Punta Colnett (anchor)

Once I sailed out of Ensenada harbor and Bahia De Todos Santos the wind died down and the fog settled in. It was slow going but I made it to my next stop at Punta Colnett, named after a British surveyor that charted these shores 100's of years ago. It was dark and foggy as I sailed around the point and I had to anchor using RADAR, depthsounder and chartplotter only. It was a little unnerving but I found a good spot and settled in for the night. I woke in the morning to find I was the only boat in the anchorage and huge cliffs like at you see at Dover in the south of England.


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The cliffs at Punta Colnett at dawn

Monterey Harbor (continued)



Monterey Museum next to the Plaza

 It's Monday already and I'm still in Monterey. I've been having so much fun I decided to slow down and enjoy my time here. Met some great people and even got some work done on the boat. The family drove over for the weekend and we spent some time exploring the town and even sailed out to Point Pinos to do some whale watching. I intend to cast off Tuesday morning and continue my quest south. My friend Christophe managed to get some time off this week to join me for the Big Sur passage which should be fun.

Scenic walk to Cannery Row

The new Plaza

Lots to do on the Pier

Downtown Monterey

Sunset view from our dock

Monterey Harbor

I hugged the coast down to Monterey from Moss Landing as a reasonable swell was running from the NW and it was blowing about 15 knots on the beam making for a perfect passage. I got all the white canvas out and never dropped below seven knots, a truly great sail along a fantastic coastline. I hope I get more days like that.

 
I called up the harbormaster on the VHF and got the end tie on B dock overlooking the pier, I couldn't ask for a better location.

The water is so clear here, I can even see my rudder from the dock and there is fish swimming around it!

I love this place, I have a constant show from all the sea-life right from my cockpit. You get used to the barking seals after a while ...

Lots to do here, with the pier just steps away and the historic downtown to visit. I think I will stay here a while.

I walked around the pier area and got some roasted sardines that were very good. Lots of nice looking seafood restaurants on the pier and they are all giving away samples of their popular dishes. By the time I got to the end of the pier I didn't need to get dinner.

The next day I washed all the salt of the boat and tidied up a bit, then headed downtown. I was looking for a WIFI connection because I couldn't find anything from the marina that wasn't locked, even with my long range antenna. I found an open WiFi network at the end of the high street and sat on a bench to update the blog. When I finished I noticed a Trader Joe's round the corner and loaded up with all my favorite goodies. Of course I then found a Peets Coffee with Wifi next door which I could have used. 5 years ago when I did this same route I had much less trouble finding internet access as most wireless networks were open.

Moss Landing and Elkhorn Creek

I left Capitola in the afternoon after sailing around to Santa Cruz Pier and back with some friends that live in Capitola.

Admiral Mimi at the helm. The new captain also insisted we re-tuned the radio station to something less ancient.

I got to try out the big spinnaker on the downwind run back.

I then headed for Moss Landing which is a few hours south. Moss Landing is a real fishing port with a fish processing plant. There are some very interesting old sailboats in the marina, a real trip back in time.

The harbor is full of seals and otters. A huge seal was asleep on the dock next to me when I pulled up.

The next morning I tool the dinghy down Elkhorn Creek. It's a beautiful area full of wildlife.

I wanted to wait for the afternoon winds to pick up, so I spent some time wandering around downtown. Did you know the Shakespeare society and its museum is located in Moss Landing? The guy in the museum is keen to raise money to save the collection and gave me a tour and a history lesson. A little embarrassing to be schooled on Shakespeare by an American, but it was interesting.

There are a few antiques/art stores and some Mexican restaurants. I didn't get to try any as I ate on the boat.

After picking up some fresh fruit from the local market on the side on Highway 1, I checked out of the marina and cast off for Monterey at the south of the bay.

Capitola

Last time  I was in this part of the coast in the boat I stopped at Capitola, but the pier dock was closed because it was too early in the season. I have been meaning to stop here again, as it looks like a great spot to visit.
I left Santa Cruz Marina in the morning as the fog burnt off and set sail for Capitola. Its only a few miles so even as the wind was real light I sailed at a few knots and enjoyed the scenery. I skirted the edges of the kelp forests and got to enjoy the clear waters of Monterrey bay.

You tie up to mooring balls just west of the pier. Capitola is unique with all the funky colored beach houses.

Access to the pier is easy with a ramp that lowers to a dinghy dock. Sea42 is on the mooring ball in the background.

There is a great  bar/restaurant right on the end of the pier called the Wharf House. Fish n Chips are world class! The whole pier and items in the restaurant sway as the swells roll under the pier. Its surreal!

Its interesting how different it is to Santa Cruz considering how close it is. There is a definite pride of ownership in this town.

I called up an old friend who lives in Capitola and got to go surfing at the local break behind the kelp. Even though its been 16 years since I last surfed I had a great time and actually managed to stand up (briefly) 3 times. I was exhausted after that and slept well that nite. Its pretty rolly off the pier as its open to the Pacific, so I moved to one of the aft berths. It worked out well with a lot less motion than the vberth.

Downtown Capitola is right at the end of the pier with a great beach and lagoon. Lots of nice places to eat right on the bay. This is somewhere I could live.

Santa Cruz Harbor

After a rolly nite anchored off the pier I decided to try for a space at the harbor because Ali and the kids are driving over today and taking the dinghy over to the pier was a little tricky with all the seals on the  landing and it was closed at nite. I radioed the harbor master and he fixed me up with a great alongside tie-up underneath Aldo's restaurant.

The fog burnt off in the afternoon and we had a great day at the boardwalk as the kids tried out the rides

Had a great breakfast at Lindas Seabreeze cafe a few blocks away. Also the Calamari at Aldo's is amazing. They gut and prep the squid on the dock and fry it immediately.Its better than anything I have had at any fancy restaurant.

The family is headed home tommorow, so I will continue south as soon as the wind picks up and hopefully the fog burns off.

Santa Cruz Pier

Im anchored south of the Pier just a few hundred yards from the beach. It's hot and sunny and Im surrounded by the screams and music from the boardwalk fair rides and a hoard of huge seals under the pier barking like crazy. A total change from this morning with cold fog and fishing boats.

Anchored off the Santa Cruz Pier and Boardwalk fair

















I had the best sail so far on this stretch of the coast. The fog burnt off and the NW wind built up to 25knts at the end. It was light wind at first and I got to try out my small spinnaker from my last boat. It's in good shape but it's for a 30ft boat, so I was interested in if I could use it without a spinnaker pole. With sheets just tied to the beam ends, it was great up to 10 knots, I then tried using a block on the end of the boom to stabilize it which worked well, but then got a little out of control and I had to douse it quickly as the wind built. Great fun for a while though as it pulled me along like a kite at 5 knots.

Half moon bay

Finally, made it out of the bay and into the Pacific! As soon as we got under the golden gate bridge we were greeted with dolphins.

Ali finally got to sail under and out of the Golden Gate bridge.

Once around mile rock we had a nice beam reach until a few miles from Halfmoon bay when the wind died. Ali and the kids went home today, so I'm back to singlehanding again. The guy at the pump said it's ok to stay tied up to the fuel dock for the nite.

I'll head for Santa Cruz tomorrow. Hopefully I get some sun for this next leg.  Enough of the lousy weather, its meant to be summer!

Weatherfaxes thro the SSB are coming in strong and clear now I'm in the ocean.

South Beach harbor

Finally the weather is looking up, we should be good for sailing out the gate tomorrow. We sailed across the bay and tied up at Southbeach harbor. Ali will catch the train up to the city tonite and meet me and the girls for a meal out in the city. Hopefully the weather holds. Im tempted to stay at SouthBeach another few days as Paul McCartney is playing at the ball park next to the marina. All the tickets are sold out long ago, but we can anchor in McCovey cove and hear the concert pretty well. Its the same cove the kayakers go to pick up the baseballs that are hit out of the park.

Tiburon & Sausalito

We left Angel Island this morning for Sams Anchor Cafe at Tiburon. There is a coffee shop here we like that has great eclairs. The weather is very overcast and windy (from the wrong direction) partially caused by 2 hurricanes of the Mexican coast. We need these to pass so we can get back to the regular NW winds and sun for our passage to Halfmoon bay. The unusual weather is forecast to end this week, but every day it seems to slip.

Its great to be out port hopping again. Everyone is interested in what we are up to and were we are headed.

There is free wireless internet at Sams so I'm using that to get software loaded on the laptop. We will probably head over to Sausalito tonite and either anchor out in Richardsons bay or tie up at our favorite alongside at Schoonmaker marina.

Sausalito is a main hub for sailors passing thro San Francisco on the tradewind route south, Plenty of marine supplies, restaurants and a low key funky atmosphere make this a cool stop.

We hit our usual Pizza place in Sausalito for dinner and headed back in the dinghy for a very quiet night.

First nite at Angel Island

We cast off at 9am this morning. Got a great send off from my neighbors at the marina. My daughters Sophie and Lisa are going to spend the first few days with me and then Ali will join me to sail under the Golden Gate and down to Halfmoon Bay. We are tied up to the moorings at Angel Island for tonite.
The new jib sail is working great and allows me to sail much higher into the wind. It's also reefs really well which was handy as it was blowing 30knots across the slot this afternoon.
All the new boat systems are working well.

Final cleanup

Ali came down to the boat today to help me be brutal about tidying up and removing unnecessary junk. She is infinitely superior in packing/sorting/organizing than me and we managed to remove about a cubic yard of stuff that I didn't really need. I actually have room for some clothes and food now!

The A/C system worked out great as it was hot today. I'm so glad I took the time to install it now.

The all important "Gumby" survival suit. You don't even need a boat with this!