Nadia trying her hand a riding a Harley and honing her skills as a dinghy boater.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Don't Throw Out Fishing Line
This poor guy was sitting on a mooring buoy, apparantly the local wildlife rescue folks knew about it but were having a hard time getting the sea lion to cooperate.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Surfin' Safari
Yesterday we went to the beach on San Simeon Bay. It's a nice sandy beach and Nadia had a lot of fun doing the usual beach things. Brenda and I took walks and enjoyed views of the Pacific and the hills behind us. Hearst Castle looks huge even from where we were. The dinghy landing involved riding a gentle surf but it was straight forward. The exit was little more exciting when a wave hit then me slipping and bonking my eyebrow against the end of the oar while Brenda tried to paddle us of shore. Not
being ones that learn easily we decided to go to Hearst Castle this morning. The surf didn't look that bad until we were surfing along with it. Just as we were about to hit shore Brenda stepped off and was knocked over. We got things under control, Brenda standing there soaking wet, covered with sand, looking not that happy. It was difficult to continue on to Hearst Castle. The idea that we had to now re-launch the dinghy back to the boat was very unappealing. Waves go through cycles, first you
get some little ones then you get some big ones. The big ones were much too big to consider launching in while the smaller ones would have been OK. It was very difficult trying to figure out when the right time to go would be. We stayed there for 4 hours watching the waves. Finally I figured out that by watching the water on the edge of the bay where the waves came around you could predict when a lull would occur. We got away unscathed and happy to be back at the boat. While we were waiting and watching
the waves an elephant seal swam by. They don't call them elephant seals for nothing.
We may be here for several days. The winds are howling out on the open water right now.
being ones that learn easily we decided to go to Hearst Castle this morning. The surf didn't look that bad until we were surfing along with it. Just as we were about to hit shore Brenda stepped off and was knocked over. We got things under control, Brenda standing there soaking wet, covered with sand, looking not that happy. It was difficult to continue on to Hearst Castle. The idea that we had to now re-launch the dinghy back to the boat was very unappealing. Waves go through cycles, first you
get some little ones then you get some big ones. The big ones were much too big to consider launching in while the smaller ones would have been OK. It was very difficult trying to figure out when the right time to go would be. We stayed there for 4 hours watching the waves. Finally I figured out that by watching the water on the edge of the bay where the waves came around you could predict when a lull would occur. We got away unscathed and happy to be back at the boat. While we were waiting and watching
the waves an elephant seal swam by. They don't call them elephant seals for nothing.
We may be here for several days. The winds are howling out on the open water right now.
A word from Nadia,
I saw 8 or 9 lizards on the beach. Not to say the ones I saw at Point Lobos. I saw a bunch of Monarchs, I saw a pretty yellow butterfly with little white spots on all four of it's wings.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Trip To San Simeon
We pulled our anchor up at about 6 pm from Stillwater Cove (Pebble Beach). The trip to San Simeon is 16 hours more or less. We prefer not to leave and arrive in the dark so that meant doing another night passage. I'm not sure if we are wimps but it was another tough one. I sometimes think I must be downloading weather reports for the wrong region. What the weather forecasters say we will see and what actually materializes are two different things. We were supposed to get 3 to 5 foot swells. Instead
we saw these rather large, often breaking waves, splashing over our stern and sides. It was windy and rough. Neither Brenda or I slept. Under those conditions it's nice to have two people on watch. Nadia on the other hand seems to do very well in those conditions. It seems this part of the Pacific is really going to make us work.
we saw these rather large, often breaking waves, splashing over our stern and sides. It was windy and rough. Neither Brenda or I slept. Under those conditions it's nice to have two people on watch. Nadia on the other hand seems to do very well in those conditions. It seems this part of the Pacific is really going to make us work.
After a rest we will explore the nice beach here and walk up to Hearst Castle which sits on a hill above the Bay.
Peter
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Pebble Beach
Hi all, we are finally on the move again. This was a neat day because Nadia and I met up with 3 marine biologists working on our dock this morning. They were removing an invasive type of Japanese kelp (the type you eat in Miso soup) from the docks in an attempt to prevent it from spreading further. Nadia took a keen interest and in short order she was helping them make measurements and we had the whole life cycle of the plants explained to us so now we can tell this type of kelp from the rest and
find and remove it's reproductive parts so that it cannot spread. Again, Nadia didn't want to leave! But we did leave and after a few hours we were anchored - off the Pebble Beach Golf Course. A good golfer (able to hit 250 yards) could hit our boat from the famous hole on the point. We have a great view of the homes, there are egrets and pelicans in the cove and sea otters frolicking in the kelp beds. George, the harbour master, came out in a skiff to greet us and show the best spot to anchor and
here is the kicker - we are the only boat anchored here. It is a slightly tricky spot to anchor in so I guess that scares most folks off. If the weather stays calm, we can spend tomorrow on the beach and walk the one mile to Carmel-by-the-sea. I saw in the newspaper that the first house in 3 years to be listed on the golf course is up for sale - just 28 million to get in now! Our next stop will be San Simeon which is the cove just below the Hearst Castle.
Brenda.
find and remove it's reproductive parts so that it cannot spread. Again, Nadia didn't want to leave! But we did leave and after a few hours we were anchored - off the Pebble Beach Golf Course. A good golfer (able to hit 250 yards) could hit our boat from the famous hole on the point. We have a great view of the homes, there are egrets and pelicans in the cove and sea otters frolicking in the kelp beds. George, the harbour master, came out in a skiff to greet us and show the best spot to anchor and
here is the kicker - we are the only boat anchored here. It is a slightly tricky spot to anchor in so I guess that scares most folks off. If the weather stays calm, we can spend tomorrow on the beach and walk the one mile to Carmel-by-the-sea. I saw in the newspaper that the first house in 3 years to be listed on the golf course is up for sale - just 28 million to get in now! Our next stop will be San Simeon which is the cove just below the Hearst Castle.
Brenda.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Good Bye to Monterey Bay
We've been in Monterey Bay for close to a month now. Other tourists ask me for directions and I can tell them, more or less what they need to know. Hard to believe we have spent that much time here. Its been a very good thing. The "new" or as I like to think of it, "modified plan" has both of us very excited. It allows us to proceed with the original destinations in mind while adding several new places to the list. It'll just take a little longer.
We inflated our dinghy and used it to go out and explore some of the inner bay area. There are many sea lions, sea otters, birds of all sorts including pelicans. Nadia has a favorite little beach we stop at and she collects olive dove shells. She also likes going netting for hermit crabs in a shallow area of rocks. Today we took the bus to Big Sur and went on a hike in one of the state parks. We saw large redwood trees, a rattle snake on the trail and some lizards. Brenda and Nadia are working
their way through the Harry Potter series, they started book three tonight.
I hope everyone is keeping well. Nadia says hi to all her school friends and teachers. As in Mrs. Stephens class, she spends most of her spare time doing art projects. The boat walls are nearly covered with paintings and drawings, the ceiling and hooks all have something hanging from them.
We should leave tomorrow, assuming of course that the weather doesn't change yet again. A couple of stops and we will be around Point Conception.
Peter
Saturday, June 16, 2007
The New Plan
Hi Everyone,
Finally we have had enough rest and enough time to reflect on our predicament and have come to a decision about what to do. When we turned back after leaving San Francisco and diverted into Monterey Bay, that was basically the end of the opportunity to get to the South Pacific directly from the Pacific Northwest for this year. Had we continued we would have passed through the hurricane track, which is the worst between 10 and 20 degrees north, off the coast of Mexico, in the second week of June when
the risk was still relatively small (May would have been even better but we were very slow getting to San Francisco). However by July the risk is up to a 27% chance and these storms are nothing to fool with; last year one packed winds of 125 knots. So, that left us with 3 choices: 1) go to Hawaii, down through the Line Islands, Fiji, Tonga and then to New Zealand, sell the boat as planned 2) go to San Diego, sell the boat, fly to New Zealand like regular people or 3) take the boat to San Diego, wait
until the fall, and spend the fall cruising Mexico. The Hawaii option requires about 80 days at sea in the next 6 months and we would not see any of French Polynesia (Marquesas, Tuamotos, Society Islands including Tahiti, Bora Bora etc). Peter has had a, perhaps romantic, vision of visiting French Polynesia for several decades, we have been to Hawaii and although it is very nice, it is not a great place to cruise. As such we could not summon up the necessary enthusiasm for this option given the amount
of work it required. Although, the Line Islands really appealed to me. Option 2 was very appealing when we first arrived here, we have had very rough, cold weather for nearly all of the trip. Almost all of our sailing has been under double reefed main and staysail or staysail alone and our boat had never traveled so fast under sail. Also, this option frees up the capital invested in Songline and more importantly stops the steady drain of money required to keep her in shape. Nadia is right on the
cusp of being able to go on much longer hikes and she has just started rock climbing. The main reason we started sailing in the first place was that it is something adventurous that we could do as a family when Nadia was young (and our trips to the Queen Charlottes and around Vancouver Island alone when Nadia was nearly 3 and nearly 4 respectively were worth the entire effort of having Songline). We could then perhaps buy another boat in a few years; however, Peter has poured his heart and soul into
fixing, equipping, and learning absolutely everything about this boat and doesn't feel that the energy exists to do this again from scratch. This options also suffers from the "unfinished business" syndrome and the ability to admit that we have not only lost the battle but also the war. So, we have chosen option 3 - travel very slowly down the southern coast of California until fall time. There are some very nice anchorages and offshore islands that we can explore including the Santa Cruz islands
and the Channel Islands. Then we can leave San Diego or Ensenada in the end of October, travel down the Mexican coast and perhaps into the Sea of Cortez and then we will find a suitable dry storage facility to haul the boat out of the water and leave it for a while. We can then depart Mexico in April for the South Pacific and continue as planned. But (isn't there always a but) we can't do this the following April (ie not in 2008) since I am starting a masters degree in mathematics at Simon Fraser
University in January of 2008. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I have spent the last year taking courses and working as a teaching assistant at SFU to this end. This is the only thing I am not willing to give up. So, we are planning to leave the boat out of the water for 15 or 16 months and then continue in 2009. We will incur added financial burden with this option but we suspect (hope!) that it will actually be cheaper to have Songline on the hard in Mexico then floating
in Vancouver. I swore that when we first started on this that I would never cruise in Mexico (wasting time baking in the heat drinking Margheritas is how I labeled it) so I am eating crow on that one. This option does however have the significant advantage that Nadia will be 7 when we leave again and will be tougher. I have worried about her falling and hurting herself during the rough conditions (she spent several days in her bunk and most of May wearing her snowsuit) and while not suffering from
sea sickness per say, she had a severely curtailed appetite and she is only a skinny 42 pounds to start with. She was unable to read, colour etc without getting seasick so some of the days at sea have been hard for her. So, having learned not to make wild predictions about where we will be at any particular time, we are continuing down the coast and will continue to update the blog and the position report as we go. Thanks to everyone who emailed us encouraging comments, offers of help and suggestions.
They are most appreciated!
Brenda.
Finally we have had enough rest and enough time to reflect on our predicament and have come to a decision about what to do. When we turned back after leaving San Francisco and diverted into Monterey Bay, that was basically the end of the opportunity to get to the South Pacific directly from the Pacific Northwest for this year. Had we continued we would have passed through the hurricane track, which is the worst between 10 and 20 degrees north, off the coast of Mexico, in the second week of June when
the risk was still relatively small (May would have been even better but we were very slow getting to San Francisco). However by July the risk is up to a 27% chance and these storms are nothing to fool with; last year one packed winds of 125 knots. So, that left us with 3 choices: 1) go to Hawaii, down through the Line Islands, Fiji, Tonga and then to New Zealand, sell the boat as planned 2) go to San Diego, sell the boat, fly to New Zealand like regular people or 3) take the boat to San Diego, wait
until the fall, and spend the fall cruising Mexico. The Hawaii option requires about 80 days at sea in the next 6 months and we would not see any of French Polynesia (Marquesas, Tuamotos, Society Islands including Tahiti, Bora Bora etc). Peter has had a, perhaps romantic, vision of visiting French Polynesia for several decades, we have been to Hawaii and although it is very nice, it is not a great place to cruise. As such we could not summon up the necessary enthusiasm for this option given the amount
of work it required. Although, the Line Islands really appealed to me. Option 2 was very appealing when we first arrived here, we have had very rough, cold weather for nearly all of the trip. Almost all of our sailing has been under double reefed main and staysail or staysail alone and our boat had never traveled so fast under sail. Also, this option frees up the capital invested in Songline and more importantly stops the steady drain of money required to keep her in shape. Nadia is right on the
cusp of being able to go on much longer hikes and she has just started rock climbing. The main reason we started sailing in the first place was that it is something adventurous that we could do as a family when Nadia was young (and our trips to the Queen Charlottes and around Vancouver Island alone when Nadia was nearly 3 and nearly 4 respectively were worth the entire effort of having Songline). We could then perhaps buy another boat in a few years; however, Peter has poured his heart and soul into
fixing, equipping, and learning absolutely everything about this boat and doesn't feel that the energy exists to do this again from scratch. This options also suffers from the "unfinished business" syndrome and the ability to admit that we have not only lost the battle but also the war. So, we have chosen option 3 - travel very slowly down the southern coast of California until fall time. There are some very nice anchorages and offshore islands that we can explore including the Santa Cruz islands
and the Channel Islands. Then we can leave San Diego or Ensenada in the end of October, travel down the Mexican coast and perhaps into the Sea of Cortez and then we will find a suitable dry storage facility to haul the boat out of the water and leave it for a while. We can then depart Mexico in April for the South Pacific and continue as planned. But (isn't there always a but) we can't do this the following April (ie not in 2008) since I am starting a masters degree in mathematics at Simon Fraser
University in January of 2008. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I have spent the last year taking courses and working as a teaching assistant at SFU to this end. This is the only thing I am not willing to give up. So, we are planning to leave the boat out of the water for 15 or 16 months and then continue in 2009. We will incur added financial burden with this option but we suspect (hope!) that it will actually be cheaper to have Songline on the hard in Mexico then floating
in Vancouver. I swore that when we first started on this that I would never cruise in Mexico (wasting time baking in the heat drinking Margheritas is how I labeled it) so I am eating crow on that one. This option does however have the significant advantage that Nadia will be 7 when we leave again and will be tougher. I have worried about her falling and hurting herself during the rough conditions (she spent several days in her bunk and most of May wearing her snowsuit) and while not suffering from
sea sickness per say, she had a severely curtailed appetite and she is only a skinny 42 pounds to start with. She was unable to read, colour etc without getting seasick so some of the days at sea have been hard for her. So, having learned not to make wild predictions about where we will be at any particular time, we are continuing down the coast and will continue to update the blog and the position report as we go. Thanks to everyone who emailed us encouraging comments, offers of help and suggestions.
They are most appreciated!
Brenda.
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