We departed San Francisco under fog. We arrived at Half Moon Bay and anchored for the evening. There were several familiar boats that have been traveling south with us in the bay. We had all spent several days in San Francisco and had great stays there. The next morning had most boats departing early to make the 8 hr trip to Santa Cruz. As we approached we could see the boardwalk with Farris wheel and Roller Coaster. Similar to Coney Islands boardwalk. We walked the town. The people were out surfing on the beaches, a real California picture. The following morning we crossed the Monterey Bay to Monterey. We anchored outside the breakwater and spent a gorgeous day under the rays. We were going to leave at 0500 hr in the morning to make the next destination but the wind died and the swells were rocking us sideways. We decided we weren’t getting any sleep anyways we might as well leave, so at 2200 hrs we departed for a 14 hr trip. We couldn’t have asked for a better night. The sea swells were less than 2’ at 14 – 16 secs. No wind to speak about. We arrived at Morro Bay at 1230hr. We made good time and were happy with the way the boat handled.
Morro Bay is a shallow lagoon separated from Estero Bay by a narrow, 4 mile long strip of sand beach. This has created a very unique estuary that attracts many species of birds, fish, mammals, and crustaceans. We have been watching brown pelicans doing spiral dives like bombs beside our boat. Sea Otters floating by cracking open clam shells with a rock, and of course the normal collection of sea lions and seals. Well the weather God got us here safely with wonderful weather………………. But here we sit. We arrived on Wed. and it looks like we will not be leaving until possibly Sun night after we return from visiting Alanna in San Francisco.
As luck or karma would have it this weekend was the Morro Bay Harbour Festival. Friday night was a social hosted by the yacht club we are staying. For only $10..00/pp for the 2 days we were entertained by a variety of bands. We chose to spend the evenings attending several nightclubs that had bands. Saturday night we watched and elderly couple being escorted to the bar to have a seat. The seating was not appropriate for this couple, 89 and 88 years old. We called the waitress over and asked her to ask them to join us. It was a very interesting evening. This couple had been in the 2nd World War. He had been shot down 3 times over France and finally taught pilots for the British Air Force. She worked as a nurse and met him while he was in the hospital. They have been married for 63 years and have 5 children, many grand and great grandchildren. They have been coming to the Morro Bay festival for 25 years. As it turned out he had been sent to work in Montreal and 2 of the children were born there.
Sunday after we had dinner we decided do go for a walk and burn it off. We were drawn to a restaurant with an outdoor band. The music was fabulous. We were in a crowd of 25. In that crowd were the lead guitarist, base guitarist and drummer from the band Journey. They joined in with the band and treated us to a 2 hr concert. It was awesome. The owners of the restaurant found out we were from Canada traveling by boat and welcomed us to Morro Bay. Bonnie gave me a sweat shirt from her establishment which I will wear gratefully. Again bad weather has allowed us to meet many different people. By the way bad weather generally means 80 – 100 degrees causing winds. Not bad as in rain.
We will be heading back by car to San Francisco to meet up with Alanna and vote at the Canadian Consulate, for the weekend. Hopefully on our return we will have the weather to head south.