The wave action was sloppy with 7 foot swells. Once we got to 300 feet, it laid down a little but we still got tossed around a bit. At that time we were about 15 miles off shore so we started heading toward shore so as to be 10 miles out. Still was a bumpy ride but not as bad. We rolled out our headsail a little to help keep the bow down and keep us from swaying all over the place. Unfortunately that didn’t help much. All the sail was doing was flogging around. So we rolled it in and continued on. This was the view from the helm in the morning.
This is what you saw from the side and behind us.
Dave was not a happy camper since he got sea sick again. He managed to cross the bar and then a little later he got sick. It is only in the day time when he sees the wave action that he gets sick. He functions better at night. We were really looking forward to getting into the Charleston marina, Coos Bay, for a good rest. We had been traveling for 12 hours. We could see the bar and it was still daylight so we were really happy to be going over a bar in daylight. Well we thought we were when the coast guard station report that the bar was closed to all vessels. They reported 8 to 10 feet swells with an ebbing tide. That makes for a rough ride in. Dave was not a happy camper as he really wanted to stop rocking and rolling. He called the coast guard to see what they would say if he challenged them and crossed the bar anyway. They said no to all traffic coming in and said the bar would open in about an hour when the tide changed. So in the meantime we had to do circles. This was about 5:30 – 6:00pm. There were 3 sailboats, including us, and 2 fishing boats that were waiting. The wind was coming up and the waves were getting bigger. We had heard it was suppose to pick up late afternoon so we wanted to get into a sheltered spot. The sun was setting and all hopes of getting through the bar in daylight went away. But not all was lost. About 30 minutes later the coast guard came back on the VHF radio and said the bar restrictions had been lifted for vessels 26 feet and over. Yahoo!!!! We cranked up the motor and started in. We didn’t have total darkness so that was a blessing. The bar wasn’t bad. We had handled waves like that out on the ocean. I was at the helm while Dave was down below in the cabin looking at and getting courses to steer to the marina. I had to really pay attention and drive the course Dave gave me. If I got off course the waves would swirl the boat around a bit. There were some good size rocks on either side of the bar at the entrance which you didn’t want to get close to. Since there was a lot of salt spray on the dodger windshield, it was hard to see the markers further away, but with Dave giving me compass headings it worked out great. We made it safe and sound and tied up to a linear dock along with another sailboat in Charleston Marina. This is south of Coos Bay. Our friends Ruth and Mike, who live in Coos Bay, met us at the dock to take us to dinner. We asked for a rain check as we were tired and really didn’t feel much like eating a large dinner. They offered to take us wherever we needed to go for groceries or anything else the next day. I told Dave we were both getting patches to alleviate feeling sick. Mostly they were for him, but I could use them too as I was a little queasy in large swells. Now for a good night rest.
Wednesday, September 10, we woke up feeling a lot better. Now it was time to call Group Health and asked for motion sickness patches. We had them send a prescription to Walmart in Coos Bay. With that chore finished, we spent the day exploring the marina and vicinity. We walked across a bridge to a marine store and bought a couple of chart books and some tarred seine twine so I can make nautical stuff like monkey fists, etc. When we came back to the marina it was lunch time so we went to the café across from the Marina office and had a sandwich. It was pretty good. Then it was back to the boat to tidy up and get ready for our next trip. Mike and Ruth came that evening and picked us up, took us to Walmart to get our prescription, took us to dinner at the casino. Food was really good. Afterwards we went back to Walmart to get a few groceries and they dropped us back at the marina and we said our goodbyes. It was nice seeing them. Tomorrow is to Drake’s Bay if all goes well. It will be a 2 day trip.
Thursday, September 11, we left our slip and went to get diesel at about 7:30-8:00am, After that was done we headed out and across the bar. The weather report said the seas would be a little bouncy for awhile and then calm down. Not much wind. We needed to get around Cape Mendocino before weather and sea conditions change. The motion sickness patch has made our mouths dry like cotton, but if that is all we have to suffer with and it helps with sea sickness, we can live with it. It’s foggy again.
Friday, September 12, we are still in fog and the wave action wasn’t bad. We did have some pretty good swells to contend with and ended up putting auto helm to work. It handled the waves and kept us on course. It was hard to steer the swells because it would lift the boat up, bring you down then spin you off course about 10 to 15 degrees. So you would have to come back to the course you were steering and it would happen all over again. Nonsense!!! It was foggy all day and night but with auto working, Dave and I took turns watching the helm and radar and knew we were on course. No worries. As we were getting close to Crescent Bay, we saw boats heading in that direction. We didn’t want to stop there. Heard it wasn’t a great place. It being quite foggy, and us being tired we decided to stop in Eureka. Around 10:00am we came into the Eureka Marina and tied up. Nice place. The motion sickness patches made us really sleepy so it was a good thing we didn’t continue. This gave me the opportunity to do laundry and get a shower. We saw a few of the boats that were in Newport with us, come in and either get fuel and leave or tie up for the night. We were looking at the weather and wave conditions and nothing had changed. It was still going to be 5-10 knots of wind and smaller swells. Some of the boats were staying 2 days so we decided to do the same. That way we would be fresh and hopefully not as sleepy.
Saturday, September 13, Dave and I walked into old town Eureka. It’s kind of a cool place. I had studied the map with things to see and do and wanted to visit 3 places. We did that and then came back to the boat. Some more boats came in to take a break. It was still foggy. We met a couple that lives in the marina on their boat and they invited us to have a cocktail. We had a nice visit. They want to go to Mexico next year. One of the cruisers we met in Newport tied up his boat in front of ours. Later that afternoon they invited us to have a beer with them. It was a nice visit. They are from Canada and their grown son was helping them take the boat to San Francisco.
Sunday, September 14, and we are ready to get underway, however the marina office is not open. There was supposed to be someone there at 7:30am so we could turn in our key and pay moorage. The guy that was in the office yesterday didn’t want to handle the money so he asked us to pay before we left. We were getting rather antsy. There wasn’t a drop box or anything to leave the key and a check. So Dave waited and waited. Finally around 8:00 someone arrived. We took care of business and then we were off again. It was around 8:30 now. It is still foggy but not so bad we couldn’t see a little ways in front of us and part of the shore. The swells were still pretty good size and the waves were all over the place. I couldn’t drive a straight course for anything due to the current. It was a real struggle. Dave did a lot better but he too struggled to keep us on course. The waves were square. Buy this I mean you had wind waves coming at you as well as regular waves, and you would go up on top of the wave and then crash down the other side. The boat would shutter. It was like being in a wash tub with waves everywhere. We hit a lot of those waves and wondered if we would ever get to better seas. As we came around Cape Mendocino the waves got a little better, but still had those swells. We rolled out the headsail part way to see if that would help keep the bow down with little swaying back and forth. It worked pretty well and became a smoother ride. I could even steer again. At 7:08pm there was no wind and the waves flattened and all that was left were gentle swells. Sure didn’t like the ride we had earlier. We buried the bow in green water a couple of times. Yuck!! We still have a long way to go before we get to Drakes Bay. It’s 25 miles north of San Francisco. We are only going 5.7 knots which is slow and it will take us forever to get to the bay at this rate. We need at least 6+ knots to make good time. We turned auto helm on and took turns watching the radar for other boats, and the other gauges and slept when the other person was on helm watch. When one person got tired, the other one would relieve them. It was a long night. We had fog and sometimes it was pretty thick. We did see lights of a couple of boats and then they would disappear in the fog again. Radar was the only thing we had to know where they were at all times. Dawn arrived and we still had a long way to go to get to Drakes Bay, but figured we would arrive some where around 5:00pm. As we were going along Dave noticed the fuel gauge was reading ½ to ¼ of a tank. This couldn’t be right as we burn a gallon of diesel an hour, plus back in Eureka we emptied 3 of our 5 gallon jerry cans into the fuel tank. The fuel dock there was only open until 3:00 in the afternoon and Sunday they were closed. We couldn’t leave our slip because we were kind of wedged in and it would have been pretty difficult to squeeze back in again. Plus we might lose our spot because more cruisers were coming in. The marina was full. So with the 15 gallons we put in, the tank indicator read ¾ full. Dave even questioned that reading, but figured it was o.k.
Monday, September 15, the waves and wind were calm and so were the swells. We still had fog. Dave was wondering how much diesel we really had so he tried to see it in the tank but couldn’t. He unscrewed the sender mechanism that goes inside the tank to measure the fuel level. We tested it and didn’t get a reading. Then he noticed it was cracked. Not good. Now we have no indication of how much fuel we have. So change of plans. We need to go to Bodega Bay to fill the tank and then we will know how much is in there by calculation. Dave called Signature Yachts to see if they could send us another senor and they gave him a number to call, so he did. It takes a week for them to make one. By then we should know where they can send it to. It was about 4:00pm when we pulled up to the gas dock in Bodega Bay. As we were fueling, we decided to stay there for the night instead of taking off for Drakes Bay. At least we know have a full tank and there won’t have to be any guess work. As we were heading for Bodega Bay, we got a visitor. A little yellow bird flew to the boat and settled on our dingy. Then he came into the cockpit. He had been flying a long time. He was really tired. He would walk around a little and at one point landed on my knee. Then he went to a corner and put his head under his wing. We tried to shoo him off the boat, which we did, but he kept coming back. This happened about 4 times. Since we were getting close to Bodega Bay I figured I would let him rest and we would let him fly away on land. Well he decided to explore and got himself under the panel that houses the auto helm mechanism. There is no way out. We knew he would die there. Poor little guy. After we got in at Bodega Bay we heard some of the other cruisers had the same experience. The birds must have just gotten out of the nest and maybe the wind carried them too far offshore and they couldn’t find their way back.
Tuesday, September 16, Dave retrieved the dead bird and we decided to stay another night. It was foggy and hanging on an anchor in Drakes Bay didn’t sound like too much fun. We decided to go exploring. We had been told that there was a grocery store about a 1.5 mile walk from the marina. So that is what we did. We got a loaf of French and regular bread and a big bottle of rum!!!
Wednesday, September 17, we left Bodega Bay at 7:00am for Half Moon Bay. It will take us about 8 hours. The sky was cloudy and the waters smooth. We had small rollers and that was about all. NO FOG!!!! As we were passing San Francisco, we could make out the skyline, but it was a little hazy. We ran into some ship traffic which slowed us down a little. No wind to sail, but we are in sunshine now. It is either blowing gales or nothing. That is just the way it is here. I was glad it wasn’t nasty. We saw porpoises play around the boat. That was a neat sight. We also saw the spouts of whales but they were too far away to get pictures. We got into Half Moon Bay around 5:00pm. We topped off our fuel tank and went to our assigned slip. Friends we met in Newport, arrived about an hour after we did, and once we helped them tie up and get settled, we went to dinner at the café just up the dock. They are leaving tomorrow for Santa Cruz and we are going to Monterey Bay. We will see them again somewhere down the coast as they are going to Mexico too. The Harbor at Half Moon Bay is called Pillar Harbor. Nice little place.
Thursday, September 18, we got underway at 7:20am. It is a beautiful sunny morning and so far the waters are calm. We get out to about 100 feet and all we have are small swells. Not bad. We thought we were through with seeing crab pots but NOOOOO!!! There weren’t that many, but it only takes one to ruin a perfectly nice day. We spotted them in time to avoid them. The wind started to pick up a little and before we knew it we had about 10 knots of wind behind us. We put out the headsail, but that was short lived. We need at least 15 knots to speed us up. We were coming up to Santa Cruz and the wind picked up a little more so we tried the headsail again. This time it worked and we were going about 7.4 knots. That was great. With the motor and the wind we were making good time. We had to get to Monterey before the fuel dock closed at 5:00pm. Having the headsail out keeps the bow from bobbing back and forth in swells. It was a nice ride. We saw more whales but again too far away to get a picture. I’m sure we will get more opportunities, as they are migrating north. We arrived at the fuel dock in Monterey at 4:30pm.
We made good time. We topped off the fuel tank and went to our assigned slip. It was a little tricky getting into the slip since there is quite a surge inside the breakwater. We made it though. We had a welcoming committee on the breakwater of sea lions. They are really loud. It is kind of fun to listen to them though. They sneeze and grunt and bellow. I called family to let them know where we were, then settled down for the evening. Dave and I took a walk to see where everything was at. Everything was closed except a restaurant at the head of the marina. It’s an early night for me. I’m tired.
Friday, September 19, the sea lions woke me up at around 2:00am. They don’t stay quiet at night. They take a rest and then will start up again. I managed to get back to sleep. Today we checked with the marina office to see if they have a package for us. They had one with mail in it from home, but the fuel gauge wasn’t here yet. I hope it comes in today, or at least no later than Saturday. We went into the marine store and got to talking to the guy about mail delivery and he told us how it works. So Dave called the company that was making and sending the part and they said they would check to see if it got sent out. In the meantime, Dave and I walked into town and by the Aquarium and Cannery Row. The Aquarium was $25 per person. Our budget doesn’t allow for such things. We weren’t surprised it was that much because it is huge, but we were hoping we could afford to see it. Oh well. As we were walking back to the boat, Dave got a phone call from the guy at the marine store telling him the package we were waiting for arrived. So we picked it up and went straight to the boat to see if it would fit. Well it fits but it is really different from the last one. Dave wasn’t sure how to hook it up. He called the company for help but they only return phone calls in the order they are received and if it is 3:00pm they don’t make any more phone calls. So he never got an answer. He tried a couple of things to see if it would work but they didn’t. So I guess we wait until we get to Ensenada. Dave is going to have to take all the items out of the locker to try and find what he is looking for to hook up a third wire. In the meantime we will have to keep careful watch on how much fuel we burn. While Dave was working with that, I defrosted the freezer. I was going to do laundry, but don’t have any yet. They are in the process of building a place for laundry, showers and heads. When we walked up town, we looked for a Laundromat. We did find one, but it was pretty expensive. So I decided I would wait. We are trying to find a place that has wifi, but haven’t found one yet. We walked to the public marina and asked there and they directed us to a couple of places. We walked and found them. I asked Dave if he was coming back with the computer and he said if he couldn’t get the weather and wave conditions at the boat with satellite coverage, then he would. Lucky for us he was able to get the information he needed to plan when we leave. Looks like we will leave on Sunday. The wind will switch back to the NW and be behind us. We are going to have some 7 foot swells and some wind waves, but it will improve Sunday night into Monday. Looks like a 2 day trip to get past Pt. Conception. Then we are free and clear of all the bad weather points. We will move the boat over to the public marina tomorrow and I will be able to do laundry. It’s clouding up here, but I think it is suppose to burn off tomorrow. I took a walk to the breakwater and saw the noisy sea lions. They look so funny. I also got to see a momma otter with her baby. They were on the dock just across from where our boat is. That was pretty cool. It’s neat watching all the sea life. I love watching the pelicans too. Dave tried to figure out how to hook up the gauge for the fuel tank to no avail and the company never called. So he was really pissed about that.
Saturday, September 20, woke to cloudy skies. Dave called the public marina to see if there was a slip available and there was. I took the key to turn it in and when I got off the boat there were 3 sea lions on the finger pier across from where we are just resting. They were also conversing quite loudly. As I walked over to the pier to go turn the key in, one of the males reared his head and just watched me. He was in fighting mode and was ready to protect his territory. I chuckled and turned to go up the dock when I saw a mama and baby otter on the dock to my right.
She was grooming herself and baby. The baby squeaks like a toy. The mom looked at me and figured I wasn’t a threat and kept on with what she was doing. It is so neat to see this stuff!!! I turned in the key and had a man let me back into the gate. I hopped on the boat and off we went to our new slip. I sure hope it is quiet. The sea lions have woken me at 2:00am the last 2 nights. Well we found our slip, got tied up and went up to the office to pay. They told us where we could hook up to the internet. We tried one of the spots and it didn’t work so well. We ended up going to a coffee shop and there we could log on for an hour. We ordered coffee and a scone for each of us and checked the weather, wind, and wave pattern. We left there and came back to the boat. I gathered dirty laundry and walked back to the office where there was one washer and dryer. I got right in. The price was very reasonable. $1.00 to wash and $.75 to dry. The sun came out and it was warm. Nice!!! While I was doing laundry Dave was trying to figure out about the fuel gauge. He didn’t have any luck. We’ll have to wait until we reach San Diego or Ensenada. When I finished with the laundry I took it back to the boat, put it away and made the bed. I also checked the bow thruster battery to see if it needed water. It didn’t. Dave gathered all the information we needed to copy for Mexico. He made 20 copies of the documentation paper for the boat, passports, drivers license, and insurance. We were going to take that stuff to the U.P.S. store but they closed at 2:00 and that was the time I finished laundry. The office said Dave could make copies there, so that is what he did. People have been so nice every place we have gone. When they find out you are traveling south it seems they are eager to help you. That is really nice. We leave tomorrow to continue down the coast. Last major hurdle.
Sunday September 21, Dave looked at the weather this morning and was relieved we are staying here. Small craft advisory off the coast. It would have been a miserable ride. Tomorrow looks at lot better. So we will leave tomorrow.
Yesterday afternoon we were cleaning the engine sea strainer and we heard water dripping. When you heard stuff like that you don’t shrug it off. It could be a major problem. So we checked under all the seats and pulled up floor boards but couldn’t find anything. Everything was dry. The bilge didn’t have a lot of water in it which indicates no leaks. Hmmm. It drove us crazy. So we thought we would check the bilge in the morning to see if there was a lot of water. There wasn’t. Well Dave walked up to the restroom and on his way back he noticed a faucet that was dripping at a pretty good rate. He couldn’t turn the handle at all, but he figures that was what we were hearing. Something little like that can travel through the water to make it sound like it is in your boat. So we were relieved to find out that that was what was causing the running water sound. All is well.
We had a day we could do whatever we wanted. All the boat stuff had been taken care of. We decided to walk to Trader Joes. We got some bananas, milk, steak, and vegetables. The steak and vegetables are for tonight’s dinner. We came back to the boat and had lunch. Dave snoozed in the cockpit and I went below and played solitaire. Then we went to the Maritime Museum, the pacific house and the custom house. History of the Monterey area. Interesting. Where our boat is we can watch the fishing boats come in and off load the sardines. There is a cannery and the boats snug up to the dock and a machine sucks the sardines out of the boat and goes through a conveyer into large plastic bins. The pelicans and seagulls fly around to try and get some of the sardines. The pelicans sit on the edge of the conveyor machine and get there fill of sardines. It’s really fun to watch. We are out of here tomorrow morning. 24 hours we will be in Santa Barabara.
