CENTRAL CALIFORNIA REMINDS US OF HOME

Since we left Marina Del Rey we’ve enjoyed being back in nature.  We’ve seen a few whales, a couple of sea otters, a few seals and dozens of loud, inquisitive California sea lions.  They carry on quite the conversations at night!  It’s like listening to a cross between a cat fight and a cow mooing. It's nice to be serenaded to sleep that way.

Leaving southern California behind in the coastal haze

Different terraine, more rugged, less palm trees

So we’re now working our way north to San Fransisco.  Over the next six days we moored or anchored in some pretty towns like Oxnard, Monterey and Santa Cruz but since we’re averaging 10 – 12 hours of travel each day we don’t have much time to explore like we usually would.

Low clouds and fog in the morning lightened up mid day

San Simeon Bay, home of Hearst Castle up somewhere in the fog

Maybe the castle is up there....in the fog?

Typical weather.  Few waves but lots of swells. The swells
were often 8 ft every 8 seconds for hours on end.

We liked the feel of Santa Barbara but only stayed one night even though we wanted to stay longer.

Check out the garage in the side of this luxurious sailboat.  OMG!

A small part of Santa Barbara's beachfront...
reminded me a little of Gonazles Bay in Victoria, BC.

Suzie Moo...and that's a yellow rubber ducky at the stern!

Santa Barbara beach and long pier in the distance

I remember this Sambos from when I was a kid!

When I was a kid my parents drove to California three different times, always at Easter.  They took an extra long Easter break so we could go for two weeks.  Santa Barbara was one of our favourite places and Sambos was my favourite restaurant.  I had chocolate pancakes with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  I was so excited when I found out that Sambos still exists and is the only remaining Sambos!  So we had lunch, of course.  The menu was upgraded with lots of healthy choices but I settled for chocolate chip pancake with whipped cream and strawberries.  What did Jim have? Couldn't tell you....I was in heaven eating my own meal.

Santa Barbara had a great electric trolly car running through town along with plentiful sidewalks everywhere.  Jim and I meandered around after lunch at Sambos and strolled into town to the Courthouse.  The architecture was amazing and the tile work astonishing.

This is a chocolate lounge...they sell hand made chocolates

So we had a sampling of chocolates, shared with the richest,
thickest hot chocolate ever.  We felt like we were
 drinking chocolate syrup.  We took the chocolates to the beach.

The interior of the courthouse was amazing and we spent quite a bit of time roaming around the public areas admiring the lines, curves, textures and colours.  Tiles and plaster, ornate sculptures and wonderful lighting.

This tiled spiral stairway wound up to the 2nd floor of the court house.

Such a pleasure to climb these steps.

The couple n the lower right corner were just married at the court house,
but it was the row of lights we were trying to capture, not
infringe on their moment.

The Court House had a 4 story tower with panoramic views of Santa Barbara.  We sure got our exercise climbing to the top but the view was worth it!

So many well maintained, tile roofed homes and businesses.

Does this not scream ITALY!

We found a nice piece of sand near the dozens of volleyball courts and plunked ourselves down. We slowly ate the little, exquisite chocolates we purchased earlier.  How decadent!

This happy dog would not tire from chasing the ball over and over and...

second selfie at Santa Barbara

Below if a sample from the weather program we use on the Ipad called Weather 4D/Pro.  It has been extremely accurate on the west coast of California and we review it every chance we get when we're within cell range for WIFI.

Blue is no wind; bluish green is our maximum wind when its blowing
against us.  Yellow and red are high winds, which we avoid at all cost.

For the last three weeks weather rules all in Falcon World and we Falconians.  After a few days of waiting for weather we knew it was important to get moving until we could situate ourselves in Cojo Anchorage, just south of Point Conception.  Point Conception has been called the Cape Horn of the Pacific because of the heavy northwest gales encountered off it during the passage from Santa Barbara Channel.  From Cojo Anchorage we could take advantage of sneaking around Point Conception when a low came through. The new weather system brought lots of thick gray clouds, fog, dampness in the air BUT it also dampened waves and lessened the swells.  All in all, pretty favourable conditions to be motoring in.  The hours underway are spent taking 2 – 3 hour watches, resting, reading, grabbing easy to prepare meals and doing it again and again. Drop anchor, get up and repeat.

We started seeing oil rigs near Santa Barbara

The flame is the waste gas, pollution into the air!

Last night we stayed at the docks in Santa Cruz.  When we arrived and checked in we were welcomed ever so warmly by Anna, who works in the Harbour Office.  Right away, she offered to lend us her shower key fob so we didn’t have to pay for showers.  Then, later in the day she lent us her car since we had to pick up a technical book from a marine store that was too far for us to walk to.  She and her husband are also liveaboards who had cruised the world for five years before returning to Santa Cruz. As such, she had a kinship with other cruisers.  Her friendly manner and willingness to let two complete strangers borrow her car was a very nice gesture, and one that we’ll pass on when we have the chance.

Getting a trailerable boat into a trailer.  Many are stored this way.

Santa Cruz Marina

California beach, Santa Cruz over the Memorial Day weekend.

If you look carefully you'll see the Canadian flag on Falcon
behind the fishing boat.  We were in the working part of the marina.

Excellent Mexican meal of pescado entiro, Jim's favourite.

The marina channel is beside the volleyball courts.  

On our way to Monterey we passed through a fleet of sailboats racing from Monterey to Santa Barbara.  We didn't envy them the cold night ahead sitting on an open side deck.

An old pier in Half Moon Bay, Pillar Point Marina.
More evergreens, less palms now.

Pillar Point Marina.  Just a small town at Half Moon Bay but it looks
like everyone gets a view of the harbour.  The harbour horn went every
few second, all night long!

It’s exciting to be within a day of San Fransisco Bay.  In September 2013 we had a great time touring San Fransisco on foot and via cable car with Rob and Debra from Avant and Doug and Martha from Thea.  The six of us had so much fun together, especially since America’s Cup was being held in San Fransisco at the same time.  This June Jim and I will spend a few days in Alameda instead of downtown San Fransisco and get a couple of boat projects checked off the list.  Then we’ll go inland by Falcon and explore the rivers for a couple of weeks.  More then...

Tricia and Jim Bowen
S/V Falcon VII
email: tandjbowen13@gmail.com