Santa Cruz

After the passing of the Golden Gate Bridge was behind us we spent the rest of the windless day motoring our way to Half Moon Bay. We stayed about two or three miles out, just enough to keep the cliffs of the California coastline as a reference point. This of course was interrupted throughout the day with bouts of fog that would blanket over us, leaving us to use our imagination as to where and exactly what the coastline looked like.

 I made good use of this lull in the wind to get better acquainted with Joli' Elle. I learned how she responds when you steer her, where my favorite spot to sit is and the best parts of the boat to whack my body on for the maximum amount of bruising.  

The skipper and I spent the first few hours settling into a nice routine of making coffee and getting to know each other.  The day went by at a nice pace and we soon arrived at Half Moon Bay and found amongst the dozens of other sailboats a place to drop our anchor. With the evening turning into darkness the bay had a peaceful silence to it and settling in, we made our dinner and slipped into our berths for the night.  

The next day started much as the last, bright and early. Again the wind alluded us and we set off motoring onto our next destination, Santa Cruz.  The fog chased us down the coast line for more than half the day before catching us and bringing our visibility down.  Joining us about two miles off shore were a group of  whitish colored jelly fish that had bodies the size of soccer balls and tails that trailed behind then four to six feet.

As we got closer to Santa Cruz, the fog was chased away by a nice breeze that we quickly took advantage of by setting the main and headsail. By the time we had a visual on Santa Cruz the wind was pushing twenty knots with gusts over twenty five knots and four to six foot seas.  And to add to the excitement the depth sounder that tells us how deep of water we are in went on the fritz and displayed a constant forty one feet of water depth even thought the charts indicated we should be in about one hundred and fifty feet of water.

Once we cleared the point at Santa Cruz the wind died back and the seas calmed.  We made our way into the Santa Cruz harbor and parked her in a slip amongst many other stunning sailboats.

Hello Santa Cruz, if you look closely you can see the boardwalk and the seals on the wharf.

~J~