You Have to Wake Me Up Pretty Early in the Morning......

.....to get us out into the bay early enough to experience being on our boat under way in the dark. 3 AM to be truthful. The photo just below is our second attempt at getting out in the dark. Turned out that waking up at 4 AM & getting out just after 5 AM is too late.

Santa Cruz at 4:30 AM.

I'm not usually a morning person but I was motivated to check this off our list. Actually, I'm not much of a night person at our house either because it gets to cold to be productive in the evening. (When I work on this at night, I'm cozied up in bed with Zephyr.)

Anyway, seeing the sunrise is something I've experienced way too little in life. And getting watch a sunrise from our own sailboat is something I've been dreaming about for a while. Well, in my dream, it's a much warmer temperature outside but I'll take this for now.

Zephyr tried to sleep in but he would have missed out on the remnants of oatmeal in my bowl. This is strangely one of his highest joys in life. He will seriously end your life if you try to take this bowl away from him. Do you think our dog needs therapy?

As you can see above, this is what 5:30 in the morning looks like in Santa Cruz at this time of year. I don't know why I'm smiling in this photo. It just meant we were going to have to do it again in a few days. And, in case you were wondering, I AM wearing 5 layers of clothing!!! Jealous? Am I a perfect candidate for climbing Mount Everest or what?!

Well, we decided to motor about anyway. Or maybe just I did. Matt looks a little skeptical/annoyed in the photo above. I think in the last photo him & Zephyr are talking about how I should have done more research & that if it weren't for me they'd still be in bed or heading back to bed by now. Yeah, they like to talk behind my back sometimes. Male bonding.

Stoked to have seen this beautiful sunrise! The photos above really don't do justice on how gorgeous it was that morning. It was definitely a great reward for still going out.

We motored down to Capitola & everywhere we could until the tide got low enough so we could go back to our slip. I have to keep reminding myself of how lucky we are to have a slip. Otherwise the annoyance of having to follow the tide would really get to me. If we want a slip in the south harbor -where you don't have to go under the bridge, we might get one in about 30 years! By that time though, maybe 80 will be the new 40 & we'll be up for it!

Isn't this fun Zephyr!!!

Take 2! We got up a little after 3 AM just 2 days later. Okay Everybody! Let's try this again! Just pretend we're on our way to clear, warm waters & sun & palm trees!

Cloudy but dark, I was sure this time we would be outside of the harbor before natural light came. The photo at the top of the page shows the view of the shore just after we got past the breakwater. I love the ocean at night. It's very magical & feel like I'm in a different world.

So we were about 200 yards outside of the harbor & then I starting hearing splashing in the dark! Was it dumping rain everywhere outside of our boat but just not in our boat? Was the Kraken about to attack us. Was the magic of the night getting to me? No. It turned out to just be hundreds & hundreds of birds on the water getting out of our way. Do they sleep out here? I felt kind of bad that we made them move. Although, I could have just shouted at them, "If we don't sleep, neither do you guys!". However, Matt & Zephyr seemed to eventually remedy that problem for themselves.

Matt practicing on sleeping outside while motoring.

Being foggy it wasn't as dramatic as a few days before but still cool to have my eyes adjust to the sky getting lighter & lighter. I also got to see all the power boats race out from the harbor to be the first to get some fish! -Yes, I felt like I was going the wrong direction in an official race! It was pretty crazy!

When we got back to our slip, did we sleep? Oh, that's right, Zephyr & Matt did sleep that morning. But I'm kick-ass & I save my naps for afternoons! Matt actually set up our jack-lines & safety tethers. And then we practiced using them. We do realize that it will be a lot different on a moving boat but why wait to enjoy all the fun? -Plus, it might not be so fun if we have no idea what we're doing -if we wait to figure them out when we really need them.

Next, we set up our camping tarp over the cockpit to see if it would work as a sun-shade during hang times at anchor. It worked very nice indeed! Lot's of light still let in under the shade & also let the breeze get in. It might work as a rain tarp too but not sure if it's thick enough/sturdy enough. Furthermore I don't know if it will withstand much wind. But we'll see. It's definitely not going camping anytime soon. So we might as well use it now.

What's next? We are very excited to let everyone know that we are off to Monterey for a few days! In fact, if you are reading this when it comes out on Wednesday morning, we will be sailing the bay to get there. Hope this trip will be more rewarding & fun than Moss Landing! Yes, I know, the bar is set low. I will let you know next week!

Thanks so much for reading! Hopefully, you were entertained & will hit the like & follow buttons below! See you next week!