October 17th...

On October 17^th, we loaded up the boat and found places for things we didn’t know we had. Our water line took a hit! It was a busy day getting loose ends finished up. One highlight of the day was a visit from my daughter, Lauren, who came to spend some time…and to say her goodbye.  It was good to see her but I felt sad the second she drove off.  After I wiped away the tears, I got into task mode and finished getting everything done that I needed to.

It’s been hard for both Rick and I to really get excited about our upcoming trip with all of the stress that we have been under trying to prepare. It wasn’t until the next morning….our day of departure…when we left the dock at 10:00 a.m. after our friends Margo and Robert cut our dock lines, we started to feel some excitement of the journey ahead!

THE DAY BEFORE DEPARTURE

After our departure from our Marina, and heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge, our friends Keith and Mary were following in their sailboat a short ways behind us. Keith and Mary are planning to go with us as far as Monterey. Then they will be heading North back to Brickyard Cove Marina and eventually driving up to Washington to take possession of their new sailboat in Port Townsend.

After we got just outside the Gate, the winds picked up to 22-24 knots and on our nose. The seas were big and the ride was not fun! We spent three hours of clenching our teeth and gripping the sides of the cockpit while the boat bashed forcefully on each wave that came. This was not the way I wanted to start our trip. We were both a little uneasy but chuckled saying,  ‘it figures…just our luck’.

As soon as we passed the 4^th Buoy and turned left (heading South), turned off the motor and put both the Jib and the Mainsail up, life was good again! The winds were down not as high and the swells were still big but they were going with us.  I exhaled and was able to relax and enjoy the sail! The rest of the sail to Half Moon Bay was a dream.  The sun was shining brightly and the sky was clear. We saw a lot of Humpback whales along the way which was very exciting!!  We saw one breach completely out of the water…of course my camera was not at the ready for that one!

We approached Pillar Point Harbor at Half Moon Bay in drizzling rain and a bit of fog around 6:25 p.m. The visibility was poor, but we managed to get ourselves into the Harbor and anchored successfully. Thank goodness for navigational charts!

Keith and Mary pulled in within minutes of our arrival. They anchored just next to us.

That night we stayed on board and had soup for dinner and just relaxed from the long 8 1/2 hour sail.

The next day, we woke to rain and were also warn out from the day before that we decided to stay another day and night at Half Moon Bay. We met up with Keith and Mary for breakfast at Ketch Joanne’s and sat outside on the patio. We walked around after our leisurely breakfast then took our dinghies back to our boats and planned to meet later for dinner ashore.

Tuesday morning we left Half Moon Bay at 6:40 a.m. in the dark. No sooner did we leave we were engulfed in the fog. We could not see anything around us or in front of us. We had to rely solely on the iPad for our navigation.

After a few hours in the fog…the sun appeared and it was warm and bright and we could see as far as the eye could see! There was not much wind so we ended up motoring all the way to Santa Cruz. There was a time as we were getting close to the Santa Cruz Harbor where we thought we’d try to put up our sails, but they just started to make lots of noise. So, the sails came down! We motored into Santa Cruz and tied up to the fuel dock, got some fuel, reported in with the Harbor Master and got an end tie right in front of our friends, Jack and Brenda who had been there for two days previous.

SUNSET FROM CROWS NEST

* Nightly fees were $1.25 per foot per night. $40.00 deposit for the key to the gate and restrooms. $25.00 for a key fob for the showers (this fee was non refundable but they can be loaded again on your next visit to the Harbor). 

Soon after we settled in, Keith and Mary arrived and got a slip on the other side of the Harbor.  Everyone was happy with their spots and we ended up spending four more days in Santa Cruz with an intention of only spending a night or two.  That’s what’s great about NOT having a schedule. 

KEITH AND MARY

Our first night in Santa Cruz, we went to the Crow’s Nest in time to enjoy appetizers at half off and sat outside on the deck watching the boats enter and leave the Harbor. We left shortly after sunset. What a view! We said our goodbyes to Jack and Brenda who were heading back towards Brickyard Cove early the next morning. We won’t be seeing them for a while. At least not for 6 months.

A BUTTERFLY JOINED US FOR BREAKFAST AT THE HARBOR CAFE 

COUSINS HANGING OUT ON THE DOCK

The next several days we took a couple of walks on the beach, visited with my sister Sydney, who we met for breakfast, who took me to her Yoga class, who took me for a haircut, to the Laundromat, and to Trader Joe’s. 

Later she introduced us to some close friends of hers who happen to also be sailors and who belong to the SCYC (which is a gorgeous YC especially at night!) 

ME AND MY SISTER, SYDNEY

One day we walked more than we had intended to! First we walked to West Marine for parts, which was almost 2 miles out, then we decided to walk to the Capitola Mall from there to find a T-Mobile store.  We were looking for T-Mobile because we heard that all calls & texts from Mexico are free. So we went there and all we had to do was to trade in one of our phones for their phones. Sounded simple enough, but I was nervous about it because I’ve lost my contacts and pictures etc. every time I’ve gotten a new phone!!  But the T-Mobile representative assured me that it would not be a problem! Well…9 hours later…. It really had turned into a fiasco! Rick had things to do on the boat so he left for the long walk back to the Harbor when he first heard it might be an hour to work things out. I stayed and waited with Harley.  It was a long boring wait so I walked the mall with Harley! I kept checking in every hour only to be told it would be an hour more. In the meantime, Rick was wondering what had happened to me since he thought I’d be back at the Harbor in a few hours at the most. And I was frustrated trying to get a hold of him to let him know that I was going to be a while.  I was calling from a pay phone and he had to borrow Mary’s phone.  We never did connect until about 8p.m. It was quite an experience and a test in patience. But now we are on T-Mobile and all is good…. as far as we know. That was the day of lots of walking! I walked the mall non-stop and Rick walked several miles back to the Harbor and I ended up taking a cab back because it was close to 9p.m.

Since we wasted an entire day at the Mall, we decided to stay another day in Santa Cruz. That was what we called the first day of vacation! The first day we did not have to do any errands and we could just do what we wanted.  The weather has been so gorgeous it was nice to be enjoying it.

CAPITOLA

After we all sailed out of the Santa Cruz Harbor, we sailed over to Capitola and pulled up a Mooring Ball and stayed for the night.  The wind and swells seemed to pick up and the boat rolled around all night long. Finally in the morning things were calm. But there was a big surf crashing at the beach where we wanted to dinghy so we decided not to go to shore. So, we ended up leaving around 11a.m.  It was a short sail over to Moss Landing and the winds were light. We motored with our Jib.