As we repack the boat, re check our spares, re-provision, download movies, and do laundry to get ready for the next big leg of our adventure, Baja, Mexico. We plan on leaving San Diego and will sail 70nm to Encenada where we will check into Mexico. We have been staying at the south end of San Diego Bay in Chula Vista. Although it is a bit out of town, we have had the good fortune of borrowing a car from dear friends (thank you Skeeter and John) which allowed us to accomplish more than we would have thought and in less time. We also shared Thanksgiving with Skeeter and family which was lovely to have a last "traditional" dinner for awhile.
We are buddy boating with a few other boats, sv The Red Thread out of Seattle and a few Canadian boats as well. We will sail 750nm down the Pacific Baja and tuck into the Sea of Cortez. We do not have a final "destination" as we will wander around in search of warm water and fun.
Journey continues to be an invaluable crew member. She not only manages boating chores but is often thinking of options when we are frustrated or is able to handle her parent's tense moments and come through laughing.
We have loved the trip down the West Coast, we have explored so many communities that we haven't been too and really liked. We enjoyed southern California more than we thought we would and have found that people have been so kind and generous towards us.
We are looking forward to the next part of our journey and will share stories as we can.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Sunday, November 2, 2014
1000+ Nautical Miles Done.
Hard to believe we left 3 months ago. It has been quite an adventure to this point. We thought we left "early" enough which we did, however, it has been a busy hurricane year on the west coast with resultant large swells and storms. We waited out weather in many areas, sometimes up to a week before we felt comfortable venturing out. Everyone has their own tolerance for what they may want to deal with ie. big seas and big winds. We also spent 6 weeks in Berkeley, where we hung out with family and explored the area.
We loved Monterey and we are really starting to enjoy getting used to lots of sunshine and warmth. We have been blessed with dolphins swimming with the boat on multiple occasions including the Rizzo dolphins which are white, large dolphins. I love hearing and seeing Journey yell and get excited when we see the dolphins swimming and jumping off our bow.
We rounded Pt. Conception which is known as the "Cape Horn" of California. For those of you who are not sailors this basically means be prepared for some serious shit! After this point, you are in Southern California. We started to psych ourselves out, but after analyzing weather 4 times a day from various resources, we chose our window to leave. We opted to go straight to Santa Barbara which would mean 36 hours at sea. We had a great first day sail, the night was beautiful and pulled into SB early evening. Pt Conception fortunately, uneventful-just the way we like it!
It was amazing to wake in the morning to Santa Ynez Mountains, tall palm trees and sugar sandy beaches.
We have been buddy boating with our friends on sv The Red Thread since San Francisco. It has been fun spending time with Jesse and Neil, voyage planning and exploring these areas together. I met Jesse through a FB group and then we met at the Seattle Boat Show. While our boat was getting worked on in Seattle, we were able to spend some time together. We all became fast friends and would bounce ideas off each other as we voyaged planned. We did not expect to see much of Jesse and Neil until Mexico as they were leaving later in the season due to work commitments.
As luck would have it, we got to welcome them to Berkeley, sailed to Monterey and now to Santa Barbara. Jesse has a great blog svtheredthread.com. Our paths will part for a bit due to a loss in their family which is heartbreaking but we will reconnect at a later point.
Some of our other boat buddies are on the BaHaHaHA and on their way to Baja. We look forward to reconnecting with them too.
We are enjoying exploring, rented a car to drive up towards San Simeon and take in the Hearst Castle.
We loved Monterey and we are really starting to enjoy getting used to lots of sunshine and warmth. We have been blessed with dolphins swimming with the boat on multiple occasions including the Rizzo dolphins which are white, large dolphins. I love hearing and seeing Journey yell and get excited when we see the dolphins swimming and jumping off our bow.
We rounded Pt. Conception which is known as the "Cape Horn" of California. For those of you who are not sailors this basically means be prepared for some serious shit! After this point, you are in Southern California. We started to psych ourselves out, but after analyzing weather 4 times a day from various resources, we chose our window to leave. We opted to go straight to Santa Barbara which would mean 36 hours at sea. We had a great first day sail, the night was beautiful and pulled into SB early evening. Pt Conception fortunately, uneventful-just the way we like it!
It was amazing to wake in the morning to Santa Ynez Mountains, tall palm trees and sugar sandy beaches.
We have been buddy boating with our friends on sv The Red Thread since San Francisco. It has been fun spending time with Jesse and Neil, voyage planning and exploring these areas together. I met Jesse through a FB group and then we met at the Seattle Boat Show. While our boat was getting worked on in Seattle, we were able to spend some time together. We all became fast friends and would bounce ideas off each other as we voyaged planned. We did not expect to see much of Jesse and Neil until Mexico as they were leaving later in the season due to work commitments.
As luck would have it, we got to welcome them to Berkeley, sailed to Monterey and now to Santa Barbara. Jesse has a great blog svtheredthread.com. Our paths will part for a bit due to a loss in their family which is heartbreaking but we will reconnect at a later point.
Some of our other boat buddies are on the BaHaHaHA and on their way to Baja. We look forward to reconnecting with them too.
We are enjoying exploring, rented a car to drive up towards San Simeon and take in the Hearst Castle.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Rhythm
There are new rhythms that we have had to develop as we acclimate to our life as "cruisers." John and I had a great start when we left Port Angeles, Wa. to Bodega Bay, Ca. We had to work together to maintain our day to day life on the boat. Journey joined us in Bodega Bay to SF, a two day jaunt which took all of us a bit of time to get our dance together. Journey can be a great crew member on the boat and once she joined us, we couldn't believe how we were able to get on without her for those 2 weeks that she was visiting friends.
While we have been in Berkeley, Ca., we have been removed from our "cruising" rhythm as we have been staying with family and visiting the boat every few days. We are having so much fun visiting and playing with cousins and friends.
At a certain point, I had to break the news to Journey that we had to start school. Another rhythm we had to start. The first day was a bit rough for both of us but I am so proud of Journey and her ability to take on her independence with school work among other tasks.
Just as we were developing this new rhythm, I had a great surprise one day. My mom flew in from Connecticut! We were so happy to see her and spend a bit of time with her.
So what about our rhythms? Well, this is cruising. Losing the rigidity and structure of land life in exchange for flexibility. It is a struggle for me at this moment but can only hope as I go through this process that the idea of rhythm will be related to playing the ukelele.
While we have been in Berkeley, Ca., we have been removed from our "cruising" rhythm as we have been staying with family and visiting the boat every few days. We are having so much fun visiting and playing with cousins and friends.
At a certain point, I had to break the news to Journey that we had to start school. Another rhythm we had to start. The first day was a bit rough for both of us but I am so proud of Journey and her ability to take on her independence with school work among other tasks.
Just as we were developing this new rhythm, I had a great surprise one day. My mom flew in from Connecticut! We were so happy to see her and spend a bit of time with her.
So what about our rhythms? Well, this is cruising. Losing the rigidity and structure of land life in exchange for flexibility. It is a struggle for me at this moment but can only hope as I go through this process that the idea of rhythm will be related to playing the ukelele.
Stuff Happens
After a few curse words and then reminding ourselves of the good deed that had been attempted by the dock staff but slightly misjudged, we took a photo and went to the marina office.
The office kindly made good on the situation which we appreciated.
We were lucky that the Sign Shop in Port Hadlock still had us on file and will send our new lettering and then maybe things will be "perfect" again even if it is for a fleeting moment.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Milestones
Wow. After such wonderful "Bon Voyage" parties by family and our community we took all the blessings of those who have helped us live our dream and sailed out of Port Ludlow, Wa on August 4, 2014. We stopped in Sequim for a night and then to Port Angeles. We had planned to haul out, raise the water line (again) which we did. The Boat Haven in PA was fabulous. We also encountered a few shakedown issues which we resolved with the help of Platypus Marine (thank you Jud) and to Art who spent so many hours reassuring us! At this point, Journey left us to stay behind to be with friends for the last few weeks of summer and then fly to SF to meet us.
After a longer than anticipated stay, we left for Neah Bay. Weather kept us tethered, a few days longer than we wanted building our anxiety with the knowledge that the "Big Left Turn" awaited us and was the point of no return. We met fantastic cruisers, all heading in the same direction and started to form our buddy boats. We finally got our 2 day window to head to Newport, Or. We met the challenge of spending a few nights at see without incident. We took shifts, usually I did the 8pm to 12:30 am and John took 12:30 to 4 am and so on. We had lots of fog, wind on our nose and stayed about 15 miles off shore. We felt blessed to have Sonomora (Brian, Kay and Joe) who we had not met but kept in radio contact for those days and nights. We got to finally meet once we were in Newport. We had about 5 boats that came in over the next few days in fog and wind. We then all waited the next window. Unfortunately, Hurricane Marie in the Pacific delayed us as she went up large south swells and winds that we opted to wait out. The extra time in Newport was spent touring about and working on projects. Once we got our window, we decided we would go straight to Bodega Bay, Ca. This meant 3 nights/4 days at sea. We had our buddy boats with us which made it all the more tolerable. We picked up Abbie Normal (Brad and Gay), Impulse, and Sonomora.
Staying in contact, checking in a few times a day was beyond helpful to our sanity. We all pulled in to Bodega Bay and celebrated with an exciting dinner that required us to hike through a maze to and from dinner.
By the time we pulled in to Bodega Bay, Journey was flying in. We so desperately missed her and wanted our pod to be re united. We decided to take a bus to Santa Ana, rent a car, and drive to Berkeley. We spent Labor Day weekend with our family and get caught up with our girl!
The three of us drove back to Bodega Bay and readied the boat and ourselves for the 2 day passage to SF. We left early and headed for Drakes Bay just south of Point Reyes.
Journey got indoctrinated quickly as we hit some of the worst seas of the trip during this passage. We had 10 foot seas every 10 seconds with 3-5 foot wind waves on top of that. It was not fun but we made it. In Drakes, we wound up with over 20 fishing boats taking safe harbor for the night and we quickly realized that we would not be able to navigate out of the bay, in the dark, even with radar, to make the flood/slack at the Bridge. We decided to leave later in the morning which meant we would have to deal with afternoon winds in the Bay.
With a reefed head sail, we kept 4 miles off the coast, through Bonita Channel and voila, we are under the Golden Gate Bridge and in SF Bay!!!!
We are currently at the Berkeley Marina where we are spending time with family, meeting up with friends, and relaxing before we head towards San Diego.
After a longer than anticipated stay, we left for Neah Bay. Weather kept us tethered, a few days longer than we wanted building our anxiety with the knowledge that the "Big Left Turn" awaited us and was the point of no return. We met fantastic cruisers, all heading in the same direction and started to form our buddy boats. We finally got our 2 day window to head to Newport, Or. We met the challenge of spending a few nights at see without incident. We took shifts, usually I did the 8pm to 12:30 am and John took 12:30 to 4 am and so on. We had lots of fog, wind on our nose and stayed about 15 miles off shore. We felt blessed to have Sonomora (Brian, Kay and Joe) who we had not met but kept in radio contact for those days and nights. We got to finally meet once we were in Newport. We had about 5 boats that came in over the next few days in fog and wind. We then all waited the next window. Unfortunately, Hurricane Marie in the Pacific delayed us as she went up large south swells and winds that we opted to wait out. The extra time in Newport was spent touring about and working on projects. Once we got our window, we decided we would go straight to Bodega Bay, Ca. This meant 3 nights/4 days at sea. We had our buddy boats with us which made it all the more tolerable. We picked up Abbie Normal (Brad and Gay), Impulse, and Sonomora.
Staying in contact, checking in a few times a day was beyond helpful to our sanity. We all pulled in to Bodega Bay and celebrated with an exciting dinner that required us to hike through a maze to and from dinner.
By the time we pulled in to Bodega Bay, Journey was flying in. We so desperately missed her and wanted our pod to be re united. We decided to take a bus to Santa Ana, rent a car, and drive to Berkeley. We spent Labor Day weekend with our family and get caught up with our girl!
The three of us drove back to Bodega Bay and readied the boat and ourselves for the 2 day passage to SF. We left early and headed for Drakes Bay just south of Point Reyes.
Journey got indoctrinated quickly as we hit some of the worst seas of the trip during this passage. We had 10 foot seas every 10 seconds with 3-5 foot wind waves on top of that. It was not fun but we made it. In Drakes, we wound up with over 20 fishing boats taking safe harbor for the night and we quickly realized that we would not be able to navigate out of the bay, in the dark, even with radar, to make the flood/slack at the Bridge. We decided to leave later in the morning which meant we would have to deal with afternoon winds in the Bay.
With a reefed head sail, we kept 4 miles off the coast, through Bonita Channel and voila, we are under the Golden Gate Bridge and in SF Bay!!!!
We are currently at the Berkeley Marina where we are spending time with family, meeting up with friends, and relaxing before we head towards San Diego.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
48 Hours
Early in the morning, before the creaking of floor boards that signify awakening on board, I find the time to reflect. It has been a whirlwind over the last few weeks. Final stages of packing and planning. Both are never really quite done but constantly amended. Fluidity is a necessity. We find we wish we had more time to just hang out with our dear friends but boat projects keep us occupied. We had a lovely Bon Voyage and were overwhelmed at the sea of faces that came to bid us farewell. I look forward to having some time to download so many pictures from the past month to share so stay tuned. Countdown is winding down!
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