Arriving in the Bay Area we were met with clear blue skies, morning fog and 70+ degree days. The warm sun on our face, the neighborhoods with plenty of walking and restaurants are a delight to the meandering sailor. The contrast from the pristine wilderness of Alaska and the bustling city with fire truck signals, traffic and crowds was distinctly noticeable.
Our first week here, we spent in Sausalito. This quaint sea side suburban area on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge was fully of big marinas, quaint restaurants and many many kayaks and paddleboards.
Dan's extended family based in the south end of the Bay came up to visit us. Dan also had a chance to fix the alternator using a local machine shop to replicate the broken part.
On Sunday, we cruised across the bay the 4.5 nautical miles to Aquatic Park Cove in downtown San Francisco. This is an iconic anchorage with the Maritime Museum ships on the beach side, Alactrez on the bay side and the Golden Gate Bridge on the pacific side. It was just a little tricky to anchor. Most boats seemed to take 2 or three attempts, the current
was strong and random and the wind steady 15-20 knots. This means that half the boats might be facing one way (all the catamarans and fin keel boats into the wind) and all the full keel boats (following the current). And throw in that there are swimmers constantly swimming in the park, it makes for some entertainment as well as a challenge. We didn't leave the boat until the second day when we'd made it through several cycles of wind and tide. The city lights were bright and the noises loud and strange -- coupled with constant rolling from the large ship traffic in the bay -- it made for some restless nights. Our cat even got sea sick at anchor.
We are starting to see some of the same boats in the harbor and have checked in that many of them are headed in the same direction that we are and will be joining the Baja Haha rally from San Diego. It is fun to make these connections now, and know that we'll be sailing with this same cohort for the next 2-3 months. There are currently over 100 boats in the Rally. You can see the list here.
From San Francisco, we turned left out of the bay and headed south to Pillar Point in the community of Half Moon Bay and now find ourselves in Santa Cruz. We have had very calm following seas with swell 1-2 meters. Since this has been first few days in ocean swell with Okisollo, I've found it very pleasant and comfortable compared to our other boats. The cat did mostly fine, but was not thrilled. We continued to see whales along the way. I wasn't able to identify them. They were probably not humpback. But along the whole coast is the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary which is home to multiple species.
Santa Cruz is a special place for us as we purchased our first 'big boat' here in 1997. We spent several weeks in the marina working on the boat before moving it up to Seattle (many unexpected issues and our first experience about getting boat work done--which is often slower and more expensive than you planned!). We decided to stay an extra night here in Santa Cruz so we could see Jewel perform at the Santa Cruz Mountains Sol. Why not? We have forecasted light NW Winds for the next 4-5 days so tomorrow and the next few days will continue to hop our way down the coast.
So glad we got to see you before yoit journey love ❤️ you both and have a safe and wonderful journeys!
love you both😘🌈