Santa Cruz to Elkhorn Slough near Monterey
Photos will follow - its been difficult to get on internet the last week.
October 1st 2008 – Santa Cruz – Monterey Bay
Its 07:44, the sun came up about 1/2hr ago in Santa Cruz - we’re anchored off the shore in 23 feet rolling about in the swells and listening to the California Sea Lion symphony - well I am, Tony and Johnny are still asleep. We have no internet and as I did not save my last few blogsite entries I don’t know where I left off.
Lets start at Half Moon Bay which we did actually see for a couple of hours before the fog socked in and then we didn’t see much from the boat. We launched the dinghy and went ashore and found that its quite a ‘funky fishing’ little town – small; a couple of hotels – lots of bars advertising live music and dancing, which we didn’t feel like doing at 11:00 hrs. The HMBYC – half moon bay yacht club has quite a presence behind the breakwater with Saturday afternoon racing and Sunday all day racing. We went for a long walk with Johnny trying to find access to the long beaches we had seen on our way into the harbour. On the way we found a little farm stall and bought quite a lot of heavy vegetables – so we stopped helping Johnny and headed back – he went on with skim board on back looking for the perfect ‘skimming waves’.
There is a huge pelican colony on the breakwater here – definitely worthy of a few photographs – and though they are smelly we really like pelicans
Its actually a little hard to see them camouflaged against the rocks.
We only stayed in Half Moon Bay one and a half days – leaving early Monday morning. The thought ‘heading south’ is always accompanied in my mind by images of sailing in warm breezed wearing very little clothing – kicking back in our deck chairs – on our deck with margaritas – or in Tony’s case ‘a cold one’, dropping anchor in crystal clear torquois seas, diving off the boat at intervals just to cool down, and occasionally visiting shores just to see where we are.
Definitely doesn’t include fog.
We motored most of the day Monday intending to reach Santa Cruz around 16:00. The fog lifted late morning and we were making good time at about 6 knots, the breeze turned into a good stiff breeze and we sailed wing on wing for the last couple of hours into Santa Cruz. Our plans to anchor overnight were thwarted as the wind piped up a bit too much, so we went into Santa Cruz harbour, where we rafted up for the night.
Yesterday was a beautiful, hot sunny day and we spent it anchored beside the pier looking onto a long sandy beach with a huge permanent fair ground with roller coasters, ferris wheels and lots of other machines to help you empty your pockets and your stomachs.
Tony and Johnny went ashore in the dinghy. The pier has a few small docks where a dinghy can be pulled up – that’s how they got to shore. Johnny went skim boarding and Tony went sight seeing, and arranged to pick Johnny up later.
The pick up didn’t go very well. The rollers coming onto the shore unfortunately were not as regular as Tony’s timing and he was tossed upside down onto the shore underneath the dinghy and dragged back into the surf. Johnny was close by and helped up-right the dinghy, retrieve most of the contents and help Tony back into it, so that he could limp back to the boat, sculling with one paddle. The outboard engine was of course defunct but he was not hurt, and miraculously our camera, which he was wearing around his neck as he toppled over also survived.
The rest of the afternoon was spent drying everything out, washing the outboard with fresh water and changing the oil. It runs fine now.We plan to leave here today and head into Moss Landing. We have heard about the wildlife reserve in Elkhorn Slough, and look forward to seeing that in the sunshine.
October 1st 2008 – Santa Cruz – Monterey Bay
Its 07:44, the sun came up about 1/2hr ago in Santa Cruz - we’re anchored off the shore in 23 feet rolling about in the swells and listening to the California Sea Lion symphony - well I am, Tony and Johnny are still asleep. We have no internet and as I did not save my last few blogsite entries I don’t know where I left off.
Lets start at Half Moon Bay which we did actually see for a couple of hours before the fog socked in and then we didn’t see much from the boat. We launched the dinghy and went ashore and found that its quite a ‘funky fishing’ little town – small; a couple of hotels – lots of bars advertising live music and dancing, which we didn’t feel like doing at 11:00 hrs. The HMBYC – half moon bay yacht club has quite a presence behind the breakwater with Saturday afternoon racing and Sunday all day racing. We went for a long walk with Johnny trying to find access to the long beaches we had seen on our way into the harbour. On the way we found a little farm stall and bought quite a lot of heavy vegetables – so we stopped helping Johnny and headed back – he went on with skim board on back looking for the perfect ‘skimming waves’.
There is a huge pelican colony on the breakwater here – definitely worthy of a few photographs – and though they are smelly we really like pelicans
Its actually a little hard to see them camouflaged against the rocks.
We only stayed in Half Moon Bay one and a half days – leaving early Monday morning. The thought ‘heading south’ is always accompanied in my mind by images of sailing in warm breezed wearing very little clothing – kicking back in our deck chairs – on our deck with margaritas – or in Tony’s case ‘a cold one’, dropping anchor in crystal clear torquois seas, diving off the boat at intervals just to cool down, and occasionally visiting shores just to see where we are.
Definitely doesn’t include fog.
We motored most of the day Monday intending to reach Santa Cruz around 16:00. The fog lifted late morning and we were making good time at about 6 knots, the breeze turned into a good stiff breeze and we sailed wing on wing for the last couple of hours into Santa Cruz. Our plans to anchor overnight were thwarted as the wind piped up a bit too much, so we went into Santa Cruz harbour, where we rafted up for the night.
Yesterday was a beautiful, hot sunny day and we spent it anchored beside the pier looking onto a long sandy beach with a huge permanent fair ground with roller coasters, ferris wheels and lots of other machines to help you empty your pockets and your stomachs.
Tony and Johnny went ashore in the dinghy. The pier has a few small docks where a dinghy can be pulled up – that’s how they got to shore. Johnny went skim boarding and Tony went sight seeing, and arranged to pick Johnny up later.
The pick up didn’t go very well. The rollers coming onto the shore unfortunately were not as regular as Tony’s timing and he was tossed upside down onto the shore underneath the dinghy and dragged back into the surf. Johnny was close by and helped up-right the dinghy, retrieve most of the contents and help Tony back into it, so that he could limp back to the boat, sculling with one paddle. The outboard engine was of course defunct but he was not hurt, and miraculously our camera, which he was wearing around his neck as he toppled over also survived.
The rest of the afternoon was spent drying everything out, washing the outboard with fresh water and changing the oil. It runs fine now.We plan to leave here today and head into Moss Landing. We have heard about the wildlife reserve in Elkhorn Slough, and look forward to seeing that in the sunshine.
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