Where we are now!

Eureka was founded during the gold rush. Early lumber center; redwoods were first harvested in 1856
Many of the first arrivals who arrived as prospectors were also lumbermen, and the vast potential for industry on the bay was soon realized, especially as many hopeful miners realized the difficulty and infrequency of striking it rich in the mines. By 1854, after only four years since the founding, seven of nine mills processing timber into marketable lumber on Humboldt Bay were within Eureka. A year later 140 lumber schooners operated in Humboldt Bay, supplying lumber to other booming cities along the Pacific coast
We found this town to be unlike any we have seen to date. It is obvious that the towns’ people take pride in their community. The houses are all maintained, the docks were the best we have stayed at. Even closed factories or fisheries are still respectable. We toured the town by foot and saw many colonial houses that date back into the 1800’s.
We left Eureka at 1800 hr to travel around Cape Mendocino during the night and to arrive at Fort Bragg during day light hours. A 15 hr trip.
Cape Mendocino is the western most point in California. It is also one of the most dangerous points of coastline in the state. It is where the currents and water temperatures change. If you wish you can hear and read all types of horror stories about this cape. I must admit it is one of the obstacles I was worried about. Again, picking the right weather windows allowed for calm seas.
Fort Bragg is a very tricky bar crossing. Once we arrived I was glad we had decided to do it in day light. It is a very narrow river with buildings built on pilings in the river. It is quite shallow. Unique in character. Fort Bragg, once a booming logging town, is now a hub for state parks and reserves. The area's Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens are the only ones in the continental U.S. fronting directly on the ocean. The famous Skunk Train from Fort Bragg to Willits takes visitors on a route through the redwoods that is accessible only by railroad. We chose not to do the tourist thing as we were very tired from the night trip.
The next day, Sept 18. proved to be our best boating day to date. We had flat calm seas. The temperature got to 80 degrees in the fly bridge. We had humpback whales giving us a show breaching and flapping their flippers. We had dolphins playing in our bow wakes. It was quite cool. I have to figure how to get the pictures of the whales. I thought I had a good one at sunset with a humpback breaching but in the end it is a picture of a sunset and a splash.
We arrived at Bodega Bay at night and had to navigate the many lights to get into the marina (33 in total) I cannot say much about Bodega Bay as we left early in the morning and just slept there.
Well we are here. San Francisco. We arrived under the Golden Gate Bridge at 1400 hr. Just as we were ready to get into the shipping channel our GPS went down. What timing. It wasn’t down for long but we know we use it! We did have the chart in front of us and it was day light with no fog so we were in no danger. Just a reality check to the importance of knowing how to use old fashion technology.
We have decided to moor for 2 nights at Pier 39. We are part of the tourist attraction. We had about 100 people watching us dock. Thank God it was uneventful. Usually when you have an audience something happens.
We hope to stay here a few weeks, so the next blog will be about the tourist things we do.