Morro Bay

We left San Simeon the next morning after a very rolly nite at anchor. An unusual south swell was causing breakers on the beach so we couldn't land the dinghy, so we moved onto Morro Bay Harbor about 4hrs south. We tied up at the MBYC (local yacht club) dock. Cleaned up the boat and chatted with some of the local sailors organizing the kids sailing program. Morro Bay is one of the few stops on the coast where you can get fuel and provision and there is always some interesting stories as people pass thro here.

A few hours later I'm sitting below and suddenly feel a big thud, I run up to the deck and a big multistory powerboat had reversed into me. I called out to the skipper who obviously didn't see me and the boat just turned and came at me again. After much shouting he stopped. The skipper was an old disabled guy and only had is poor clueless wife as crew. I finally got them to put some decent fenders out and helped them raft up to boat.

A large powerboat rafted up to me at MBYC. Morro Rock in the background.

Morro Bay is a working fishing port, but like all similar ports along the coast (ie Halfmoon Bay) the fishing industry is dieing due to overfishing and overly restrictive laws that make fishing unprofitable and they are resorting to tourism. A big power plant is situated here just next to the rock that kills the view, but its looking like it may be decommissioned as its only running at 5% capacity and that would really help the resorts appeal.

The Morro Bay power plant. Hopefully it gets pulled down soon.

All the rocks along the breakwater have squirrels living in them! A really strange sight. They seemed to be used to humans and come running over to meet you and even start nibbling at your shoes. I havent seen squirrels living on the beach before.

Friendly squirrels living in the breakwater rocks

The next morning a small 27ft boat pulls up to the dock with 3 young guys in it. They had been out in this tiny boat for 3 weeks, working their way up to Santa Cruz. We invited them aboard for a beer and got to hear some fantastic stories of places they had visited in the channel islands, falling overboard and a broken mast. It was really inspiring to see them charging full speed into a full on summer adventure and not being overly concerned about all the risks. It reminded me of my younger years when I started traveling on my own.

I hope they make it back to Santa Cruz safely, its looking like mild weather for the next few days for a northbound passage. Since May at least 5 people have died in small boats along this coast after being washed overboard by big waves.

I finally tried some oysters. The local pacific oysters are huge and available all along the water front restaurants. The idea of swallowing a slimy raw shellfish had never been appealing to me for some reason! I decided to order some on the halfshell (traditional style) and some Rockefeller cooked ones. The Rockefeller oysters were very tasty but could have been anything. The raw oysters were so big it was difficult to swallow them whole and reminded me of trying to swallow a large pill. I tried chewing one but it was way too slimey and made me think of liver flavored Jello. At least I got that todo item checked off the list.