Sea Days 7-8 Morro Bay to Santa Barbara, CA

This morning we paid Kurt and Katie a final visit to see how some of their gear works in the daylight. We said goodbye and took the dinghy back to our boat. We tidied up and then pulled up our anchor and headed to the guest dock to pump out and get other things done. We made a nice landing and tie at the dock. Tim wanted to figure out the tagging system on the anchor chain so he took the chain off the bruce, tossed it overboard to rinse it off and then used a boat hook to bring the end onto the dock. Tim had his cross-fit workout for the day. We have 200 feet of chain and now we know the tagging lengths for anchoring. Yay! We rinsed the dinghy and pulled it up and secured it back on the boat. 

While Tim was working on the chain, I was setting out all our gear for our night sail and setting up easy food for us to eat. It was predicted to be like glass so we were anticipating motor sailing all night. 

All set to go, we headed out of Morro Bay about 1530. We have decided to just get ourselves to San Diego and visit Catalina and the Channel Islands at another time. We were heading to Santa Barbara, a 102 mile trek. The Santa Ana winds were expected to really make the passage trouble if we headed to the islands. Kurt and Katie warned us not to go near the islands if the Santa Anas were blowing. We took the report as an indication to go this direction. The Santa Anas were not predicted for Santa Barbara. 

We used the autopilot the whole night which was very nice. We entered waypoints from the paper charts and tracked our progress. The sun set and we saw the green flash as it left the horizon. What a beautiful night! The sky was clear and the stars began to come out. The moon came up much later so we had just stars. There was a meteor shower and several really big ones came down, one lasted 4 seconds. One thing we hadn’t planned on seeing was all the oil rigs out there with very intense lights that penetrated  for miles, or you might just say created light pollution for us, not to mention the smell of those huge rigs was stifling. 

Around 2200 I took the first sleep shift for 2 hours. When I got up, Tim was so excited! The dolphins had come to play. In the darkness, the bioluminescence from plankton was lit up by the dolphins swimming. They resembled torpedoes in the water and if they came close enough we were able to see their features very clearly including their eyes. It was like a Disney movie with pixie dust everywhere. Tim said "I’m having a blast up here! While you were sleeping I was trying not to wake you with my excitement."

I was up for a while and convinced Tim that he should rest. He laid down for 20 minutes and then checked in on me and laid down again for 20 minutes. While he was sleeping we finally got past the super bright oil derrick and I was able to see the stars. As an Earth Science teacher, we teach about stars. There are a number of them that I learned were pulsars, but I did not know how they were able to see the pulsing. In this darkness on the sea, the pulsing was completely visible! The Milky Way was reflecting off the glassy water. The moon didn’t rise until 0305. This all was simply epic and amazing! Tim came up and was waiting for the dolphins and watching the stars.

I was feeling really tired so I asked Tim if I could sleep again for 2 hours. I slept from about 0400 to 0600. I made some coffee and sent Tim to bed for 2 hours. It was really warming up now. I had to peel off the layers in the cockpit. It was early morning twilight and we were passing by an oil derrick and it made a pretty soft whistling sound in the distance. The sun made its appearance and in the early light an entire stream of dolphins was swimming across the front of our bow off in the distance. More than I could count. I was watching for other ships and boats keeping us on course and things in order.

I noticed the wind filling in and watched it for 15 minutes to see if it would stay. It was enough that I thought I would put the jib out and see if we went any faster. I contemplated how to do it quietly so I didn’t wake Tim with the sound of a spinning winch. I wasn’t sure I could even do it all myself, but the winds were light so I went for it. The winds indicated a close reach so I eased the main sail a bit and then set to unfurling the jib. Success! It was up and flying and we gained a knot of speed. The best part was that Tim did not even stir. I was happily sailing along when another boat hailed me on the radio sending Tim flying out of the cabin, banging his head on the way up top to see what was going on. The lady on the radio thought she was hailing someone she knew. That ticked me off because I was enjoying my freedom of choice and how the sailing part was going even though the motor was still doing most of the work. I wasn’t happy that Tim had his sleep shift interrupted.

Tim took over when his rest shift was done and I made more coffee and breakfast. Since the seas were so calm I was able to clean up the dishes, gear and clothing and tidy up the cabin. We prepared to make our entrance into Santa Barbara Harbor. We called ahead and we had to appear at the transient dock where we would be assigned a slip. We checked in and then had our head (toilet) tested to see if it was leaking or not by flushing dye down it. We motored over to our spot and tied up. This marina was very quiet and clean. After eating a bit of lunch we slept.

Santa Barbara was having a heat wave, it was 97 degrees in the cabin and super hot outside with little breeze. Wow! We were not ready for that. With shore power flowing we used every fan in the cabin. We decided to eat dinner out at the Breakwater because they serve ice cream and I was going to have ice cream for dessert! Tim had fish tacos and I had a Seafood Louie Salad. The breeze was beginning to blow. It was time to head back after a little walk to find the laundry mat. We both took showers to wash away all the sweat. Then I employed the wet towel cooling model. That is wetting a dish towel and laying it on my skin while having a fan blowing on me. We also pulled out my seed bags for massage that can be hot or cold packs. They were in the freezer nice and cold. We were quite exhausted and hit the rack around 2100. Closing out an amazing day!
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Dock Day 3 Santa Barbara, CA

We had the 50 hour engine service done at nearly 100 hours. It was kind of crazy, last week Tim called ahead to a company and said we'd be in on Monday most likely and to call when we were close. Tim called about 9am and left a message. Hours went by and he left another message. Then he called what he thought was the same company as listed on Google, spoke to the guy and coordinated a service. Most diesel mechanics are very busy this time of year and they said what others had, we're booked for 3 weeks solid. Marine Services in Santa Barbara Harbor had a 2-hour window on Tues morning, perfect!. The mechanic was awesome and found some chafing issues that we need to address ASAP. He also checked our impeller to find that it was broken! We are grateful that it was discovered as it is an essential component in our raw water cooling system for the engine. We decided to go shopping for those supplies to make the necessary fixes recommended. It was so very hot today! We started the morning by putting up our boom tent. We have it all figured out now. Every new thing we try is like solving a puzzle to figure out how it’s supposed to work or be set up. I’m very grateful for the curtains! They did an excellent job keep the sun out of the cabin. By keeping the sun out and putting up the boom tent, our boat was MUCH cooler inside. Add the fans and we had some great air flow that made it comfortable. We used my seed packs for ice packs again today.

While Tim was working with the mechanic, I took the red wagon with our laundry and my laptop and walked the mile to the marina laundromat where I spent 2 hours doing 4 wash loads and 3 dry loads followed by folding things. While the loads were in process I used the time to catch up the blog.

The sunshine felt really intense so we used the opportunity to pull out the cushions in the v-berth under our nova foam to air and be heated in the sun and to make sure they were fully dried out as they absorb the condensation and water from the leaks that the microfiber clothes miss.

Shopping was no small feat today. We took a short trolley ride and then walked several miles in search of the items we needed. Still no luck with the batteries for the binoculars! We finally got some fly swatters as flies have been an issue in these fishing ports. We found a Trader Joe’s and refreshed some of our groceries. Then we simply Lyfted back to the marina in an air conditioned car, it was well worth it! Our groceries were fairly heavy. We spent the evening putting laundry away, remaking the bed, cleaning up and getting ready to head out tomorrow morning. Cooler air was filling in and we are hopeful for a great night’s sleep.

Reflections at 20 days
Lynette:

My biggest challenge is getting things done! It seems everything takes so long to do. For me, having the cabins, galley and head orderly are really important. I wonder if it's because at home you can leave things until later and it really takes the same amount of time to do but because I’m doing it as I go, steps seem to take longer? Dishes have to be done after every use or it takes longer to get the next galley operation done. I will be glad to have a dish drainer again. That is on the purchase list. 

My wardrobe is being redefined and I’m figuring out what needs I actually have and what needs to be out and off the boat. It’s a 4 seasons thing. In this 20 days we’ve encountered temperatures from 42 to 96 degrees! I definitely need a light to medium weight wind breaker type, the sweatshirts I have aren’t pulling their weight. I am also less concerned about my hair, it’s always been brushed but it’s always out of order! I wear ball caps and my bangs get all kinked and then when I wear the beanie or stocking cap my hair is simply crazy! When we get to port or we leave the boat, I do what I can and the rest I don’t worry about. I go without eye make-up most of the time now.

I’ve been pretty tired. Now that we are in a slip again here in Santa Barbara, I slept deeply and soundly. At anchor I found it hard to just let down and sleep because different sounds would wake me up. My mind racing with: Are we dragging? Are we in the same place? Are we getting too close to another boat? What’s that sound? Is there a seal on the boat? I also sleep pretty well on our overnights. I’m sure once we get really great at anchoring I won’t have so much trouble sleeping. All the places we have moored or anchored have had wind and strong currents, issues that can cause an anchor to pop free if not completed well in the set. I’m also in a steep learning curve, it seems there are things every day that are still very new or the first time I’m doing it. These items use lots of brain juice and take time to settle into memory which requires sleep. This feels a little like boot camp, but different.

Since I have been tired, there’s been a general lack of motivation. We have no shortage of things to do or fix or to try out. Having the strength of an achiever, I’ve had to dial back what achievement looks like. For instance, today I’m going to clean the head and that’s enough. I can always find a cleaning chore, but I need to make time for reading up on using our wind steering vane, learning knots and practicing, planning with Tim our next leg of our travels. When I sit down at that end of the day and list off all the “things” I accomplished, the list is always long. I’ve learned now to list every little thing, because that’s what I’m doing right now.

Physically, I’m sore all the time. I feel much better when I take the branched chained amino acids (body builders use these for muscle building). My knee is a challenge, it’s all muscle imbalance and I have to do self care to get those loosened up so my knee moves freely. Tiger Balm is my friend these day. I am getting much stronger! That’s good! I have to remind myself to eat! Tim is really good at not eating, so part of my support role is to help remind him it's best to eat now. When he looks at his watch, he will agree. I’m thinning out and my clothes are beginning to be loose. I feel like I’m eating more, but I’m not 100% on this thought.​

The challenge of getting around and finding things in town at our stops has been filled with many feelings. Frustration at not being able to just get into a car and drive myself to all the places. Feeling that Ubering or Lyfting was more expensive than I’d like, and then feeling limited by how far I wanted to walk and the lack or selection at the places close by. Also the pricing close in is expensive! I’ve resorted to calling to see if the things we need are available at the store before heading out. Laundry facilities have been scarce and I’m glad to have them now in Santa Barbara.

Tim:
The following has to be taken in the big parenthesis of (we're sailing down the coast of California on our own sailboat, so any whining should be ignored or discounted.) 
I really love sailing, so the 20 hour motorsail we just did was OK, but I much prefer to have enough wind to really bomb down the coast. For the sake of comfort and risk management we are avoiding the biggest winds. We are looking at the weather, the isobars and NOAA data to see what we can handle. I don't need to have sea stories about how we managed in a 35 knot gale to survive another day. Lynette does not need to have a traumatic experience either. So we are taking the conservative approach at delivering our boat to San Diego. 

Sleep is nice, get it while you can. Generally I'm lacking in that area. I feel a sense of responsibility to keep things solid and safe at my own expense — which in the long run is bad for safety. Lynette is doing a great job at keeping the fuel in my body, food is important, I've heard. I am enjoying watching Lynette get more confident, make her own discoveries and generally becoming a capable sailor in her own right. 

There is a saying about cruising, "Cruising is doing boat maintenance in exotic locations." In a way, that is what we're doing. From changing anchors, running out the 200' of chain onto a dock and checking, measuring and returning it to the boat looks like a crossfit drill. To adding new gear, caulking, epoxiying leaks, troubleshooting all the electronics, care and feeding the engine, rigging up a better reefing system etc.

For those who struggle with ADD, I can really understand that. Just moving on deck from bow to stern (front to back) the internal conversation goes like this: Objective, to make sure the anchor is secure so it does not fly off the boat in a heavy sea. Go to the bow, on the way, see a line that is wrapped around the dorade vent, fix that, moving forward, oh! look at the sea lion in the marina eating a huge fish. What was I doing? I need to get that hatch opened for some ventilation, where is that bungie I used for that? down in the aft cockpit locker, pull that out as it grabs everything in the locker in its hook, letting go at the last second to snap me in the knuckles, which are already scabbed over from other similar events. I see the flag is wrapped up, so because I love my country I free the star tangled banner. Onward, back to get the hatch opened. Gosh why can't I finish a single thing? Oh, wait, the anchor! Go to the bow and come up with a good way to secure it, realizing that the line I need is in the same locker I was just in. Head back to the cockpit and cram my toes into the cleat on deck because I was looking at the pretty bird flying by. %$&*@ that hurts! Line in hand, heading back up to tied down the anchor. Good, done. I wonder, if there is a piece of gear I can get to make that anchor really solid on the bow. No need to replay the Morro Bay anchor hanging incident. I'll get on the net and look for something. 
Bottom line, it is REALLY hard to get one thing done on a boat. Everything is shouting for attention, there are so many things clamoring for improvement, fixing or tying down.
My hands are really sore, the pulling, smashing, crushing and general abuse they take is astounding. 

I spend a lot of time using navigation tools, weather resources and other geeky things to ensure we are not going to blunder into a storm or a gale. It has paid off so far, by spending 4 extra days in Alameda, 3 in Santa Cruz, then 3 in Monterey and 4 in Morro Bay add up to a slow trek down the about 400 miles to San Diego. Being an achiever you have to realize that most goals are arbitrary and pushing to hit those marks can be very costly. We've got a question we ask that seems to work for most things, "why not?" Why not stay, why not go? It's helped Lynette and I get on the same page for routes and timing. It's all part of the adventure. 
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Anchor Day 1 Morro Bay, CA

Our first night at anchor was filled with sleep disturbances as to whether or not we were still holding and if we had done a sufficient job in the setting of the anchor and if we had enough chain rode out. It was cold! Tim got up several times to check on a strange noise, so a 1-2-3am wake-ups have been normal since getting under way. I got up and retrieved the down comforter that we had bagged for our quarter berth where we sleep under way. The main cabin was 54 degrees in the morning.

The chores for today were to get the dinghy off the boat and go ashore for showers and some shopping. We wanted to get this done early because high winds of 25-35 knots were forecasted for the harbor. As we were getting the dinghy ready of off-load, the lady who kept us from anchoring too shallow, and her husband came over with their dinghy to say good morning on their way into town - Kurt and Katie from Interlude. They left and Harbor Patrol paid us a visit to register us with them, we get to anchor for 5 nights for free in a 30 day window. Once done with them, we realized it was almost noon and we were still in need of getting our showers and going into town and the wind was starting. 

We zip locked our shower items and headed for shore. It was not clear what the shower facilities were like and if they were free or for pay. Turns out they were public showers for pay, 2 minutes per quarter. I anticipated the possibility and loaded all the quarters we had into my pockets. I returned outside to give Tim some quarters. It reminded me of shopping at Harrod’s in London where Tim joked with me that we would have to pay for the use of the bathroom, and sure enough, it was a pound tariff each to use the loo. The restroom was very open, even though the shower was a stall with one hook and no separation from the shower area and dressing. Careful planning was in order! I figured out how to shower and keep my clothing, shoes and bag dry and still get my towel when I was finished. Then there is the challenge of keeping the towel off the floor and getting your feet dry to put back into your shoes! Accomplished! I had a 2 quarter shower (50 cents) and now fresh, dry and dressed to head back to the boat for lunch.

Our return trip was nothing less than a comedy! I wish there was video! The mile ride back in our inflatable dinghy was into the wind and the sea chop was already building. I sat in the front on my bottom with my Helly Hansen weather jacket hood up. Tim was facing the front to drive. As we started, every wave was spraying up and landing Tim strait in the face! As I am watching wave after wave slap him in the face, his sunglasses falling off and water drenching him completely! Where did all the water in the dinghy go? Under the inflatable floor and then drenched my tush. The waves got so big that had I not had my weather jacket on, I would have looked just like Tim. Tim was mad! I talked to him later, I was laughing because what else do you do! It was like a scene from a sailing comedy! We safely arrived back at the boat, I’m soaked from the butt down and Tim is completely soaked. Once back on the boat the winds were high enough for us to feel really cold. We stripped down in the cockpit so we didn’t bring a bunch of salty water into the cabin. The sun came out and the winds were whipping up and we decided we were staying on the boat the rest of the day! We tied up our wet clothing to dry in the sun and winds. We were a little frustrated that we paid money for fresh water showers only to get a salt water shower on the return. Tim and I agreed that we just should have used our shower on the boat.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up after our previous day’s travels and tidied things up. I practiced my bowline knot and read up on anchoring practices. The wind was huge and we were spinning, bouncing, rocking, and the boat was swinging a lot. The anchor held in 30 knot winds!

Anchor Day 2 Morro Bay, CA
Another cold night, 48 degrees, the cabin warms up fast with the use of the stove and hot coffee. Of course clothing helps with being warm as well. The weather reports said that the winds were to be strong again today, so we decided we needed to get into town for some items on the grocery list. We took the dinghy into town early to beat the winds and hopefully not repeat yesterday’s dinghy ride. We had to walk about a mile to Albertsons to purchase our groceries. We still cannot find a specific button battery for our binoculars for taking fixes at night. We also purchased some wine and chocolate for the Katie and Kurt as a thank you for our appreciation of not anchoring in water that was sand at low tide. On our way back we stopped by Interlude to drop off the wine and chocolate. Katie and Kurt said we needed to come back and help them drink it. They told us to bring our cruising guides so they could mark it up for us. 

We went back to the boat and stowed things away, had lunch and tidied up. I worked on writing for the blog and then we decided to head over to Interlude about 1530. What a great time we had! Tim recorded our conversations with them because they were so full of great information we didn’t want to miss out. They made all sorts of notes in Charlie’s Charts, our cruising guide. Then we talked a great deal about anchors. They highly suggested getting our new 45 lb Bruce anchor on the line and our chain measured, and getting the autopilot sorted out. They thought we shouldn’t leave Morro Bay until those items were done. It is wonderful to be able to connect with world cruisers that can share their experiences and tips. We are so grateful for the connection. These people have sailed around the world on their 74 foot yacht Interlude, just the two of them. They are very accomplished sailors and as Tim searched the web, he found out they are in the rock star category in the world cruiser crowd. They loved the fact we were sponges for all of their wisdom and we became fast friends. See the blog of their travels.

We stayed late, and realized we had the boat open and our anchor light was not on. We got ourselves back over and closed up for the night. The wind that was predicted did not materialize and for that we were grateful.


Anchor Day 3 Morro Bay, CA
It was a much quieter night last night. On deck for today was working on all the things Kurt and Katie said should be done. Tim realized he made a compass setting change in the chart plotter on the way to Monterey and went in and changed that back and it worked! Today is my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and they were staying on Monterey. I let them know today would be a good day to hop down and see us. They liked the idea, so they headed out.

Tim’s master plan was that we would weigh anchor, head to a recreational dock where my parents could easily meet us and get on the boat. While at the dock Tim could swap the anchors and get the Bruce on the line. We found the perfect  dock and pulled up and tied up among the 3 restaurants right there at the waterfront. Fortunately, we had a beautiful landing and tie up. People were taking pictures of our boat again and I could tell they were trying to see in our windows to see what the insides looked like. I got the cabins all ship-shape and Tim finished just in time to meet my parents for lunch. My mom just couldn’t wait to see the boat!

After lunch we took them down to the boat and left the dock for a harbor tour. We took them out into the ocean just enough so they could feel what it was like on our boat in the swells. We came back the same recreation dock and dropped them off, said goodbye and sent them on their way. They had a great time! I was fun to be with them on their special day.

The next big chore was to get fuel. The gas dock had been busy every time we tried to go! It was now high tide and that was good. We passed by the dock to scope it out, there was a ladder to climb in order to tie off to fuel, it was not a dock but a pier. The ladder was about 6 feet tall over my head. There were no other places to tie except above us. As we came back around, I was able to step off the boat onto the ladder with stern line in hand, loosely enough that if I didn’t make it in time it wouldn’t pull me off the ladder. I climbed up completing the tie and then Tim tossed up the bowline so I tied the bow. With both ends tied off we were able to position the boat to our best workings. Another big first! We took on about 24 gallons of fuel. We have been running the engine an hour or so each day for hot water and charging the house batteries.

Next we had to go anchor again. We drove around a bit and finally picked our place and dropped the Bruce. As Tim was getting all the chain out, Kurt and Katie came over in their dinghy. They said we had a great set and it looked good. They were there as I backed down hard on the anchor. They invited us to $1 Oysters at Stax. We cleaned up, changed our clothes and went in the dinghy into town. We had a great time. Katie invited us to dinner and a movie on their boat, so we decided to join them for dinner and a movie. We had such a great time in conversation that we didn’t get to the movie. Again, all sorts of information for us to take note of for later application.

Finally, it felt like we had had a cruiser experience. Kurt and Katie said it takes about 2 years to get to the place of down time and relaxation. It’s about getting the boat all dialed in and our routines etc. It's been a very good day indeed. We noticed that it was warmer this evening and decided our down comforter would be too much. Good night all

​Lynette