Sailing under the Golden Gate bridge was definitely a milestone for us. I’d thought about this moment for quite some time – finding it difficult to think further into the future in any detail. It sure felt like our first “major” milestone in this journey.
Knowing that we would need to get some work done to replace the broken vang, we checked in with Schoonmaker Point Marina in Sausalito (http://schoonmakermarina.com/). A really attractive and well run marina, we enjoyed just over a week in this fabulous location. It ended up being an expensive 10-days, with pretty serious marina fees, the rigging work (by South Beach Riggers) and a REALLY nice Westmarine store within walking distance! To be fair, Westmarine was probably the worst of the bunch (I was like a kid in a candy store).
Sausalito is an awesome place, with a very “Victoria BC-like” vibe going on. Great (but expensive) shopping @ Molly Stones, Walks into town along the waterfront, and a great park next door for Clover to let off steam.
We got the boat cleaned up, got a load of Amazon deliveries, then Tom and his crew got our new boom vang installed. As soon as that was in and tested, we were off – now feeling a little behind schedule after this extended stop and the same at Crescent City. Our trip south was to be a short one – just a day sail to Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay
We made the short (30 mile) trip down to Pillar Point Harbour at the end of September so that we could meet up with some good friends of ours who were visiting from Africa. Despite overcast conditions with fog in the bay area, the journey South was a great sail with strong winds and a bunch of other boats out of San Francisco to race against. After a bit of confusion about where in the Marina we were supposed to tie up, we snugged up next to a bright yellow fishing boat next to the pier, and got our first experience of some really noisy sea-lions (honking all night long).
Fishermen in Pillar Point were all friendly and it wasnt long before Louise was chatting to them, scoring fresh fish every night! We ate well.
Our friends Klaus and Helena had a rental car, so we took a ride inland to check out some of the old growth forests and some vineyards. California appears to be the clipboard-wielding centre of the universe, and has large signposts everywhere listing the things people aren’t allowed to do! Crazy stuff. One thing Californians apparently dont like is dogs – dogs are not allowed in the forest for goodness sakes. We adhered to all rules BTW, per the photo below.
On our way back to the boat we googled and then headed for a small winery (Mindego Ridge) but unfortunately on arrival we found a closed gate with a sign “Please call for the gate code – cell signal available back down the road”, we looked at each other and being resourceful South Africans we said lets try their street number with # at the end! What do you know! It worked and the gate opened! We drove up the drive way to a lovely house overlooking the vineyard. We met Stacey the owner who told us that wine tasting is by appointment only and they had been up all night picking grapes. She did sell us some Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
After a few days in this friendly little fishing harbour, our friends headed back to the airport and we set sail for Monterey Bay.
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