I enjoyed Halloween (2017) with my wonderful son, daughter in law and two grandchildren. It was cold in Montana as usual for Halloween. It was just enough walking for 2 little ones. I enjoyed it immensely knowing I would be leaving the next day for California to join Mark on Pegasus. Flew to Oakland and called Uber for lift to Alameda. One crew had left and one crew stayed on. He was the young one also named Mark. His girl friend joined us for a total of four to make passage to southern California. I got a crash course in reading the chart plotter and radar. We went to grocery to provision and left the next morning.
We enjoyed as much of the bay as the captain would let us. We were on a schedule. Just outside the Golden Gate Bridge we saw our first whales. Not fast enough to get pics of these guys. We had a course set for Santa Cruz Harbor. It would be my first overnight. We took 3 hour shifts. Being the least experienced and the oldest on board, I got the easiest shifts (10pm to midnight and 6am to 8am). We had a following sea (waves coming from the aft pushing the boat). It is a very uncomfortable ride. The boat wallows back and forth. The wind was directly at the bow so we couldn't sail, just motored.
First mate Mark served up another delicious meal. I was told to look around the boat in all directions about every 20 min. Watch the radar for boats and rock; watch the wind speed and call the captain if it got over 20 knots; and yield to any large vessels. We were on the edge of the shipping channel but if they wanted out of it I was going to let them have space. It was 70.8 nautical miles.
We docked in Santa Cruz in the morning. Mark and Juliana toured some that day. Mark and I went for groceries. Nice quiet side of the city by the harbor. We left on the third day at sunrise and motored across Monterrey Bay dodging kelp fields. Rounded the point and followed the coast line trying to reach Big Sur before sunset. Experienced a fun time watching numerous whales but pics no good. Then dolphins appeared and played along our sides and under our bow for several minutes at a time. This happened a bout 3 times that day.
We had intended to stop at Santa Barbara but we all agreed that we could go on for another overnight. Our final destination of this leg was Dana Point so that would mean 2 overnights. Weather good except no wind. Motored sailed all the way. Mark M. taught me how to whip our lines. It appears that every line on our boat needs this done on both ends. It is a better way to secure that they do not separate or ravel. Some lines are one line with a coating on the outside.
Following seas made for a rough ride until we reached Venture where the seas became calmer. The AIS was great being able to see the other boats in total darkness. One large container ship called Mark Jackson on the VHF radio (with our AIS on they could see our boat name and size) and asked him to adjust his track to starboard (which he did). After 2 nights and one day we arrived at Dana Point. We lived in Dana Point when we first got married. It was a sleepy little seaside town. Now it is a larger town but still just a beautiful. It is hard to beat the sunsets of southern California. I put most of the pics in as I could not pick between them.
Mark and Juliana left us at Dana Point. They had friends to visit in Newport Beach. Now it was just Mark and I.
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Part of San Francisco Bay
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| Oakland Bay Bridge |
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| Oakland By Bridge with San Francisco in background |
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| Woo Hoo!! We are stared. |
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| Golden Gate with Chinese like sails on this boat. Notice the bar at the top of the sails holding them out. |
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| Could not get a good pic of this guy. He was going faster than us. He was on a foil pulled by a parachute. |
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| We later heard on the Coast Guard radio that foiler was down and could not get up and was being pulled out by the current. |
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| Golden Gate coming up |
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| Crew settling in. |
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| Mark and Juliana from Canada. A very sweet couple. |
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| Under the Golden we go. |
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| Sea lion welcoming party in Santa Cruz |
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| These next pics are Manterray Coast and Big Sur |
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| Welcome party in Dana Point |
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| Madien voyage of the "Alijay", named after out grandchildern. Mark had to row to the fuel dock for gas for the motor. |
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| Captain Mark hunted and found fuel for the motor. |
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| Goodbye to Mark and Juliana. You are great crew and would love to have you back anytime. |
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| I knew the sunset was fantastic but had no idea the pics would be so great. I really miss California sunsets. |
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| The next morning I thought I saw birds on the water. It was seals on their backs sunning. |
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| Saddleback Mountain |
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