We had a great time in Monterey... we met wonderful folks, shared some fun times with the Monterey Yacht Club members, did some touristy things.. and generally enjoyed ourselves very much. Kathy's going to write more about our Monterey experience... I'm still so excited about our run down from Monterey to Morro Bay that I'm just going to jump right in to it. So here goes..
When we started dreaming about this adventure, and preparing our little ship and ourselves for the day we might just push off... we also dreamed of warm (or hot) sunny days, sparkling diamond seas, and just enough wind to keep things interesting without being too onerous. Well, let me tell you... we finally, after all this time, found just that. We left Monterey in a light fog (yes, after living in fog for weeks you start to clarify just how foggy it actually is :-). We'd fueled up and wound our way out of the harbour doing our best to miss the islands of sea lions laying about on the water.. and we'd managed to miss the huge piles of kelp that also look like small islands. We motored around Point Pinos and down the coast fairly close to land.. it was just beautiful. We motor-sailed (main up finally) past Carmel and Big Sur... and then, as the day warmed up the fog thinned out and disappeared and the wind filled in behind us and... away we went. It was fabulous !! It was everything that you imagine it could be. We weren't racing along, we weren't careening down huge waves, we weren't having to hold on particularly strongly. But we did have a terrific down-wind sail and it lasted pretty much all day. We were travelling with other boats for the first time and that was neat too. We had friends ahead of us to our starboard (a mile or so) and others behind us... and we kept in touch by radio from time to time. And then, as the afternoon light began to fade, and the sun began it's glorious descent towards the sea, we got ourselves fed and dressed properly for the cooler evening. The winds did pick up a bit more. In fact we put a second reef into the mainsail (we usually travel with the first reef in all the time while we're 'in transit'), and semi-furled the jib. Eventually we furled the jib all the way in and just ran on the main... we were doing about 4 knots and that's just fine for night runs. As well.. I really like reefing the main in daylight before I have to fumble around in the dark. We carried on into the night, under an amazing starlit sky. The milky way was huge... and stole the show for hours. Cassiopious was with us all night too (thank you Fred for teaching me about old Cassy...). Every time I see this constellation I'm instantly transported back to the cockpit of Zephra where Fred and I spent many a good hour talking about life as we helped Jim deliver his yacht to Cabo. Fred told me about Cassiopious and she's been kind of a symbol for me ever since. Anyway, I digress. The sky was magnificant !! The moon came up bright as ever, stayed with us most of the night, and then changed to a burning glow as it sunk slowly into the sea and disappeared. It was one of those nights that will stay with me forever. It was the best of the best for night watches. We travelled all night and into dawn's early grey light, arriving just off the entrance to Morro Bay about 1020 hrs.. Our friends on SV Eagle had gone in before us and secured moorage at the Morro Bay Yacht Club (MBYC ironically the same initials as our own YC) and we rafted to them. We're here in the cutest coastal California town I've ever seen. It's like stepping back into the 1960's. It's just great.. and that's a 'good thing' as the weather our friends are having in BC is now sweeping down the coast and giving us rain and gusts to 35 knots... It's a good time to be snug as a bug and safe in harbour. We hope the forecasts are correct and the winds and seas will die down by the weekend, at which time we'll head back out and continue our trek south. We're excited about meeting Susan and George and Sophie (the ships dog) in Dana Point around mid-month. We were disappointed to learn that the Santa Barbara marina is under renos and we won't be able to go there.. but the good thing is there's lots of other places to visit :-). So for now my friends... adieu... I must get to work... chores await me. And... our friend Tom has found a place that sells his favourite beer in pitchers for $6 each... we must continue our culinary quest for the bestest and cheapest beer... and the bestest food (PS: there's an oyster place here... can't wait :-). Bye for now... Carolyn
PS: Our friends Jeanne and Tom have a very nice blog at www.sailblogs.com/member/bigleftturn . If you go there now, you'll see a photo of Shannon and their boat rafted at the Morro Bay Yacht Club.. and Jeanne's written a good piece on transiting from her point of view...
