replace our leaky and aged windows.  Clearly never a winter project in Oregon.  : )

Love to all