Today is a stopover day in Morro Bay. Carolyn and I arrived yesterday at about 8pm in pea soup fog. We left Port San Luis at 10am under full sail because the forecast said the winds were supposed to be 10 knots or less from the West. When we got to the end of the Port San Luis breakwater, the wind was blowing at least 15 knots. That caused the boat to tip over more than we wanted, so we turned around briefly to reef the main sail. Passing the end of the breakwater again, we decided we had the right amount of sail.

Aside: I document the sailing days so Carolyn and I will remember the interesting bits when we look back on the trip in 10 or 20 years. I apologize if my writing is boring, incomprehensible, crude, or technically inaccurate.

We unrolled half the jib and headed Southwest to put some distance between us and the shore. Once we had a few miles under our belt, we headed Northwest. We took several Southwest, then Northwest tacks until we rounded Point Buchon at about 5pm. That's when the fog started to get thicker.

For the next three hours the fog kept getting worse and worse. Morro Bay has a reputation as one of the foggiest areas on the Pacific coast so we expected fog, but not this thick. We used the GPS to find the "MB" safe water bouy, then we used the charts and listened for the fog horn to find the entrance of the harbor. We didn't see the "MB" bouy until we were 25 feet from it even though we heard the whistle on the bouy long before we saw it. Once we entered the channel, the fog cleared up significantly to allow us to anchor.

Carolyn took the picture at the top after we anchored.

Morro Bay has a significant tidal range, which we have not seen before. At high tide, we were in about 20 feet of water. At low tide, about 5am, the depth sounder said we were in 8 feet of water and the birds were walking on the shore less than 20 yards from the boat. That caused some sleeplessness until the tide started to rise again.

Today, Carolyn and I had two shore excursions. The first was to hit the grocery store to provision for our trip to Monterey. The second was to get some fish and chips. It was a warm, sunny day unlike our entrance yesterday.

Tomorrow we head out early for San Simeon which is 27 or so miles Northwest of Morro Bay. We will spend about 12-18 hours there and then make the 85 mile trek into Monterey if weather permits. We're hoping to pass the Big Sur coast during daylight.

On Wednesday, Carolyn planned a hike from Avila to the Pirate's Cave. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good photos of the cave, but these photos represent the not-too-shabby type of day it was:

The crew of Crazy Love has been underway, living full time on the boat, for more than 6 weeks. We needed a vacation from our vacation so we booked a hotel in San Luis Obipso for one night. Getting from Avila Beach to anywhere via public transportation is not straight forward. On Thursday morning, we called the water taxi to take us from the boat to the dock. Then we waited for the 10:20am (free!) trolley to the Pismo Beach Premium Outlets. From there we hopped on the 11:00am Route 10 Bus which dropped us in Downtown SLO before lunch.

Our first stop, always my first stop in San Luis Obispo, is Firestone Grill. I didn't even look at the menu and neither did Carolyn. Two trip tip sandwiches and a basket of fries. It was as good as I remember from college!

Thursday night in San Luis Obispo is Farmer's Market and its still the best one I've ever been to. There are at least a few dozen "farmer" vendors, the same number of food vendors (everything from bbq to Italian to Thai), and a stage for music at the end. The band this week was The Mother Corn Shuckers. They play a mix of bluegrass, country and rock that was a groovy good time.

In addition to being Farmer's Market afficianados, Carolyn and I are also sampling Central Coast beers when the chance (need?) arrises so we stopped in the Creekside Brewing Company after we picked up some fruits and vegetables. I have a feeling that brewery stops will become a theme for the remainder of our time cruising the coast of California.

After having a great half day in San Luis Obispo, we decided to keep the land based fun going in Paso Robles. I've always wanted, but never had the chance, to go to the Firestone-Walker brewery/restaurant in Paso Robles. We were also in the mood for a little summer heat. Despite the recent heat waves in the Southwest, I have been consistently cold, so a hot summer afternoon was welcome. The forecast for Paso was 104 on Friday.

Carolyn booked us an inexpensive rental car (thank you Budget!) and used some Hilton points to book us a room at the Hampton Inn & Suites just off the 101 in Paso. Before checking into the hotel, we hit two wineries - Mondo and Chronic. At Chronic, we sat on their lovely covered patio and enjoyed our Farmer's Market bounty in a welcome 90 degree heat.

The Hapton Inn & Suites is less than two miles from Firestone Walker, so we checked into the hotel and set out for a 30 minute walk. We had a few rounds there, including a decadent Imperial Stout called Parabola. When I have the chance, I would like to sample Parabola next to Alesmith's Speedway Stout.

After Firestone Walker - just trust me, we weren't drunk, we were only sampling - we walked two miles south to a new brewery called Barrelhouse Brewing. They had a giant new brewery and tasting room with an inviting back patio featuring a waterfall, prohibition era truck and a big grassy area perfect for a concert on this warm summer afternoon.

After that it was off to bed because we had to get up by 8:30am to pack up and get the rental car back to San Luis Obispo before 10:30am.

Getting home was an adventure similar to the way everything has been on this trip. We took a car, a bus, a trolley, and a water taxi to make it back to Crazy Love.

Its Saturday night and we are back on the boat. The weather looks benign for the next few days so we plan to head to Morro Bay tomorrow. The plan is to spend two days there and then head to San Simeon. San Simeon (right next to Hearst Castle) will be a quick rest before the big (85 miles) jump to Monterey. We will stay in Monterey for a while because we want to spend some time at the aquarium.

Port San Luis at Avila Beach is a quiet port and a bit isolated. This makes for a lovely vacation spot, but a challenge without a vehicle. Essentially public transport is available Thursday through Sunday or its a $45 cab ride out. Oh and the water taxi only runs Thursday through Monday.

We arrived on a Thursday evening, anchored for free overnight then "rented" a mooring ball for the week near the facilities of the pier. Its only $1 for a 5 minute shower here, a real bargain. Friday we cleaned ourselves up and wandered into the town's Fish and Farmer's market. I'm still not sure where the fish was, but you hardly miss it since this market has live music and a continual view of the Pacific.

We were very fortunate to arrive in time for our good friends' wedding shower and BBQ.
If you haven't had central coast tri tip and sour dough at a family BBQ, I highly recommend! The Durham family was very welcoming (and picked us up at the pier) and we thank them for the hospitality and the yummy leftovers. Congrats to Carol and Chris, we very much look forward to the wedding in November!

Monday was our 5 year anniversary. Its considered a good thing that the years have flown by, right? We celebrated in style by treating ourselves to drinks out at the Port Harford Chandlery and Pub (this place has it all: marine supplies, kayaks, coffee, sandwiches, and a pub) followed by dinner at the Olde Port Inn (a great seafood restaurant at the end of the pier). The wind was blowing up to 20 knots, making a dinghy landing rather questionable so we called the water taxi. Since we were going to be out past 4:30, we towed our dinghy in so we had a way back after dinner (and yes the oars went with us to dinner).

Today we decided it best to get some chores out of the way as our plan is to spend Thursday night in San Luis Obispo and head on to Morro Bay Saturday.

The gas needed filling, our holding tank needed pumping out, and we were completely out of water. We missed the fuel dock on our way into the mooring, and its a wonder since it was 20 feet above the water line on the pier. Dave and I were both interested as to how this was going to work. It was certainly the most difficult fill up yet, but we did it! You dock along the pier pilings and they hand down the assorted pumps and hoses. While we were there Dave grabbed some ice which means cold beer tonight to go with our tacos!

We made it! Carolyn and I arrived in Port San Luis Thursday evening right before sunset and anchored between the Cal Poly and Avila piers.

Earlier that morning in Cojo Anchorage...we woke at 2am to get underway, but the wind was whistling and the waves were significant even in the anchorage. It was also pitch black - like can't-see-my-hand-in-front-of-my-face kind of dark. If the weather and darkness in the anchorage was like this, then the conditions around Points Conception and Arguello would not be to our liking. We went back to sleep with the intention of waking up an hour later. I missed my alarm, but Carolyn woke at 3:45am and saw the same wind and waves as before. We both got up at 4:45am to flat calm water and no wind in the anchorage. The pre-dawn light was also starting to show itself on the horizon. It was time to get underway.

Before we went to bed the night before, we had prepared the boat and our gear so we would have minimal preparation to get underway when the conditions looked right. We even skipped breakfast. At about 5:15am we motored out of Cojo Anchorage.

Both Carolyn and I had a lot of clothes on. I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, vest, sweatshirt, foul weather jacket on top and long underwear, pants, foul weather pants, and rubber boots on the bottom - I picked up the boots in Santa Barbara and I'm very glad I did. I also had a scarf (Thank you Carol!) and beanie for my head. Carolyn had a similar ensemble. It protected us well from the wind and water, but it made going to the bathroom quite a chore. Imagine this...you're wearing all the clothing you own and you have to go pee but your toilet is mounted on a tiny platform that moves six to twenty four inches in any direction at any time. Quite a challenge when you have your knickers around your ankles. And yes, on the boat I sit to pee.

Once out of the anchorage, the waves increased quite a bit. The boat would rise over one wave, pick up speed heading down the back of the wave and then crash into the next wave sending a huge spray of water into the cockpit. It was a wet few hours. The problem with crashing into the next wave is that the bow (front) digs into the wave, stopping the boat. So now the boat's stopped, with 30 (maybe?) gallons of water sloshing around on the side decks and the boat is off course. We considered turning around to try again another day, but decided that turning around meant going all the way back to Santa Barbara and that these conditions were "normal" for the Cape Horn of California. After 5 or so hours of this, Crazy Love and her crazy wet crew were safely around Point Conception and Point Arguello. Then the waves calmed down.

By noon, we had made about 20 miles, with 30 still to go. Hand steering for the rest of the day was going to be exhausting, so we decided to try the tiller pilot (auto-pilot) that came (for free!) with our boat. It worked flawlessly for the rest of the day. All we had to do was plug it in, attach it to the deck and the tiller and set the right course.

With the tiller pilot steering, the final 30 miles passed quickly. Carolyn and I took turns keeping watch one hour at a time, but we were usually both on deck. North of Point Arguello is, I believe, Vandenburg Airforce base. It was some very beautiful coastline that I would bet not many people get to see like we did.

We also saw some humpback, we think, whales. One group of two whales was about 15 miles South of Port San Luis and another group of 5 (or so) was just outside the entrance.

Carolyn and I plan to stay in Port San Luis for 9 nights. Morro Bay will be our next stop where we will head, weather permitting, next weekend.

Writing from Cojo Anchorage with not much of a wireless connection...

After eight wonderful nights in Santa Barbara it was time for Carolyn and I to move on up the coast. Our next port of call, Port San Luis, is more than 90 miles from Santa Barbara. We're not quite ready for that long of a trip, so we've stopped at Cojo Anchorage - about half way to Port San Luis.

We planned to leave at 7am but ended up pulling away from the dock in Santa Barbara at 7:15am. It really is a miracle that we were only 15 minutes late. Every time we've tried to plan something since we've been living on the boat, we're always an hour or more late. Being only 15 minutes late this time was pretty good for us.

The winds were light, almost non-existant, and the water was glassy so we motored west, directly towards Cojo for about 90 minutes until we got a more significant East breeze. We set the sails, turned off the engine, and were able to sail for 30 minutes until that little breeze died. I know its lame that every time the wind dies we turn on the motor, but we would rather not arrive at a new-to-us anchorage in the middle of the night. So on we motored. Three separate times we attempted to sail, only to have the wind die.

At 2:30pm the wind picked up nicely. So nicely that we were overpowered and had to roll up the jib 1/3 of the way and put a reef in the main. [Translation for non-sailors: We reduced the amount of sail so we weren't so tipped over]. After we reefed, we moved along very nicely at 3+ knots. We rode that great breeze until it quit at 6pm, but by then we were within ten miles of the anchorage. We had 90 minutes until sunset, so we motored the rest of the way and set the anchor just after sundown with a lovely purplish-orangish glow on the horizon. It had taken us 14 hours to cover 40 miles. We were tired, but glad to have arrived safely.

There isn't a town here and there are no homes on the hill above the beach so it is very dark which means the stars are stunning, but there are train tracks on the cliff above the beach. We are not more than 1/3 of a mile from the beach so the train lights peaking through the fog at 11pm were quite the sight. Carolyn made a lovely dinner of chili-Mac (that's Mac & Cheese with a can of chili in it) and hot cocoa. We watched the stars until we were convinced the anchor would hold. Then we were off to bed.

The weather is looking good, so we are going to leave tonight for Port San Luis. Conventional wisdom, and our cruising guide, advise us to round Points Conception and Arguello after midnight when the wind and waves are mild. Our plan is to pull up the anchor at 2am (cause all the good stuff happens after closing time!) tomorrow morning and get underway. The trip to Point San Luis is about 50 miles. We hope to make it by sunset, but aren't afraid to come back to Cojo if the weather is too much to handle.