Monterey Bay
We LOVED Monterey Bay, despite the rolly marina slip and the thousands of seals & sea lions that filled the harbour. Halfmoon Bay to Monterey was another day sail, requiring an early start in order to arrive before dark. The Monterey harbour is prety chaotic, and the narrow visitors slip that was assigned to us was exposed to current and swell. This needed an agressive entry – going in at full tilt, then slamming into reverse at the very last minute. I failed to get this right, so more paint was traded with the dockside and Eos’s first mate was quite rude to the Captain.
Did I mention the sea lions? You really need sound for the video below…
Monterey has a beautiful boardwalk, and we walked it into town each day. Stunning weather every day, so tee-shirts and ice-creams as we toured the town.
This is where we discovered Trader Joes…. A brilliant US supermarket with its own (cheaper) brand of Charlie Bears – Finn and Clover’s favourite treats!! The only thing stopping us from stocking Eos to the gills was the long walk back to the marina.
Port San Luis
In keeping with our preference for “one nighters”, We set off again after 3 days in Monterey. Turning left next to Pebble Beach golf course, we kept a keen eye out for sliced drives. Port San Luis was 130 miles away, meaning another 20 hour (day + night) journey. We saw lots of fog and moisture that night, plus a handful of fishing boats on radar, but in other respects fairly quiet.
We arrived in the PSL anchorage early in the morning, in thick fog – spending at least an hour trying to decide where to anchor! We found our spot near Avila Beach, set the hook and retired to catch up on some sleep.
Being wide open to the South, the pacific swell (prevailing direction from NW) does wrap around the point a little, making it fun to drop the outboard onto the dinghy.
There’s not much to see here, but it made for a great stopping off point, allowing us to get some rest before continuing our journey early the next morning.
Weighing anchor and navigating out of the harbour in fog and in the dark was another first.
Santa Barbara
This was a +12 hour day, so we set sail early and arrived in Santa Barbara just as it was turning dark. Foggy as we left Port San Luis, with overcast skies and fog or rain most of the day. Another day where we were grateful for our full enclosure. No fog as we arrived in Santa Barbara Harbour however, much to my relief (new marina, arriving at night, in fog would probably max out my stress levels) . No wind for most of the journey, so we motored most of the way and motor-sailed the rest.
This 90-mile journey took us around Point Conception – an infamous stretch of coastline – and past a number of oil rigs about 10 miles off shore. We were pretty disappointed with the human race when we noticed a skin of oil on the surface of a calm ocean – for several miles! Even sadder as we passed a large pod of dolphins; they didnt seem to be bothered by the oil but still…
I’m now stressing a little that we are motoring more than we are sailing of late, but after sharing this concern with others later (in San Diego) we were apparntly not alone. Honestly, I think we both preferred the calm weather around Point Conception, as the alternative can be a howling gale and steep seas – winds here catch sailors out regularly and is generally stronger than forecast. We had zero wind here, so no complaints…
For us northerners, Santa Barbara has a very “SoCal” feel about it, and Clover LOVED the beach there. The weather improved while we stayed here and we enjoyed the sun, walking the seafront every day and generally feeling good about the exercise we were getting (definitely an old peoples thing to think that a long walk is good exercise!).
Santa Cruz Island
We had heard lots of good things about the Channel Islands – a group of Islands ~25 miles from Santa Barbara and a little further from Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the islands form a National Park that prohibits dogs on shore, so we plan to arrive late in the afternoon, then drop anchor without setting foot on Santa Cruz. These islands are pretty exposed to the prevailing weather, but we anchored in the popular “Smugglers Cove” on the South East shore of Santa Cruz and had a quiet, but rolly night. Oh, and we sailed pretty much the whole way there – making me feel more like a sailor again!
Catalina Island
Catalina is part of the Channel Islands, but not the National Park, so Finn and Clover were allowed on shore! Motor sailing over from Santa Cruz was a 65 mile day trip in good weather, with regular dolphin and whale sightings along the way. We departed early (in the dark again) and enjoyed 10 kt winds and smaller (6′) seas for the most part. A pretty relaxing day in general, other than being a little apprehensive about all the mooring procedures demanded by the Catalina Island harbour authorities.
We pulled into Cat Harbour late in the afternoon, messed around with the mooring ball (another marriage-tester!) and took the dogs ashore for a well-desrved walk. We stayed here for 3 full days, and enjoyed the beach, some great walks around the coast and met some friends for a BBQ on Canadian Thanksgiving!
As we were enjoying this island so much, we decided to visit Avalon as well. This is a busier and more “touristy” harbour, but only 20 miles around the island, so a short day sail. We arrived to a very well organized harbour, and the infamous double mooring ball set up that we had struggled a little with previously. This was no different, and we entertained the mooring field for half an hour as we tried to get tied up properly while Louise treated everyone to some proper South African swearing from the bow.
Upon arrival in Avalon, we have covered 1270 miles since leaving Anacortes!
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