San Miguel Island

Saturday morning, we radioed our friends on Albatross to see where they were. They had just passed Pt Conception and were heading on to San Miguel Island, so we decided to follow along. San Miguel is the furthest northwest and most remote island of the 8 Channel Islands. We had visited there 23 years ago on our first boat, Mischief, so this passage would mark the completion of the US Pacific Coast (lower 48) for us.
As forecast, the swells increased to about 10 feet, but they were far apart and gently sloped.

Unfortunately, they created a lot of surge in Cuyler Harbor, our anchorage on San Miguel. Also, the wind came up during the afternoon, and was gusting in the high 20s by nightfall. Because of all the reefs and rocks surrounding us, it was not a restful night.

Point Conception

We left Morro Bay on Friday afternoon, intending to arrive at Point Conception, the so-called "Cape Horn of the Pacific" at dawn the next morning, when weather would be the most benign. This was our first night passage since we left Oregon, and our first time "buddy boating" with another yacht, a family of four on a 35-footer called Albatross. There was a thick overcast, but the wind and waves were moderate, and phosphorescence from marine microorganisms kept us company all night long. The autopilot is out of commission, so we were glad to have enough wind to sail, using the windvane to steer the boat. As we neared Point Arguello we could hear the booming of the surf, and soon the wind piped up to 25 knots and we had to furl the main and reef the jib. But as we closed in on Conception, only a further 12 miles, the wind died, the fog lifted, and our tension evaporated. We pulled into Cojo Anchorage for a few hours' sleep.

Foggy farmers' market

Today the fog didn't clear off all day, at least near the water. Good weather for creeping up close to sea otters in your kayak. All you had to do, however, was travel inland a half mile or so, and it was completely clear. No different from the Oregon coast, really, except that the temperature contrast is much more dramatic here! We pedaled to the weekly farmers' market and loaded our packs with as much produce as we could carry. The market was right at the edge of the fog bank.

Morro Bay

Took a short ride from San Simeon to Morro Bay yesterday. This harbor entrance is hard to miss with the 580-foot rock in front of it! Inside, a very quaint and picturesque waterfront, with lots of wildlife -- sea otters, sea lions, pelicans, and even a gray whale calf near the harbor entrance! Four cruising boats are rafted up at the Yacht Club dock, two headed north, and two headed south. This is the only safe harbor between Santa Barbara and Monterey.


We were visited by old family friends Jim and Bev, who drove us to see their beautiful oceanfront home. After watching Obama's impressive speech to Congress regarding health care insurance, they took us out for a nice dinner in a restaurant and shop complex that Jim had designed. We'll probably spend at least one layover day here.

Big Sur

Yesterday was a long, tiring day. We arose before first light, and motored out of Stillwater Cove and into Carmel Bay as soon as we could see the narrow opening between the thick kelp beds. As the sun came up we were already around Pt. Lobos, with the dramatic Big Sur coastline looming up to the south.


By the time we reached Pt. Sur, the wind was blowing hard enough to sail and we let the windvane do the steering. The swells were large and confused from several days of gale-force winds.



A large pod of bottlenose dolphins swam along with us for about half an hour. Other than that, we were alone at sea for the entire day.



We could see cars picking their way along the curves of Hwy 1.

As evening approached, the wind died and we had to motorsail to reach Piedras Blancas. We could see Hearst Castle high above in the Santa Lucia Mountains

After rounding Piedras Blancas, we got a last burst of wind and were able to sail the last 5 miles into San Simeon Cove, arriving just before sundown. Once the anchor was down, Vicki had to hoist me to the masthead to free a jammed jib halyard. There were several other boats anchored with us.





This morning, although it is overcast here in San Simeon Cove, we can see Hearst Castle in the sun high above us.

Technical troubles

In case anyone is wondering why we sometimes miss a few days with posts, or why the "Where are we?" map is not up-to-date, it is because my AT&T air card does not perform very well now that we are traveling among the crowds of connected Californians. Even when my adapter shows full signal strength, it regularly drops my connection (in fact it dropped me 3 times just while I was composing this text-only post). Google maps is particularly difficult to use with this set-up -- it drops the connection whenever I zoom in or out.

Apparently I'm not the only one to note this problem: bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/big-city-big-troubles/

Monterey to Carmel

This is another place we could easily get stuck in! Great sailing, great scenery, lots of things to do, and a fascinating history. The Monterey Aquarium alone can take a full day.




The sea dragons looked like something out of Harry Potter!



We hosted our second guest, Mark's old college friend Jane, and she drove us around the 17-mile drive and took some of these nice pictures in exchange for some sailing.






We finally moved out of Monterey, but just to the other side of the peninsula, Stillwater Cove in Carmel Bay. We're right off the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach, an impressive place even for non-golfers like us.