HEADING SOUTH

We will soon be heading south! We will take our time going down the coast to San Diego, stopping wherever the whim hits. After hurricane season is over, in November 2007, we will head down to the Sea of Cortez. Watch this page for pictures and adventures in Mexico by the end of 2007!

First I will endeavor to chronicle our trip down the coast.  We will be leaving from Charleston Oregon, which is near or part of Coos Bay Oregon.

Our current estimate for taking off is next Wednesday, August 28, 2007. Right now the weather is looking good for that date but as anyone who travels by boat knows, that could change!

August 31, 2007 -  We ended up leaving Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 1440 hours. (see pictures 2-5) Our first stop was to be Bodega Bay CA, but we decided to turn in at Eureka so Rick could fine tune the rigging he had just installed.  Our first overnight trip went off without a hitch! I even managed to stand my first night, midnight to 0400,  watch without getting sleepy! It does help that we have a nice heater and can mostly stay inside. We have great visibility, 360 degree, from inside. We go out regularly to check things of course. We also have the radar going all the time. The weather was great, not quite enough wind to just sail, we had to motor sail, but we don't mind at this point in the trip we just want to get to Southern California before any really bad weather can hang us up. The winds never got over 10 knots and the seas were mostly 3-4 foot with a short period of higher 5-6 foot swells. Nothing to write home about! The swells were far enough apart that it seemed like a very slow roller coaster, nice and easy!  Our entry into Eureka was under foggy conditions so we used our radar and electronic charts along with both of us watching, one on each side. It really was a relatively easy entry, we went nice and slow and ended up anchoring out at buoy 17 in a nice little cove until the morning. Then we went up to the first marina on the right and took a slip for one night. We will be leaving first thing in the morning as the weather is still looking good. I will update again at the next port (with wi-fi).

09/08/07 - We are now in Monterey Ca., I didn't manage to get an update put in for Bodega Bay so I will have to do both now. We left Eureka Ca. at about 10:30 on Saturday 9/1/07. It was as foggy going as coming! We got out the mouth and were about 2-3 miles off when we heard a call from the Coast Guard that a 17 ft. fishing boat was without forward gear and floating in the fog. The Coast Guard asked that any vessel near their location help look for them and render assistance. They gave the Lat and Long and it was near us so we decided to lend a hand. We let the Coast Guard know that we would look for them. It ended up taking an hour to an hour and a half to finally locate them. They were so small and drifting that we had a hard time picking them up on radar. We did finally find them and called the Coast Guard. We did not attempt to tow them back but waited with them until the Coast Guard cutter got there. (see pictures 6 and 7).  So, that done we continued on our way. As soon as we got several miles from Eureka we had sunshine and bright sky's. Around 1330 we saw a container ship headed for Eureka and I thought of that small boat and thought I bet their glad to be out of it's path. Around 1930 I went below to get some sleep before my watch at midnight. around 2120 Rick called me up. The wind had come up fast and furious and we needed to reef the main. This was yet another first for me. The winds were 25 gusting to 30 and the seas were 6-8 ft and sharp and close together. Very uncomfortable! But, once we put the reef in the boat settled down well and I went back to bed and slept until midnight. By the time I came up the weather was back to mostly calm. So, the next day we got up to clear and sunny sky's. I was laying down around 1330 Rick called me up again. The winds were coming up again and we decided to reef again, a little earlier this time!  Around 1530 the winds and waves were up and the auto pilot could not handle the steering so Rick had to hand steer for a couple hours. Then it clamed a little and the auto pilot worked for a while.  We got a couple hours from Bodega Bay and the winds and waves were again such that Rick had to steer. When we got a couple miles from the bay a Coast Guard cutter came out to us and had us put our radio on. (don't know why we didn't have it on anyway!)  They had a report of an overturned boat near our location and wanted to know if we had seen anything. We had not. Then they asked if we would help look!  So, twice in two days we are out there helping the Coast Guard look for small boats.  The cutter found that boat shortly and we continued on to Bodega Bay.  We got to the mouth around 1930 so we anchored out that first night. The next morning was at first very sunny so we got ready to go in and sure enough, as soon as we were ready, the fog socked us in again!  I have had a lot of experience in going in under radar now!  The channel into Bodega Bay is very narrow but well marked.  We went on in and got a slip. We ended up staying there until Thursday 9/6/07. We were going to leave on Wednesday but the weather didn't look to good so we waited a day.  While there we rested and did laundry. We also met a very nice couple who are also going to Mexico. I will tell more about them in First Mate's Log.

So, now it's Thursday 9/6/07. Around 0630 (yuk! I'm retired!) we took off from Bodega Bay.  It was a little foggy but nothing like we had seen. I took the boat out while Rick had breakfast then I went down to eat.  We had very calm seas and no wind so things looked pretty good.  I however was not doing so hot.  For some reason I now decided to get sea sick! So, I spent that whole first day laying down.  Late that afternoon the seas started coming up. By late evening it was brutal! The seas were short and sharp, 4-5 feet and the wind was on the nose.  The only good thing was that there was very little wind.  So, we ended up beating into that until the early hours of the next morning.  I was really out of it but did manage to stand my midnight to 0400 watch so Rick could sleep.  It had handled the boat the whole day so I know that he really needed some sleep.  By the time 0400 came around the seas were mostly down to nothing again. I slept until 0800 and, WOW, I got up and was totally fine again!  Go figure!  Anyway, I got Rick to go lay down again for about 3 hours, he really needed to not get to tired.  So, the rest of the day was flat and calm.  No or little wind, always on the nose, but no sea state at all, almost glassy seas. We got into Monterey around 1500 on Friday 9/7/07. The entrance into Monterey Marina is the narrowest I have ever seen! (see pictures) Ok, so I haven't seen a lot, but only one boat at a time can come and go through the entrance. We got a good slip and took a shower (always the first priority). Then we walked around a little. We got lucky, there is a classic car show and an Italian festival going on this weekend right here near the marina. Not close enough to cause noise pollution however! The Sea Lions make up for that. We have had to chase a couple off the dock next to us several time last night but they seem to be gone now. Rick went into the dry locker to get the sail cover and guess what, sometimes 'dry locker' is a misnomer!!  We had beat into the seas so much that a fair amount of water leaked into the dry locker. It seems that the seal on the starboard one was old and worn out. Check out the pictures, everything in both lockers came out and was laid out all over the foredeck and dock.  I had to rinse everything with fresh water and lay them out to dry. Then Rick and I used a hand pump he had made up (for just such emergencies!) and pumped out maybe five gallons or less from the starboard side and virtually nothing but a few drops on the port side. Such is the cruising life!! Take the good with the bad! So, we are going to spend the weekend and see what Monterey has to offer and rest up. 

Saturday, 9/15/07 - We are now sitting at a mooring ball in Newport Beach.  What a pretty spot.  We left Monterey Monday 9/10/07 around 0830. It was overcast the first 2-3 hours then it burned off and was a beautiful day. The seas were calm, almost glassy at times. I sat outside in just a t-shirt and sweat pants. I got a lot of sun! I wrote in my journal that "this is what I've been waiting for".  So, Mondays and Tuesday both were great days.  We came up on Pt. Conception a little after noon. The seas of course came up and the wind increased to 25 plus knots.  We dropped the sail and motored around the point.  The seas were uncomfortable but no undoable or even particularly hard.  We came around to Cojo anchorage and decided to stop.  We anchored in Cojo anchorage about 1400.  We relaxed the rest of that day. Around 1800 I made dinner but just as we were sitting down to eat we noticed that we were dragging anchor. Oh well, up went the anchor and we moved to a little better spot, not so much sea weed. The anchor held and we went back to dinner. It went so quick that dinner wasn't even cold! It was so nice we decided to stay the next day too!  That second night the wind came up a lot!  We had steady 25 knots with gusts well over 30.  The anchor held and we slept pretty well. That afternoon at 1700 we took off for Newport Beach.  We had decided to skip Santa Barbara. We had spent more nights in marinas already and Newport Beach has mooring balls for $5 per night.  We got to the mouth around 2030. It was dark of course and Rick had never been here (I've never been to any of them of course!). We got inside the channel and it looked like a part was going on everywhere we looked!  We got down to the Sheriffs dock but had to wait a few minutes as they had just towed in a small sailboat and they were chaining it up!  Never did ask why. Anyway, we were assigned a mooring ball and given some general directions. The harbor was like the L.A. freeway as far as I was concerned! We motivated down to where we thought the mooring was, passed it up, asked another boat, turned around and with a very large spot light, finally found it.  It was in between two other boats already moored and about a million others!  Rick very beautifully slipped us right between all the others and I stepped down on the swim step and tied up to the stern ball.  The bow was a lot more (fun)! I had to lay down on the bow and lean all the way to the ball which sits only about a foot off the water! I made Rick hang onto me as I was sure I was going in!!  I did it!! I got the line through the ring and tied a perfect bowline knot!! Another first and a fun story. It was much more exciting when it was happening then what it looks like on paper!!  So, we are going to hang out here for about 5 days.  Then we plan on going to Catalina.  Hopefully I can find a Wifi to get this updated soon.

Wednesday September 26, 2007  We ended up spending eight days moored next to Balboa Island at Newport Beach.  We did laundry and grocery shopping and a lot of walking around.  It's a nice place to spend some relaxing time.

We left Newport at 1000 on Saturday September 22, 2007.  It had rained a lot the night before and the skies were still cloudy and there was a little wind.  We thought about staying another night but decided to go ahead and take off.  We got out the mouth and had a little bit of seas.  We put up the sails right outside the mouth. There were still clouds but no rain.  We headed off to Catalina and we could see a huge cloud to the left of the island. There was a curtain of rain as black as night under the could and it was marching it's self right across between us and Catalina.  It was a long way off but I was worried that it would slow and we would end up going right through it.  We did not of course but had a lot of fun watching it, it was awesome.  Then there were blue skies and fluffy white clouds and enough wind to sail.  We went on for less then an hour I guess when I looked off to the left, which would have been south I think,  and I saw a neat sight.  There on the water was a small whirlwind like patch with water jumping up off the ocean and spinning, just a foot off the water I guess.  I said to Rick, look isn't that neat.  He did not have a good expression on his face for some reason!  So I looked again and my brain said, funnel cloud.  Oooppps!! not so "neat".  It was small but directly abeam and headed right for us.  We watched it closely and it ended up going right behind us.  Not close enough to do damage but too close for comfort.  We were on a port tack and as soon as it passed behind us the sails slammed over to the starboard tack all by themselves!!!  Wow.  It was neat in a way but could have been bad had it been any bigger or if it had hit us.  About an hour later, maybe two, I looked back and there it was, full grown and hitting land around L.A.  I am glad that we were very far away because it was huge by now.  So, anyway, we got to Avalon around 1800 and took a  mooring at Descanso Bay, just north of the breakwater of Avalon bay.  It was really rolly! I felt like I was still at sea!  Next stop, Mission Bay!!

Thursday October 11, 2007 - As of Tuesday October 2 we have been anchored at the A-9 anchorage in San Diego. We left Avalon Monday morning September 24.  We left about 0830.  It was a beautiful sunny day!!  We decided to sail all the way even if it was slow as we didn't want to get to Mission Bay late at night. "The best laid plans of mice and men!"..... We started off good, we were sailing maybe 3 knots.  We were in no hurry and I got to watch Catalina Island for a long time.... a long long long time!!!  Really, it was beautiful and peaceful.  We sailed along like that for a couple hours and then even the little wind we had died and we finally started the motor.  We only had it on for an hour and the wind came back so on we sailed. And the wind came up! We ended up doing the best sail of the whole trip so far, 6-7 knots, wing on wing with the sails! It was awesome.  I took a blanket up forward and laid in the sun for an hour or so it was so calm, no waves at all! Just a great little wind and a beautiful sail!  We saw a lot of sport fisherman. Sport fisherman with lots of money and big boats!  I also saw a large whale! Rick was laying down so he didn't see it.  The fisherman did, we passed close to one and they asked if I had seen Moby Dick!!  OK, so much for not getting in late.  Technically it was early, 0200 to be exact.  We pulled in to Mission Bay and anchored about 0230 and got to bed about 0245.  We stayed there until Thursday morning. We got up Thursday morning to get to the police docks in San Diego.  I had intended to take a picture the morning we left.....major fog.  The bay is rather small and had a LOT! of boats anchored.  We had to pick our way out using the radar and both of us watching. We would see a boat come up and about the time we got to it the next would be visible.  We didn't even know which way we were facing so we didn't know which way the entrance was! We knew where the boat next to us was in relation to the shore so we headed in the general direction we knew it had to be then we looked for the one large sailboat that we knew had been anchored closest to the entrance ( and hoped they hadn't left the night before!).  We of course made it out and as soon as we got offshore a little the fog cleared up.  After dodging crab pots and kelp beds we made it to the police docks around 1030.  We were lucky to get there when we did. We went up to the office and there was only one slot left that we would fit in, maybe!!  The guy in the slip had the option of extending three more days. He did not however and we got our slip!!  We also got the last permit for the free anchorage!!  They only allow 20 in the free anchorage and we got the last one until someone leaves.  So, we will be here until 10/31/07.  We have not been able to get on the internet after one quick log on I made when we first got here. I don't know why but we can't. So, we will take the lap top to a cafe we found once a week or so.  There is not much to update so don't look for much for the next month.  We will continue with more when we take off for Mexico.

Saturday December 22, 2007

Now to finish the "Heading South" section.  We ended up spending two months in San Diego instead of the one month that was planned.  So goes the cruising life!!  So, we ended up leaving San Diego on Saturday, December 1st, 2007.  The day before had record rains for S.D. but the storm had passed (mostly) by the time we took off.  We left the dock at 1100 hours (after Click and Clack!). It was still slightly overcast and chilly, we had our foul weather coats on. The seas were very rolly. They were not sharp or steep (yet) but the motion was not fun. They were also coming from two different directions.  Very unpleasant.  That lasted all night. Rick had a heavy load that day as I was really sea sick, I even fed the fish once! Anyway, those seas lasted all night and I was sick most of the time.  I did my watch so Rick could sleep but that was it.  For the next two days we had rolly seas and not much wind. The most we got was 15 knots. By Monday the winds were so light we decided to try the spinnaker. Rick put it up (a lot of work) and I steered (not an easy thing). We didn't have it up 15-30 minutes and the wind started to come up! I had the pleasure of taking it down. It really isn't hard with the sock. All in all I decided it was a lot of work and not much benefit in the conditions we were in, because we had the wind behind us the whole way and ours is designed to be off to one side, asymmetrical I think.

Overall, the whole ride was not bad but just "icky".  It took 80 hours to get to Bahia de Tortugas. That is the longest trip I'd done so far. (see first mates long for details on the town) We arrived around 1400.  The next morning Rick went to change the spark plugs in the motor and one broke off inside! There was no getting it out so that was the end of that motor.  Rick being Rick had a spare! He had taken the lower unit off a spare that he had bought and stored it aboard. So, Wednesday after the spark plug broke we jumped ship and went into town to decompress. Then, Thursday morning he set to changing out the whole thing. (I helped a little but very little) First he had to pull the old one out of the well, then take the lower unit off and check out the water pump (since he had it off anyway). Then put the lower unit on the new (used) one, then get the "new" one back into the well.  He also took the carburetor and the starter and the ignition module off the old one for spares. With some fine tuning it ran great!  It did not idle well but it took us all the way to Mazatlan where he changed the carburetor. It took six hours to get the whole job done.

Sunday December 9, 2007 we left Turtle Bay and headed for Bahia Santa Maria. We left at 0930 and arrived at 0930 on Tuesday December 11.  It took exactly 48 hours.  We had been able to catch the Chubosco net and get a weather update, little good that did us!  They said that it was going to be mild!  Well it started off ok, for a while!!!! The winds were fairly light so we were motor sailing.  Then, the winds came up and the seas came up to match. We started with swells of 4-5, then went to 5-6.  Most of the time the wind was a steady 15. It wasn't super bad but not a fun time was had by all! It stopped by morning and the rest of the trip was uneventful (thank you!).

We left Bahia Santa Maria on Thursday December 13, 2007.  We left the anchorage around 1500. We actually sailed off the anchor with our jib only. We were only doing 3-4 knots but that was ok with us after the last trip. So, the rest of that day, that night and the next day was very sweet sailing. The winds were light so sometimes we motor sailed. Then, as they say, all good things must come to an end!  The second night out around 1830 the winds started coming up. The seas had already started to increase but were not bad, yet!!!  Then it all went somewhere in a handbag, fast. By the middle of the night we had 10-12 foot seas with a steady 23 knots of wind. The seas were confused and we were taking water over the top from both sides and from ahead! Rick got doused twice in the cockpit so of course we tracked saltwater inside. The water hit so hard that it forced water in through the overhead hatch on the port side and through the port side portholes. The other nights that we had rough seas we took some slamming and it sounded like someone hit the hull with a baseball bat. This time it sounded like someone shot off a cannon inside the hull! It was nasty! The nastiest I have had so far. Rick even said it was a very bad night. When it started to come up we were under jib alone. First we reefed the jib, then within an hour we had to roll it up all the way. I usually sleep from 2000 to midnight and stand watch from midnight to 0400.  Well, I was laying down but there was no way I could sleep. Rick was exhausted by the end of his watch. All I could do during my watch was look for other ships and try not to fall over when I had to get up. By the next morning (I slept from 0400 to 0800) it was like it never was! It was a glorious morning! It was sunny and just a little wind. When I got up we were rounding Cabo Falso. It was beautiful! There are a ton of condos all along the cliffs! It is amazing where they build. So, we ducked into Cabo San Lucas Saturday morning around 0900 and got gas and was out of there by 1000.  We did not want to have to check in there so we kept going.  As they say, "had I only known!"  If we had known that we were in for another night almost as bad as the one before we would have anchored there no matter what. But, there you go, we were out in it again.  Again, it started out so nice!!!  Man can the sea fool you.  So, that day it wasn't too bad but again the seas started to build and by the evening we were getting slammed again.  It lasted all night (see above for description!) Then God had mercy on me. The next day was not bad. We still had some seas but they were totally livable. By the middle of the next night it was flat and calm as a mirror! We finally motored into Mazatlan around 1130 on Monday morning December 17, 2007.

So, we had quite a trip. We did a lot of 30-36 hour trips, two 48 hour trips and two 80 hour trips.  Not for a very very very long time will I commit to more then 36 hours!!!! Rick has been informed!!!! (and I think he agrees!) So ends the trip south!  See the first mates section for details on the places we stopped along the way. I will now start sections on the major places we visit.