Ventura Harbor

Leaving Santa Barbara to Ventura was again like a giant lake.  We didn't even have to give Chloe her medication.  We are here at the Ventura Yacht Club and they couldn't have been more hospitable.  Hour after we got here our friend Susan drove over from Woodland Hills and we all went out to lunch.  David, her husband, was in Lake Tahoe and couldn't be here.  After lunch I walked back to the boat and Sue took Jan to the grocery store to restock our cupboards and frig.  We had a great time visiting with Sue and hope to see her and David sometime in San Diego.  Don't have to get up at 4:00am tomorrow morning since we are only going 72 miles.  So up at 6:00 and off at 7:00am.  See you in Long Beach.

Oil platforms just outside from Santa Barbara

Porpoises

Inside Ventura Harbor

Ventura Yacht Club

Sue and Jan

Santa Barbara

Finally left Morro Bay Saturday at 5:00am.  When you leave the harbor you are heading West and the swells come at the side of the boat making it a little rocky until you get up around the point at Port San Luis.  Then we had following seas and a pretty good ride.  At Point Conception it was a beautiful day with about 5 to 7 foot swells but no wind.  Once around Point Conception it was like a lake all the way to Santa Barbara.  We pulled in about 4:15pm and headed to the fuel dock for a couple hundred gallons of diesel, while Jan checked in with the harbor master.  Apparently this was there busiest weekend and the only thing until the next day was an end tie that was about a 1/2 mile walk to take Chloe to perform her duty. We had to vacate before noon with no promise they could accommodate us another day.  Rather than take our chances we called the Ventura Yacht Club and they had a dock we could stay for the night until we go to Long Beach.  Only twenty miles and a couple of hours in the lake we headed out at 10:30am and were tied up by 12:30pm. 

Point Conception they way you want to see it from a boat on a good day.

We had these hitch hikers on the way.

It was cute at the time but everyone knows what they leave behind.

Princess cruise ship at Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara Harbor

Morro Bay Continued

Still here at the Morro Bay Yacht Club with a total of five other boats.  The dock is full and everyone is waiting for that weather window.  Three of the five are headed North and one sailboat and us are going South.  The sail boat side tied to us is a 32 foot that is being single handed by the owner.  His name is Richard and lives in Berkeley, CA.  He took the boat down to Santa Barbara by himself while his wife flew in and met him.  They sailed the Channel Islands for a week and then she flew back.  Like him, we have only got this far in two weeks because of the weather.  Yesterday the wind blew like crazy.  We clocked gusts to 40 miles per hour.  The wind waves here in the bay were breaking over the guest dock.  These are reasons not to go in the ocean.  Saturday for us looks like a great time to go around Point Conception and head to Santa Barbara.  I think the sailboats are leaving tomorrow morning to go North.

We take Chloe to the park everyday and let her run.  She really enjoys to chase her ball.  Jan got a great deal for a massage yesterday and now she's at the nail place getting a pedicure.  I washed the boat, what's wrong with that picture?  One good thing is Morro Bay has a lot of restaurants so we eat out at least once a day whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Hard to tell, but rough in the bay

Front two boats tied together

Boats tied together behind us

Sailboat next to us

Morro Bay

Left Monterey Saturday at 5:00am and heading South to Morro Bay.  Biggest concern was rounding Point Sur. The boat handled good even though it rained from the time we left to about half way.  Wasn't the most ideal conditions but never unsafe.  Poor Chloe didn't fair well and got sea sick.  Not sure if she is fully recovered.  Finally got to Morro Bay at about 4:00pm.  It's just a little over a hundred miles.  We tied up to the Morro Bay Yacht Club.  Check out this link and you'll see our boat smack dab in the middle of the picture.  http://www.mbyc.net/webcam1/  Remember if you check it out after this Friday we won't be there, we hope.  After a good nights sleep we walked over and had some lunch and waited for our friends David and Carina to show up.  David was my best man some 42 years ago and they live about an hour South from here.  When they arrived we par-took in some adult beverages and went to dinner.  It was sure great seeing them.  The last time we saw them was a couple of years ago at our 40th anniversary party.  Thanks for the dinner Dave and Carina!  Today we woke up to an off shore wind blowing hot air.  It got up to 92 degrees!  Went to Kitty's Kitchen for breakfast and back to the boat.  Pork chops for dinner tonight.  Stay tuned.

Off of Point Sur

Boy, glad that's over!

The infamous Morro Bay Rock

Harbor

Panacea at the Morro Bay Yacht Club

Monterey Continued

Here it is the 20th and still in Monterey.  We were going to leave for Morro Bay today but when I went up to check out at 4:30 this morning the harbor master asked if I want to check the weather before I go.  Sure, why not!  He looks it up and now it's small craft warnings with 6ft wind waves not to mention the swell which is something like 13 feet.  Last night before we went to bed the weather forecast had been good.   So I go back to the boat a let Jan know we won't be going today.  Since the coffee was made we finished off the pot and agreed the best thing to do is stay another day.  Then we went back to bed.  It looks like tomorrow is the time to try again.  So while we were here we had Chloe cleaned and shaved at Petco.  We also did our laundry and did a little grocery shopping.  It's actually very nice here except for the sea lions that make noise all day and night long.  Today we walked down to Cannery Row and back.  We heard some sad news today, Jessica's grandmother (Yaya) passed away this morning in the hospital.  Our hearts and condolences go out to the Jimenez family.

Cleaned and shaved

Panacea at her guest dock

Entrance to Fisherman's Wharf

Monterey

We were under the gate around 6:30am and in a whirlpool of churning ocean.  The Captain was about to turn around but the Admiral said to suck it up, so I put the pedal to the metal and found out it was a lot smoother than going trawler speed.    After about an hour the seas calmed down with about a 4 to 5 foot swell with a long interval, very comfortable.  I ran the boat at 2200 RPM for most of the trip and with the following sea would do about 14 knots down hill.  Then the sun came out and no wind, what more could you hope for?  We arrived in Monterey about 3:30pm. and were assigned a slip in the back corner of the marina with sea lions lying all over the docks and making there usual loud barking noise.  Chloe went crazy and had to bark back.   Speaking of Chloe, we gave her a vet prescribed motion sickness pill which helped her from the constant shaking and panting.  She even laid down after several hours of standing.  When we checked in with the harbor master we begged for a different slip.  He said we could go to the end tie on the other side of the marina after a sail boat leaves at 5:30pm.  If anyone is familiar with the fisherman's wharf, we are right there next to the wharf.  The weather looks bad for at least four days so we decided to rent a car for a couple of days and take Chloe in for grooming, run some errands, and give Jan a chance to go to Carmel.

Pigeon Point just past Half Moon Bay

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Can you see the cruise ship?

Alameda, CA

For economic purposes we finally left Sausalito after the boat was repaired and headed out early on Friday the 13th (oh oh) for Alameda.  We always try to pick a marina that has close walking amenities like a grocery store and restaurants.   We stayed at the Marina Village Yacht Harbor.  We were tied up in the back at this one boat  guest dock next to the gate with the restrooms and laundry room. We walked over to the grocery store and stocked up on some adult beverages and easy to prepare microwavable food for our 100 mile journey to Monterey.  The adult beverages were for when we arrived.  We were a short walk from the Oakland Yacht Club and the Encinal Yacht Club.  Being members of the Tower Park Yacht Club we took full advantage of their club house.  Late Saturday our son Michael, Jess, Carter, and Dylan stopped by after visiting Jess's Aunt and Grandmother in Hayward.  We all walked over to the Encinal Yacht Club for dinner.  I'm not use to going to yacht clubs that have a full lunch and dinner menu.  The food was great.  After dinner everyone left to go home, and Jan and I went to bed early knowing we have to get up at 4:00am Sunday the 15th to get ready to head to Monterey.  I didn't get much sleep thinking about the next day.

Panacea at her own guest dock

Looking from Panacea thru the marina to downtown Oakland

Mike and Jess

Captain and Admiral

Dinner at the Encinal Yacht Club

Final goodbye before we head out South

Getting ready to go under the Golden Gate and turn left.

Sausalito

Before leaving San Francisco we drove Panacea over to the pump out.  Leaving the pump out the port engine (left side) was making loud noises while in reverse.  We decided to head to Sausalito and have a mechanic meet us to check out what we thought was the transmission.  The trip across the bay was uneventful and we tied up at Clipper Cove, for what we thought was only a couple of days.  The mechanic came over on Tuesday morning the 3rd of Sept.   While tied to the dock we ran the boat in reverse and could not duplicate the problem.  So before we decided to pull the transmission we agreed to have a diver take a look at the runner gear (propellers, shaft, struts, etc.) to see if there was a problem.  Surprise!!!  The prop on the port side (left side) was chewed up.  So, diver Dave came the next day and removed it and said it was repairable.  He thought maybe two to three days.  That was on Wednesday the 4th.  The following Monday the 9th we got a call that the prop would take two weeks to repair or we could sell you a new one on the shelf and would take two days because they would have to re-pitch it first.  Okay two days or two weeks?  We finally got the new one installed today the 12th.  While diver Dave was installing the new prop he discovered the port (left side) rudder was not attached to anything and just spun around by hand.  It was an easy repair but I think I now know how the prop got chewed up.  Did I mention they charge $2.50 a foot here?  A DAY!

While we've been in Sausalito our friends Tony and Sally who live up the road in Novato came over and took us out to dinner to a great Italian restaurant.   We usually only get together once a year to celebrate our anniversary of the day we stopped smoking, twenty one years ago.  It was good to see them.  Our friends Debbie and Linda P. came for a couple of days.  Jan and the girls went into downtown and shopped and had lunch.  We all had a great time and will miss not seeing them as much.

Our new friend Erika D., who works within walking distance from us and recently married Patrick (son of our long time close friends) invited us to the St. Francis Yacht Club.  Her mom and dad have been long time members.  She picked us up and drove us to have lunch and give us a tour.  All I can say is WOW!  How historic and just a beautiful club.  We also need to thank her dad and mom, Charlie and Margo for allowing us the opportunity to have such a wonderful afternoon.   THANKS.  After we returned to Sausalito Erika showed us where she works, which is a non profit called, "The Call of the Sea".  They charter out an 80 foot sailboat.  Google it!

Over the weekend our son Michael, Jessica, Carter, and Dylan came to visit and Mike and Jess went to the 49er's game on Sunday.  Sorry all you Green Bay fans.  We all went to Scoma's in Sausalito Saturday night to celebrate my birthday.  This was the first time I've been to this Scoma's.  I think the one in S.F. is better, for sure.  Mean while here in Sausalito Jan and I try to keep busy.  Yesterday we got all the isinglass washed  and put up on the boat, we walked to CVS, the grocery store and West Marine.  Chloe continues to hang in there looking forward to her daily walks, but not so much in the rough waters.  Being here on an end tie we get the swells from the bay and she doesn't like the motion of the boat going back and forth. After over a week here we think she's starting to get her sea paws.

Forecast for the sea conditions not looking too good.  Going to go over to Alameda and wait.

Pic from Panacea looking towards S.F.

Ouch!!!!

Grandson Carter (49er fan)

Me with son Mike

Grammie Jan and Carter

Jan and Erika at the St. Francis Yacht Club

Jess, Carter, Mike at Scoma's.  Where's Dylan?

There's Dylan and Carter

Carter and Chloe

Living high at the St. Francis Yacht Club