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.