The Home Strrrettcchhh

On Tuesday, October 18th, we left for Morro Bay at 9:45. There was only a small weather window for us to get to there. So we needed to skip anchoring for the night at San Simeon. This meant a much longer sail. Possibly a 24 hour sail/motor. This would be our longest voyage yet. I mean, might as well get ready to cross the Pacific Ocean next year….. Psych! Hell no! That could possibly be in our future someday. The key word being possibly. And then there’s the issue of -Is that something we even want to do? It would definitely need to be in a much bigger boat & with at least a crew of 4.

Zephyr on bird watch.

Anyway, back to reality. Matt & I decided to take 3 hour shifts. Zephyr was being stubborn & said that he would like to either bark at birds, eat or sleep the whole time. Since he’s really our master we obliged him. Alongside that, because we were motoring -which was the case on all the overnight passages, we did our 3 hour nap in the cockpit. It’s way too loud below to get any kind of sleep. Although we may not have gotten deep sleep by sleeping out in the open, it was enough of a rest that we could get through the 24 hours. It didn’t hurt either that Zephyr snuggled beside us when we were resting.

It was a sunny day, which is always nice. However, the wind & waves were coming directly at us. This slowed MerSea down quite a bit. -Not that we couldn’t handle this but it’s always nicer to make these kinds of passages shorter rather than longer.

The weather calmed down though a bit after dark, and in turn, we caught up on speed. This meant that it might even be possible to make port under 24 hours! Yes! Right?! Well…. Ugh, I was just in one of those moods that every little thing was getting to me. -The heaviness of my harness that locks into the jack-lines, the inability to have a supply of non-stop tea or coffee, the cold, the wetness, the narrowness of the cockpit cushions…. Waa, waa, waa! I guess I just couldn’t get comfortable that night. On the other hand, I knew my situation was much better than having foul weather during our voyage. So I shut my mind off the best I could.

I was on my shift when the sun started rising. It was very serene & beautiful. Plus, we were almost at the mouth of Morro Bay Harbor.

Coming up to Morro Bay from the south.

After making our way through the harbor mouth, we pulled up to a mooring ball around 8 AM. -Less than 24 hours! Then, of course we crashed & slept until noon.

When we were coherent again, we took the dinghy ashore to walk around. I rang the person on call at the Morro Bay Yacht Club & left a message.

In the meantime, we decided to re-explore the town. This time we got a whole different feel from Morro Bay. Being a Wednesday, it wasn’t very crowded. It was actually pretty charming. Lots of cute shops -clothing, jewelry, candy, etc.

On our outing, Kurt, from the Morro Bay Yacht Club called me back & asked if I could meet him at 4 PM at the clubhouse. Really nice guy. He showed us around & told us we were welcome to tie up to the dock instead of to the mooring ball! Little did we know how much this would be a Godsend.

That evening we actually were able to eat outside! The sunset was incredible. It’s times like this when I wish I had a professional grade camera. Although, for the most part, we just took in the view without worrying too much if we caught the perfect photo.

Peaceful, beautiful sunset.

The next day we made specific goals - like going to get groceries & getting some household items.

We found a large grocery store & a Rite Aid within about a half hour walk. It was sunny & somewhat on the warmer side so I had no problem taking our time to get there.

I wish I had taken photos of the way Morro Bay reminded me a lot of how Santa Cruz used to be when I first moved there in 1995. Aside from the more touristy shops, there were a lot of cool, locally owned, affordable shops. I even got a lovely fitted caftan dress at a thrift store. I know. I know. -Just like all the dresses I own. I won’t be able to wear it until we are consistently in a warmer climate! I’m keeping the dream alive people!

Sunny, warm morning! My skin is happy!

One absolutely amazing place was the Garden Gallery! They sell plants & beautiful garden & home furnishings. Plus, the building itself is so cool! I don’t think my photos do it justice. I would love a house like this! I think it’s reminiscent of many houses that I saw or went inside of as a child in the 70s.

I want to live in a place like this! -With an ocean view of course!

What’s funny is that my favorite styles of architecture & decor are Moorish, Spanish, Mexican & Indonesian. And I usually love tons of color. But this place had a sense of peace & happiness. Not sure how else to describe it.

Friday was overcast. We thought it’d be a nice day for Zephyr to go run on the beach somewhere. So we went by the rock beach. There was miles & miles of sand for Zephyr & Matt to run around on.

That night we went to the Yacht Club Happy Hour. They have it upstairs every Friday. There was a cash bar & free food. -Complete with appetizers & dessert! We were welcomed over to a table where a nice couple from Pismo Beach were sitting. They weren’t yet a part of the club but were in the middle of the petitioning process. -The Morro Bay Yacht Club doesn’t let just anyone in. It’s small, intimate & only the best may join.

Zephyr ran until he was exhausted & then wanted us to give him a piggy-back ride home.

Saturday was a lazy day. However, in the afternoon, Matt decided to take a SUP around the area. He came back just in time to see….. The Witches Paddle! This was soo cool! Tons & tons of witches paddleboarding past our boat. If I had a costume & it was about 20 degrees warmer, I would have joined in. So many people braved the cold wind & strong current to show off their creativity. The smarter witches started at the opposite end of the parade way & paddled against the current at the beginning & then floated back to where they had left their cars. The rest, who started at the official beginning point, (near the mouth of the harbor), got the easy ride at first but coming back the wind & current were so strong they were definitely challenged. It was an excercise in futility for a lot of witches. Some basically just paddling & staying in the same place. Crazy!

Little did Matt know he should have been in costume!

The Witches Paddle Parade! So fun!

Woke up Sunday & unfortunately, we saw the weather forecast for the next day & it did not look like anything close to a comfortable sail. Furthermore, we saw that it wouldn’t be good until Friday! This is why being tied up to the dock was a Godsend. -Easy to get out & around, do laundry, shower, etc.. Should we take this as a sign we should just go down to Mexico with everyone else? Would we ever get home before the spring?

But this is the sailing life. Our lives are dictated mostly by the weather. At least we were in a place we liked & not somewhere where we couldn’t go out & do things & explore. Plus, it gave us time to do work via computer.

MerSea at her home for over a week.

Cute little park & playground!

Synchronized Pelicans! I wish I had gotten better photos or at least had gotten them on video. Now I know where Busby Berkeley got the choreography ideas from for his films.

Footlight Parade

Even though Morro Bay is on the smaller side of a town, there was still exploring to do. And we decided to use this day to explore it via our dinghy. We went up the estuary. -Which goes on forever. In fact, there are a few more harbors up the way. Very protected. On the other hand, if you are in one of these, you need about an extra half hour to an hour to get out to the ocean.

It got very shallow in some parts. Matt wanted to explore those parts. So he pulled up the motor & decided to row & row & row. If I had the right shoes on I would have just have walked beside him. I think we were in about 8 inches of water. 🤣

We did stop by the sand spit though. The wet sand there was actually half mud. So your feet just sank. It was almost like walking in snow for the first 4 or 5 feet on the shore. Zephyr loved it though. I couldn’t believe how fast he could still run in terrain like that. Pretty sure Matt wore out from running when Zephyr was just getting started.

Upper, upper harbor.

Cute little wooden boat -actually in great condition!

View from up the estuary.

If anyone knows what kind of vessel/island/vehicle this is let us know. It look like some tents & some more solid structures & an outdoor area with tables all rafted together. There were people on it. But since they obviously were kind of in the middle of nowhere & probably wanted to be away from civilization, we decided to leave them alone & not ask them. Sooo curious though!

Dinghy cruising in almost 1 foot of water.

On the dry part of the sand. Where feet only sink a little bit.

Woke up on Tuesday to find that we could now leave on Thursday! Actually we had to leave Thursday as there was only about a 24 hour window to make it before the gnarly winds & waves were going to hit the coast.

So we decided to take a walk to the Natural History Museum that morning before we started getting organized to leave in 2 days.

Beautiful walk to the Natural History Museum of Morro Bay.

Now I don’t actually have to get eaten by a sperm whale to get a sense of what the size of the jaws are like.

On our last full day we took a walk to the other side of the rock…. -Yes, we left our dock. I didn’t pay attention to the clock but made sure that I put on my warmest frock. Matt & I had a nice talk. People walking by Zephyr would just gawk. We went further than a block…..Thank you! Thank you! -You’re too kind. Yes, I could turn out to be the world’s next kick-ass rapper but I’m afraid it would cut into my travel time. Sorry to disappoint you all.

Anyway, it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. However, we needed to get back to MerSea to get her ready for the next day’s long sail!

Otters play around closer to people in Morro Bay. So cute! I think Zephyr wants an otter as his pet.

Behold: The Rock!

We decided to get fuel the evening before because you just never know, the station might be closed in the morning. And we couldn’t leave that to chance.

This is the crazy fuel dock! High up from the water during low tide. -Exposing what is lying beneath the water half the time. I think they might be taking donations for an upgrade but not sure. 😉

This time we left Morro Bay with mixed feelings. I definitely was ready to move on. (Maybe south instead of north 😄?) But I hoped that we could visit again sometime. There was so much within walking distance. It was such a dog friendly town. It was a friendly town in general. I’m so glad we went back on the way up the coast & got to experience it. Shame on me to make such a quick judgement last time.

Want to thank Kurt & John B. from the Morro Bay Yacht Club for being so kind & welcoming to us. We felt very lucky to to have been able to relax at the dock there for just over a week!

We headed out into 7 foot swells that morning. They were not too choppy. - A little more the rolling types of waves. This made for a little more comfort but still slowed us down a bit. And again we were headed into the wind. At least we were headed towards Santa Cruz & making some progress, even if it was slow.

Bye bye Morro Bay! & Bye bye Point Conception! You both have been kind to us.

Making a wish on the sunset that the night wouldn’t be too harsh on us.

Well, the wind & waves eventually calmed down. I think it was around 10 or 11 PM that night, on my watch, when I went down to use the head & came back & we were all of a sudden going 5.8 knots! Yes! I think by that time the wind was around 8 knots. The waves got down to about 4 feet. This meant we had a lot less resistance & were just almost flying up the coast! I knew it still was going to be several hours to go but at least we were probably going to get to Monterey before noon. There is pretty much nothing along this part of the coast & the moon was only out for a bit before it also joined the sun below the horizon too. Yes, it was pretty dark. But thank God for chart plotters! And thank God for Harriet! She turned out to really make things a lot more comfortable.

Well, we made it into Monterey Bay without incident. Just cold & tired. Very thankful that we could tie up to the dock & do a few minor things, like walk the dog, before crashing.

Want to look this wretched? Sail for 24 hours up the California coast overnight! Make sure it gets down to 46 degrees Farenheit!

After sleeping for a few hours, we got our showers taken care of & then went out for a walk. We didn’t have much to eat on the boat so decided to get takeout from this delicious Indian restaurant by the name of Namaste! The exciting thing is that they are going to put one in Santa Cruz. Actually maybe they are already there? -Just looked & they are here! They’ve probably been here for a while but we’ve just been saving pennies lately by not eating out.

Stretching our legs out in Monterey.

When we left on Saturday it was a nice enough morning. Actually, not too cold. The swell was 7 feet though. But the waves were smooth & rolling instead of being choppy so it was actually pretty pleasant! Plus, they starting getting smaller the closer we got to Santa Cruz. And about half way across the wind was strong enough to sail MerSea!

Yay! We get to sail into our home port of Santa Cruz!

Coming near our home harbor, Matt took the sails down. Could we technically call this trip complete after entering the harbor or do we wait until we were back in our slip? Well, we wouldn’t really be able to relax until we got back to our slip & that was going to take a few hours, as we had to wait for the tide to get low enough to get under the bridge. Luckily we had enough to do like pump out, get diesel & sign the papers to accept the slip as ours!

Yes! Hooray! We made it back to Santa Cruz! I’d say our trip was successful. It took us 32 days & 665 nautical miles for the round trip! And then there’s the joy, hardships, work, mundane, exploration & peacefulness that was involved making this happen. We’ve both had a little time to reflect. -In real time we’ve actually been back 10 days. Oh the time travel I get to experience with this blog!

Next week we’ll both share our thoughts & maybe even feelings, about our first long voyage! I’ll also share some of Matt’s photos. -Since I got them a little late for this posting.

Zephyr’s Dinnertime (flashback video)

Took place back in July. Yes, our dog is quirky.

Thanks so much for reading this novel! I really appreciate all of you who have been following our ups & downs of this questionable venture into the sailing world. 😁 Don’t hesitate to send an email for any questions. You can also sign up for an email reminder for each week’s blog on the contact page.