San Francisco to Morro Bay

Our time in San Francisco was super fun, full of more adventure, and relaxing. Some of the highlights included the Sunday Farmers Market at Fort Mason where we were able to score some very nice fresh veggies, fruit (we tried a mango flavored nectarine!), mushrooms, and amazing chicken shwarma that we enjoyed on two different occasions. We made a few trips (not telling how many!) into Ghirardelli for some ice cream. Did a lot of walking through town. Enjoyed walking around Pier 39 and people watching. We had some lovely sailing in the Bay and spent a couple of nights anchored in Sausalito. Sausalito is an eclectic, funky town with a cool waterfront.

After Sausalito we headed back to the SF marina for 3 nights (outrageously expensive but it was necessary) so that we could make a quick trip back to Oregon for an appointment and to repair a broken irrigation valve that was flooding our yard (yikes!). Thankfully we have great neighbors, friends, and family who helped us mitigate things until we could get home to fix the problem. We were able to share some quality time with friends and family, albeit short. It was a quick 2-day trip and we were back in SF in time for Fleet Week festivities on the weekend.

We headed back to Aquatic Park Cove for our last 5 nights in SF. We were able to watch 3 days of airshows that highlighted the skills of some amazing aviators including the Navy Blue Angels. We also got to witness some seriously incompetent boaters! By the end of the weekend (Sunday, October 10^th), we were very ready to leave the Bay. Unfortunately, there was a big, nasty weather system bearing down on the Bay area that delayed our departure until Wednesday, October 13^th.

We headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge around 11:30 on a slightly overcast morning with our sights set on Half Moon Bay, a short day-sail from SF. We had a lovely sail and an amazingly close encounter with several humpback whales before heading into Pillar Point Harbor.

We spent a peaceful, calm anchorage in Pillar Point (very protected from wind and swells) and headed out the next morning for another day sail to Santa Cruz. The first half of the day was pretty uncomfortable with a confused sea state. The wind wasn’t bad but a starboard tack made things very rolly. We were able to jibe and once we were on a port tack, we had a fast sail into Santa Cruz.

The town of Santa Cruz is very cute. We went ashore and walked along the boardwalk. There is an amusement park on the beach that looks like it would be a ton of fun in the summer time. It is out of season and our understanding is that it is only open on weekends this time of year. We spent just 2 nights in Santa Cruz before heading toward Morro Bay.

Morro Bay is about 140nm from Santa Cruz (depending on how far offshore you go) so we left Santa Cruz about 09:30 on Saturday expecting to arrive in Morro Bay sometime early afternoon on Sunday. The conditions were spectacular. We dug out the spinnaker and set off for a downwind point of sail. The wind shifted and we doused the spinnaker in favor of a full main and genoa. We were close-hauled and sailing between 7 and 8kt in 10-15kt of wind. During the night, the wind completely died (not even a breath of wind) so we fired up the iron jenny and motored until the wee hours of the morning. During Jeff’s watch, the winds piped back up and we had a beautiful sail into Morro Bay. We saw whale spouts a bit off of the starboard beam and eventually saw the humped back dive. A bit later off the port beam, we saw a pod of Orcas feeding…beautiful sight. We arrived in Morro Bay around 13:00 on Sunday. The entrance to Morro Bay is marked by Morro Rock, “America’s Gibraltar.”

Once we were safely anchored, we were invited to cocktails by crew from a boat that we had met in Newport, OR (hard to believe a month had passed since we encountered each other!). There were 4 PNW boats anchored in Morro Bay; 1 from Seattle, 1 from Port Townsend, 1 from Bainbridge Island, and us. It was nice visiting with other cruisers and hearing everyone’s adventures and plans. The next day we spent the day walking around the town of Morro Bay and observing the wildlife. There are the cutest sea otters; funny, vocal sea lions; beautiful white pelicans; seals; and a variety of other birds.

The next leg will include stops in Santa Barbara and Marina Del Rey to pick up Jeff’s younger brother for a short sailing vacation and concert in Chula Vista.