Tropics now far behind
This coast shows a prodigious and abundance of sea life. Sea turtles, a variety of dolphins, seals, sea lions, sharks, and even whales to name but a few samples seen. And where there is a bountiful sea, there are plenty of sea birds.
Jordan caught a good sized Pacific Bonito fish, and earlier, the ever tasteful Sierra Mackerel.
Dinner coming up
At San Diego,we were able to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Sailing friends may know Darryl Cross and his gal Heather (Darryl is the brother of Rob Cross of SV Keetya). While at the San Diego Wooden Boat Show, we had a surprising chance encounter with former Bluewater Cruisers when we heard "Sea Turtle, Sea Turtle" and spun around to see Norm and Beth of SV Sarah Jean from Vancouver.
Marlow and Carol, non-sailing friends from way back, drove from Palm Springs to meet us for a visit over dinner.
Sea Turtle anchored in front of San Diego Yacht Club
And at Santa Barbara we made a quick stop for a pleasant reunion with Dennis and Virginia of SV Libertad, a sailing couple that we continually bumped into when we all were cruising through the South Pacific 7 years ago.
Libertad
We have been SO lucky with the wind, or should we say no wind. The prevailing winds are from the north, so the strategy is head out when the wind dies, running the iron genny (our trusty motor).
The so-called Baja Bash was completed with very little bashing and the run up the coast of USA thus far was quite calm seas for the most part and with only a few lay-days in harbours waiting for weather windows. Our trusty weather routing guru, Adam of Bluewater Cruising back home said we must have horseshoes for ballast!
At this time of year going up the US coast, you can bet if there is no wind, you can expect fog. For hours at a time, we were 'in the soup' and thankful we had radar, radar reflectors, and AIS. However a couple of times out of the fog and not on radar were small recreational fishing boats no more than 45 metres away.
Fishing in the fog
The San Francisco Bay was a planned stop as headwinds beyond were forecast at about the time of our arrival. In calm seas we entered the Bay in dark but the Golden Gate Bridge was well marked with lights and beacons for a safe entry. We dropped anchor in Sausalito, across the Bay from the City at 23:30 just as the winds picked up. (The horseshoes were working.)
To fill our time, one day we took the ferry across to San Francisco (SF) waterfront to take a tour out to Alcatraz. But the tours were all booked up weeks in advance so we were out of luck.
Golden Gate as seen from ferry
Alcatraz from afar
So instead we played tourist, taking in all the sights...
Pier 39: seals' home
San Francisco fishing fleet
...and enjoyed a great lunch at The Old Clam House, the oldest restaurant in SF that has never moved its location. It was in business when Lincoln was President! With every meal they serve a small glass of flavoured warm clam juice which sounds terrible but is very delicious, especially used as a dip on the fresh bread.
The Old Clam House
Sausalito proved a pleasant stop. Lots of exclusive shops displayed products for the rich and an excellent variety of eateries for anyone's taste. We enjoyed an evening in the waterfront park where it was grooving to a live blues band. Then another night we were lured into a small cafe by rock and roll music from again, a live band.
Musical park
After a few days, the winds finally abated and a forecast looked acceptable so we left Sausalito and SF behind to continue up the coast towards Canada and home.
On our way out...
Anchorages:
N32°42.582' W117°14.095' Jun 13 San Diego (Police Docks)
N32°42.952' W117°13.848' Jun 14 San Diego (by Yacht Club)
N31°51.660' W122°28.570' Jun 19 Sausalito
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