Where were we? Oh yes, we were at Morro Bay. It was really a bummer that we didn’t get to spend much time in there again. But we did have the honor of staying for 8 days last time. So, I won’t complain. -Too much.

Before leaving in the afternoon, Matt took some time to do laundry. I organized the boat & took Zephyr on a walk. It was a beautiful day. Probably already 75 degrees by 10 AM.

After getting everything ready, we left at 3 PM, got some fuel & headed out of Morro Bay & onto another overnight sail/motor to Cojo Anchorage.

We tried to sail for about 3 hours but the wind just died out. So we had to motor. However, the seas were a bit calmer. This time we were able to trade off 3 hours on watch & 3 hours off. It was so great that we both got to sleep. Plus, the night was so warm that I didn’t even need to wear gloves. I don’t think it got below 60 degrees!

Leaving Morro Bay in the afternoon.

On our way to Cojo Anchorage.

Another sunset at sea.

View from inside the cabin as night approaches.

We arrived just past Point Conception as the morning started showing itself. Another beautiful bright sunrise. There was only 1 other boat in the anchorage when we got there.

Zephyr & I slept that morning for a few hours. Then “we” did some video editing for the rest of the day.

A few other boats, (4, I think) came into the anchorage throughout the day. Mostly a mellow day.

For dinner we had some lamb & lentils & then after dark we watched, The Deepest Breath. One of the most intense movies I’ve ever seen. If I say anymore it might spoil it for those of you who want to watch it. But let me know if you’ve seen it.

**Actually able to enjoy the 2nd half of the day!**

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Cojo & left for Santa Barbara a little after 8 AM. There was wind. But it was coming from the south. -The direction we wanted to sail of course! However, we thought we would try it & just tack A LOT.

This ended up getting us nowhere. Matt & I had miscommunicated. I thought I had told him it was going to be 40 nautical miles to Santa Barbara. And he thought I had said it would be around 30. -Meaning that we had time to play around before needing to hustle to get there. But we didn’t. So it became a hustling day to make sure we could get a first come, first serve spot in Santa Barbara.

So, we had to relent & make it another long day of motoring. At least it it was a hot & gorgeous day! Plus, the swell was calm, which made it a bit more pleasant of a ride.

As we came into Santa Barbara Bay there were about 3 races were going on. This made it interesting to actually get into the harbor. Do we enter one of the races just to cross the course & get past the breakwater? Thank god, no!

The office still had our info, making it easy to get checked in at the marina. They gave us a slip in the “newer” dock area. We were very happy about this. -Mainly because the showers are nicer, there is a West Marine at the entrance to the dock & also a yummy sushi place! -Sushi Go-Go! Yes, we did get take-out immediately after taking showers!

Leaving Cojo early.

A gorgeous & hot day!

Smooth motoring.

Matt doing his ocean cleanup of a mylar balloon.

Entering the Santa Barbara coast!

Serene sunset.

October 8th came! Matt’s Birthday! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos that day. I’m a bad wife. But there’s plenty of video of it. So, you will just have to wait around until next Wednesday for the live action version to come out. -If you haven’t yet, wish Matt a happy birthday month! He deserves it!

The next day a raven came to wish us off to Ventura. I took that as a good sign. We left on the later side. However, it’s not a long way. -Only about 5 hours. I think we got there around 4 PM.

This is the nicest marina we’ve been to! If you ever get a chance to get a slip at Safe Harbor Ventura Isle Marina, take it! The bathrooms are on a spa level scale. There is a laundry room right by the dock. There is an actual patio in the dock area itself with lounge area seating, complete with fresh centerpieces & a barbecue grill! The trash & recycle receptacles are even gorgeous! Plus, there are a plethora of restaurants to choose from in the harbor. We walked over to a Greek restaurant that evening. -Which was very tasty.

Actually, on our way there, Chad - our Ha-Ha buddy, his wife, Lori, their son Adam & their dog, Lucy were just coming back from the Greek restaurant! They assured us it was a good choice. And they were right!

Raven wishing us a good sail!

Ventura welcome packet!

Marina patio!

Even the trash cans are nice!

Scenes from Ventura Harbor.

Dinner destination.

Our first meal out!

Yum!

Exhaustion sleep.

We got a late start to Malibu. Or, The Bu, for those of you in the know. It was a fairly overcast day & there wasn’t any wind yet at 11 AM. There were, however, pretty choppy waves for a while. Thankful that Matt is on the patch!

After using the engine for quite some time, Matt saw that there was some wind! There was proof, as there were a couple of other sailboats out doing what sailboats do. -Sailing! So we opted to be optimistic & put both sails up. And for about 15 minutes we were successful enough to sail at 3.5 knots! Alas, all fairy-tales come to an end & the wind decided to start swirling around & then take a nose-dive to about 4 knots. -Leading us to only get about 1 knot in. -If even that! Que sera sera!

Took down the sails & finally got to Malibu as the sun was setting. It was just as rolly as last year but now we are more used to it being that way.

Zephyr's nemesises.

When in doubt, go behind the big boat.

No wind. -Yet again.

Coming upon Malibu.

Made it just before the sun left!

Anchored & settled.

We were going to go to Emerald Bay on Wednesday but the swell was going to be 7 feet at the anchorage. No thank you! Plus, gale-force winds were predicted! Therefore, as is required to be happy in a sailing life, a change of plans was required.

Thinking we were ready to just raise the anchor & go, Matt tried to raise the anchor…..”When I went to pull up the anchor it was much, much heavier than usual. I got the anchor to the surface of the water and noticed that we had hooked onto another length of chain. I'm guessing this was an abandoned anchor or mooring chain. Kendall thought to use the boat hook to unhook it from our anchor and the other chain finally fell into the water where it came from.”.

After that fiasco, we motored for 4.5 hours down to Marina Del Rey. Luckily, we got a slip! The charge for a slip was only $38 for a night! A fairly awesome deal, aside from all the bird offerings left on our dock.