Santa Cruz

Today we awoke to fog for the first time in about a week. But it burned off after a few hours and we were in the sun again. We had quite a romp today, with winds gusting to nearly 30 knots, and seas up to 10 feet high. We reefed down and held on tight. We must be getting used to this, because I was able to go below and do school work on the computer during my off watches.

On watch, it was odd to see land off to our right for the first time -- its the Monterey peninsula, where we'll be in a few days.

When we got to the bay at Santa Cruz, the conditions were quite mellow, which is a good thing, because the small boat harbor was packed, and we had to anchor off the beach. Another milestone today -- my first swim of the trip. The water's only 60, but that's a lot warmer than its been.