Sailing Trance

Saturday May 16

We left Santa Cruz by 7am. It will be a 10-11 hour sail to San Francisco. We are all hoping there will be no fog when we sail under the Golden Gate Bridge!

Santa Cruz has two lighthouses. Walton light on the Breakwater , and the Santa Cruz Lighthouse.

Along the way we also saw the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, on Wednesday we saw it by land.

We watched the fog roll over the hills coming from San Francisco Bay spilling into the ocean.

Just before 6pm we sailed under the a Golden Gate Bridge! The tide and current were briskly flowing into the bay, our SOG (speed over ground) was greater than 8 knots. Then we rounded Alcatraz.

Thursday May 14- the majority of the day was spent on boat jobs. Joy and I scraped and sanded the little wood trim on the port side of the boat. Later Dan and I added teak sealer.

Dan and John installed wheels on the dinghy. The wheels, when flipped down, give you a mechanical advantage when getting the dinghy out of the water on to a beach.

Later we took the dingy across the channel to Crows Nest restaurant for take out.

Friday May 15- Dan went up the mast today to re-run the halyard for “Cody” our Code 65 sail. Hopefully we’ll get the repaired sail back from North Sails next week.

Back in Mexico we lost out Thistle Class Flag, attached to our flag halyard, in high winds. Joy had a new one sent to us. In the afternoon, we had a Thistle flag raising ceremony complete with “Scotland the Brave”.

Dinner was ordered again from Crows Nest, Joys family joined us too. Elise will be sailing with us to San Francisco tomorrow.

Tuesday May 12- We spent the night at the gas dock at the Monterey Marina, as we arrived after hours that’s where they put us. We were serenaded all night long by Sea Lions. All night long!

Our destination is Santa Cruz, the other side of Monterey Bay. It was a pleasant 4 hour sail. Along the way we encountered more Sea Lions, Dolphins and several Whales.

At the entrance to Santa Cruz, on the break water stands the Walton Lighthouse.

Joys sister lives a half hour north of Santa Cruz. She along with her daughter Elise came down to the boat this afternoon. Joy and John went home with them for the night.

Wednesday May 13- Joy and John picked us late morning, for a drive up the coast. We stopped for lunch at the Davenport Roadhouse, take out only. It was a bit misty in the afternoon, and all the beaches were closed the scenery was great! We drove through a grove of Redwoods on our way to Jills house.

We stopped at a local organic vegetable market.

Jill and Steve made pizza with homemade crust and made chicken wings for dinner.

Sunday May 10- Happy Mother’s Day! Beth had sent a beautiful orchid that was delivered to the marina yesterday by a local florist!

Morro Bay is a National Estuary with several marine mammals including Sea Otters.

We departed The marina around 11:30am. Traveling about 30 miles we anchored for the night near the Hearst Ranch Winery in San Simeon Bay.

The Hearst Castle was slightly visible from the water, on top of the hill surrounded by fog.

For dinner grilled a pork loin roast, served it with roasted brussel spouts and sweet potatoes.

Monday May 11- The anchor was up by 7am. For breakfast Joy baked a crustless quiche. It had lots of veggies along with some bacon and ham.

Piedras Blancas Light Station

Sailing north up the California coast with a nice southerly breeze with the current!

Big Sur Lighthouse

Our plan was to anchor at Arrowhead Point, holes 6,7 & 8 next to Pebble Beach Golf Course. With a strong south wind of 25 knots true and rolling waves, it was not a good situation to anchor. So we rounded the corner to Monterey and got a slip in a marina.

Saturday May 9

We walked today a little over 3 miles. Stopped at the Blue Sky Bistro for take out. Then we walked to the rock.

Joy purchased a couple of postcards, the shopping process was this, look through store window, call, get price, tell them what denomination of money you are using to pay, the door opens with your items, money exchanged with change.

A Morro is a domed rock, a volcanic plug, remnants of an extinct volcano. This one is 576 ft. tall.

Thanks to Wade and Annie at Morro Bay Landing for donating to us awesome fishing lures and sinkers! Love the extended family support!

Wades fried Joe, Joes Jigs, dropped off these beauties for us too! Thanks Joe!

Thursday May 7- we departed Santa Barbara around noon, arrived at Cojo anchorage at 7:30pm.

For dinner we made Chicken and Vegetable Sauté. Chicken with carrots, broccoli, red onion, lemon zest, Great Northern Beans and Chicken Broth.

After a 2 hour power nap, we were up at 11:30pm for a weather check, pulled up anchor, departed Cojo around 1:30am, arrived in Morro Bay at 1:30pm Friday, May 8.

We’re on the Morro Bay Yacht Club live web cam if watch today or tomorrow! May 8, 9.

My sister in law, Sherry, her sister Annie lives near Morro Bay. Annie and her husband Wade came down to the boat to say hello this afternoon. Always great to visit with family, friends and friends of friends!

For lunch we did take out from Beach Burger locates next to the yacht club.

Tuesday May 5- We walked 6 miles today round trip to provision. With wagon in tow, we’re off to Ralph’s.

Crustless taco pie for dinner with optional toppings of lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, taco sauce and sour cream,

Wednesday May 6- Happy 9th Birthday Alyssa!

Laundry day again, this time we did sheets and towels and whatever else was dirty. Out wagon sure gets a work out! The marina laundromat was open, short walk today.

For dinner we grilled hamburgers, Joy made a coleslaw too.

Sunday May 3- was a very productive day. We sanded the rails on Trance. At one point during the day we left the marina out into the bay and sanded, we were creating lots of dust in the slip.

Monday May 4- teak sealing day!

For dinner I made Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes. It’s a baked sweet potatoes topped with a black bean, corn, tomato sauce and spices mixture topped with shredded cheese.

Friday May 1-laundry day. We gathered our clothes and towels loaded them in the bags placed them in our wagon, it’s about 3/4 mile walk from our boat to Marina laundromat. Accessible to only to those at the marina. Our gate card gives access. Well, the laundry room was closed for repairs😒. Went back to the boat, tied the wagon to dock, and will try again tomorrow.

For dinner we ordered take out from Sushi Go Go which is next to the marina.

Saturday May 2– the local fishermen were selling fish and shellfish this morning on the dock.

We purchased 3.5 lbs of Spotted Prawns for dinner from Bruce. $20 per pound.

Second attempt at laundry, still closed. Joy and I walked 2.6 miles round trip to a laundromat.

Tuesday April 28- Walking has been our mode of transportation, today was only 3 miles. Went to a West Marine, no indoor shopping, you stop at a table the employee gets the item you pay at the table, credit cards only.

For breakfast I made blueberry scones. The recipe makes 8, mine were smaller in size.

Wednesday April 29- Our friends Robin and Gary are visiting their daughter and her family just north of LA, came down to visit us, it was great to see them!

The text trail went like this: Me: You guys in CA? Robin: Yeah, why? Me: We’re in Santa Barbara. Robin: OMGGGGGG, we’ll be right over!!!! 🙂 Robin: What a great reprieve from our collective COVID-19 isolation . . .

Had Pizza delivered for dinner.

Thursday April 30– boat project day as we wait for our weather window. In general a lazy day.

For dinner we made Taco stuffed pasta shells.

My intent with this blog was to post our activities every day of the journey. Not anticipating long weather delays, or a world pandemic, there have been days with little to write about. This journal is a chronicle of our daily lives and activities. The places we visit, our activities, the food we eat, the people we encounter.

Every tomorrow will be better than the day before.