1.  Craigslist?
2.  Kijiji?
3.  Costco?
4.  Used Monterey?
5.  The Beach?

Sleek, Functional
cheap! Oh Yeah!

Hint: It involves renting a car and driving north to Santa Cruz…

After doing lots of research (including the recommendation of the local surf shop) & consulting our budget, we felt that the best option was 3 ! We rented a car, zipped to the next town (Santa Cruz) and whipped out the Costco card! There it was: an 8’ beauty, $99, trial run by the pro’s and met our Wannabe Surfer’s approval. Josh has been having lots of fun ever since!

Has our sailing adventure just got skewed towards surf beaches?  No worries… I too have a goal to surf before 60!

A little workout before I hit the surf.

Check out the form ladies!

Monterey Harbour

Monterey is another wonderful seaside town with lots of old spanish history. When we arrived in the afternoon, sea lions hanging out on giant mooring balls serenaded us all the way to the dock (check out the noisy movie!). Monterey was full of tourists drawn by places like Cannery Row, Fisherman’s Wharf, a renown aquarium, their historic walk, shopping, restaurants, etc the list goes on. We too were pulled in by the hustle bustle and made checking out the sights our first mission. Later that afternoon I went for a  short run and headed out on a walking/cycling path. On return, I popped over a large sandy berm to do a little beach running. Wow! Exhilaration! Salt spray, crashing waves, shore birds…. so fresh and alive!  YES this is what fills!

Interesting how the natural world presents a gem: safe harbour, warm water, sunshine, set in a beautiful valley, then humans come along and in a matter of time we are dangling cheap ‘sparklies’ in tourists eyes (restaurants, jewellery, tourist trinkets, clothing). Its as though you are hypnotized by the hubbub and as you watch the throngs of people flock to the shops and sites you get pulled along into valuing something very materialistic. If the natural gem didn’t exist first, the rest would not have followed. I usually feel exhausted after a couple of hours of walking through shop filled streets, yet there I was yet again. The soul filling beauty of the natural world bypassed for the sake of…. ‘sparklies’ ?

So thankful that the juxtaposition of walking through shop filled streets in the morning, then an empty, stunningly beautiful beach in the afternoon, brought some much needed clarity and re-prioritizing! It is actually quite difficult as cruisers new to these areas to tap into local knowledge of best anchorages and places that would prioritize partaking of the natural world.  The information you generally receive puts you back onto the Path of Sparklies. Reminds me of travelling alone to Indonesia thirsting for ‘a deeper experience of a few places’ rather than ‘the surface experience of many’. Eventually I had to throw out my Lonely Planet Guide and follow instinct and heart to realize depth of experience. We’ll see what happens…at least the cruising guides help you to know which are the most popular anchorages … which we can then avoid…?

We ended up staying on the dock for 4 nights in Monterey waiting for our next weather window to show up (probably should have waited longer!!). The next 2 days we spent on the beach. Big happy smiles on our faces and sore aching feet from so much unaccustomed sand-walking. Josh kept asking Ted questions about surfing and was doing some serious scheming on how to acquire a cheap, used surfboard. Which leads us to our next post.

The last week in the Bay included;

Sausalito

Picked up parts for the Yanmar, parts for the hot water tank, new cockpit mic, laundry, pump out the holding tank, meet fellow Blue Water cruisers then off to Treasure Island to watch Fleet Week air show, and Navy ships.  ( saw the Canadian Navy here!! )

Treasure Island

A nice anchorage if you don’t mind that it is under the Bay bridge and the fact that you need a mid to high tide for our 6 foot draft to get over the bar at the entrance.  It was not as noisy as we thought but alas we are in the middle of San Francisco.  Treasure island was interesting, it was built for the site of the Worlds Exposition and Fair in the twenties, has had a couple of lives since then but now its mostly shut up with a little low cost housing. Its like walking around a deserted ghost town, a place who’s day has come and gone.  We sat on the beach and watched the Blue Angels streak around the Bay – quite a show and very loud when they pass over!!  We took some pictures but the iPhone just doesn’t quite do it, sigh.

Tiberon

Micheal a fellow Passport’er had offered up his slip at the Corinthian Yacht Club because his boat was not in the Bay at the time.  The Corinthian is one of the two original yacht clubs in the Bay area, established in 1886.  It was very cool to be staying in a place that had so much history.  People were interested in us as travellers, the club house was beautiful, the town of Tiberon very cute and special thanks to Liddy and Bill who drove us to Costco for food and Alameda  to replace our fresh water pump that had lost its brain ( under warranty thankfully ).

We were feeling like it was time to pass under the Golden Gate one more time and head down the coast.  Watered, food stocks high we headed to Half Moon Bay a short day sail away.  We loved our time in the Bay, and seeing it from the water is something we will never forget.

Our anchorage while in San Francisco

Next on our list was a stay in downtown San Francisco having acquired (for free) a 5 day anchoring permit for the Aquatic Park.  We were warned to be careful entering and leaving the park because of all the swimmers and wow the swimmers were there as early as 6 am until after dark.  Anchored in front of the Ghirardelli building with fireworks in front of Pier 39 every Saturday evening it felt like we were dropped into a different world of lights and celebration.

Shoe in San Francisco

That first afternoon we hit the shore heading to the Ferry Building at the end of the Embarcadero.  We were overwhelmed by people, people from all over the world, the San Francisco historic waterfront was just that and a big tourist business.  We had a list of “to do’s” which started with getting three day bus passes and heading into the Mission District.  Its a good thing I had a phone with data so we could find our way around but I must say the public transportation system really works!  We even stood on the side of a Cable Car and rode through town.  In truth you can’t take in this place in a week, but we loved all of it, Italian district, China town, Marina Drive even downtown where I got my sunglasses replaced in two hours (dropped them overboard – OPPS).  We did a little shopping because you can find “everything” in San Francisco – Josh hit the Quicksilver store and Sue found Yone bead store a fixture from the sixties.   One of the big highlights was the free music festival Hardly Strictly Bluegrass that happened while we were there, so we spent a day in the heat taking in some great music.

Sundays line up at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

The crowd, can you see us?

Alas we needed retreat from downtown because Fleet week was starting and we did not want to be in the middle of that!!

Here in Half Moon Bay at the local brewery we enjoy a fantastic lunch after a day of hiking and checking out the Mavericks surf spot. We loved being out of the city in a more rural setting with hundreds of Pelicans lining the breakwater and the sound of surf in the background.  The only draw back was the flies all that bird poop brought – we were swarmed – oh, and the fog horn that never stopped!  Escaping the swarm out next stop was Monterey Bay! (Ok I know this is out of order and yes we are behind on posts – just tried out the iPhone instant post app – so we will catch up soon!!)

Sue and Josh after a beer!

What do you believe in!!!

Approaching

This is the one of the first bridges you go under as you head up the delta beyond Benicia. This is a triple  bridge, two are for vehicle traffic and the other for rail. The vehicle bridges have a clearance of 141’, the rail bridge you need to call about to ensure that you plan your passage at low tide to get as much clearance as possible …. if you are a sailboat of our size and height. When you approach a bridge it is very difficult to put the over-height distance into perspective. Here is what it is like as you approach a bridge

Getting Close

S: I don’t know …. do you think we’ll actually make it under that?”

T: Supposedly…

S: What’s our overall height, from waterline to the top of the mast?

T: I think we’re 63”

S: … and the train bridge clearance at low tide is …..70’ ? That’s a small margin for error….

Are we going to make it?

Getting closer, holding breath. Decreasing the RPM’s to make a passage under the bridge.

Akkkk!

Staring up, hearts thudding, breath held….

Getting closer, closer….

Really? We are going to clear that?

Here we go….

Whew

Mast still standing and just clearing bridge …. by about 1 foot we think.

Great sighs of relief!

On the way back to San Francisco Bay we felt more confident about our return under this bridge, but shouldn’t have….You are at the mercy of the accurate tide predictions and the hydraulic bridge operators. We did our due diligence checking tide and timing our return. Our previous experience told us that even though it didn’t look like we would make it under the bridge, we did. So as we approached this bridge on our return to the bay, even though it looked like we would not make, we doubted what we were seeing. Josh and I stood on the bow anyways, necks craned back watching intently. Ted slowed the boat right down, but when we were within 5 meters, Josh and I started yelling “OMG Back up, back up!!!!! Back the @#**!@ UUUUPPPP!!!!” Ted responded quicky, but backing up a 38 000 lb  boat that already has forward momentum with current behind it…is no easy task. Ted slammed the engine into reverse and amped up the RPM’s making the difference between a trip continuing or a disasterous end. The bridge operators must have heard my yelling and hung over from their perch and yelled down “Okay honey we are going to lift the bridge for you!”  We took Adesso in a slow circle as they raised the train bridge, our heart rates we just about back to normal as we went safely under the bridge.