Location: Oakland, CA
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| Golden Gate Bridge |
We have arrived in Oakland and plan to be docked
here in the Bay Area until boating season begins again next spring. We enjoyed the rest of our journey to Oakland
and had great weather coming under the Golden Gate Bridge, with the fog
clearing away as we approached. Details
of the rest of our journey and what we’ve been doing since we arrived are
below.
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| Sea Otter and Seagull, Morro Bay |
Tuesday, September
15 – Morro Bay to San Simeon, 25 nm, 3.7
hours, avg. speed 6.8 knots
The journey from Morro Bay to San Simeon was uneventful. We saw a few sea otters swimming in the bay
as we left. We arrived at the San Simeon
anchorage about 11:30. It was calm and
we were the only boat there until later in the day when two sail boats
arrived. Hearst Castle was visible up on
the hill above the shoreline.
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| Shoreline, San Simeon anchorage |
Wednesday, September
16 – San Simeon to Monterey, 82 nm, 10.8
hours, avg. speed 7.6 knots
This was our longest voyage of our journey up the
coast. We left the San Simeon anchorage
before sunrise and arrived in Monterey about 4:00 p.m. The weather was clear and the views along the
coast were spectacular including Point Sur Lighthouse and the Pebble Beach golf
course in Carmel. We tied up at the
Monterey Municipal docks and went into town to Peter B’s brewpub for
supper. Great beer!
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| Point Sur Lighthouse |
Several sealions used the dock next to us to
sunbathe on every day and to sleep on at night.
Although they were fun to watch, they barked all night and puked fish
guts all over the side of the boat.
Gross and annoying!
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| Sealions on the dock, Monterey Marina |
We spent one day at the Monterey Aquarium which was
fascinating.
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| Jellyfish, Monterey Aquarium |
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| Puffin, Monterey Aquarium |
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| Ray and shark, Monterey Aquarium |
Our timing turned out good
as it was Monterey Jazz Fest weekend, so we spent Saturday listening to music.
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| Dave relaxing in the shade, Monterey Jazz Fest |
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| Sonny Knight and the Lakers, Monterey Jazz Fest |
Sunday, September 20 – Monterey to Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point), 63 nm,
8.7 hours, avg. speed 7.2 knots
Half Moon Bay was our last stop before arrival in
the San Francisco Bay. Our original plan
was to stay for only one night, but it was a nice quiet anchorage with plenty
of restaurants nearby, so we decided to stay and enjoy it for a few days. We didn’t do much, went ashore for supper a
few times and rode the bus into town to get groceries. We caught up on some maintenance and other
chores. The weather and tide schedule
looked good for a Friday journey to the SF Bay.
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| Sunset, Half Moon Bay |
Friday, September 25 – Half Moon Bay to Oakland, 36 nm, 4.9 hours, avg.
speed 7.3 knots
Friday morning we heaved anchor for our last leg of
the journey. We calculated our time of
departure from Half Moon Bay as 8:00 a.m. which would put us cruising under the
Golden Gate Bridge about 11:00 a.m., at the end of the flood tide close to
slack water. The weather was slightly
overcast and the bridge was shrouded in fog as we approached. As we got closer, the wind picked up slightly
and the fog slowly lifted away from the bridge.
Going under was exciting and we had a clear view of the bay and San
Francisco. We decided to dock in Oakland
so that we would be close to the Perkins master diesel mechanic who we plan to
use to help us with some engine maintenance.
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| Alcatraz |
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| Coit Tower |
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| Bay Bridge |
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| House boats on the Oakland Estuary |
For our first weekend in the Bay Area, we checked
out the local casino (not very good) and had dinner at a German restaurant in
Alameda. On Tuesday, Dave flew to
Alabama to spend some time on the farm.
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| Adding crushed rock to Sweet Pea Farm Lane, Alabama |
My brother, Kevin, picked me up and
took me to Colusa, where he and my mom both live. We went to the Colusa Casino for senior day
but didn’t win anything.
Thursday, October 1 – San Francisco to Cabo San Lucas
Time for a fabulous girls’ vacation. Five of us flew to Cabo San Lucas to spend a
long weekend in luxury. We stayed at the
Riu Palace all-inclusive resort. We
lounged by the pool, ate delicious food, drank tasty cocktails and shared
stories and laughs. Saturday Rosie, Pam,
Rachel and I went diving / snorkeling.
While we were out on the water, a huge rain squall blew in and our trip
was cut short. Rosie went back to finish
her dives on Monday while Pam, Mary and I did some shopping in town. Tuesday was the end of our adventure and we
all headed home – Mary, Rosie, Rachel and I to the Bay Area and Pam to the LA
area.
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| B and Mary with a Boogie Nights dancer |
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| B snorkeling near Pelican Rocks, Cabo San Lucas |
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| Pam and Rachel scuba diving, Pelican Rocks, Cabo San Lucas |
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| Rosie and Pam taking a break from shopping, Cabo San Lucas |
Wednesday, October 7 – Oakland to Colusa
Wednesday I drove back up to Colusa to spend some
more time with family. We had pizza at
Kevin’s, went to the casino, went to Yuba City to do some shopping and on
Saturday, I took a first aid / CPR course.
Sunday I drove back to Oakland and the boat.
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| Kim at the Colusa Donut shop |
Although our boating time will be limited over the
next six months, we will be doing some day cruises on the SF Bay and some land
based traveling. Until next time…
