First Overnight Trip to the Islands

We finally took Julianne to Santa Cruz Island for an overnight trip. We loaded up on Friday night and slept on the boat in the slip, then got up early so we could get to Smuggler's Cove by lunch time. There was a pretty thick marine layer, and the sea appeared gun-metal gray. The wind was too light to sail, so we powered the whole way. We did raise the main about 1/2 way there when the wind kicked up slightly, which helped to increase our speed to 5+ knots. On the way we saw several huge container ships - a busy day in the channel. We also had a lively encounter with a large pod of porpoises, at least a hundred strong. They swam up to us and played dodgeball with our bow, until veering off.

We anchored in about 17 feet of water over a sandy bottom, at the SW end of the cove. We had a nice lunch of fruit, cheese & crackers, followed by a short nap in the cockpit.

Then we tried out the dingy, rowing onto a rocky beach. Getting onto the beach was fun - we rode a wave right up. After a short hike and walk along the beach, we attempted to get the dingy back off the shore, timing in between sets of waves. Our timing was a little off, though, as we got good and swamped several times when waves broke on us. But we got through. Back at the boat, I donned some snorkeling gear and checked out the bottom of the boat and a huge school of sardines, while Charlie did some cleaning of the transom. The sun did break out, so it was a lovely day.




























Dinner was a hot pot of veggie chili over rice, and a couple of coronas. It was a full moon on a cloudless night, and it was very romantic to see the moon framed by the rigging off the stern. We learned that we love the look of the cabin at night, with all of its wood warmly lit by our brass lanterns.
















Sunday was Charlie's birthday - Happy birthday Charlie! We slept in and had a leisurely breakfast, then pulled up anchor and headed home. Wind was too light to sail for the first 40 min, then it picked up, so we cut the engine and raised the sails. We were maintaining 4 1/2 to 6 knots on a beam reach for several hours. When we were about parallel with oil platform Gina we had to adjust our heading to a broad reach, and we set the sails wing on wing for about the last hour. Ten minutes out of the jetty we powered up the motor. We didn't see any porpoises on the trip home, and I napped for a big chunk of it.

We're planning our next trip to Santa Cruz, a two-nigher, for Oct. 3-5, to celebrate our 24th anniversary. Lobster season will have just started, so we'll be bringing our scuba gear. Should be great!