We were planning to leave San Francisco on Friday November 27th after our US Thanksgiving with friends, but we too were struck with bad weather. Bad in the sense that there were howling winds and huge waves in the Pacific. The seas were over 15 feet high and the winds were up to 40 knots. Being that is our travel roadway, we were not going anywhere for a couple of days. The anchorage we were in had winds up to 15 knots over the water, which is not usually a problem but with the wind tucking around the corner it meant swells which were a tad uncomfy at times. The storm did chill and we were able to leave at 6am on Sunday.
We had the sun rising as we headed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and bid a fair adieu to San Francisco. Such a beautiful city and lovely bay. We arrived in Sausalito September 15, moved to Berkeley November 3rd to 26th and left the anchorage at Treasure Island November 29th, passing by Alcatraz sitting there all majestic like. In honour of sailing by Alcatraz a few times during our stay one night we watched the DVD “The Rock” with Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris and a great cast. That was fun! Digressing here…
As we headed out under the Golden Gate the sunrise was spectacular and the winds were light. The seas were calm with just a 4 to 6 foot swell rolling in from the west and no chop. Our friends in Sausalito had told us that the magic number for crossing the bar was 9 foot swells, if the reports had the swells less than that then it is safe to go. The other thing they said was to take a look at Four Fathom Bank to the north off the starboard side as we headed out, if the swells were not breaking over that bank then we didn’t have to go all the way out the deep water channel before we turned south, we could turn left at the first marker buoy, R8, and go through the gap in the bar that shows on the chart. This saves about 3 to 4 miles.
Since we only had about a 6 foot swell and no breakers off Four Fathom Bank we turned at R8 and went through the gap. Even with those benign conditions we went over 3 rollers that had built up to over 10 feet as we went through but no problems as the waves weren’t breaking. We could sure see how rough it could get and how important it is to watch the weather & sea condition reports. Local knowledge is also a wonderful thing!
We decided to by-pass Half Moon Bay and headed directly to Santa Cruz. All in all a superb trip down – sunny conditions, high teens in temps, we were about 3 miles from the coast and could even see the cars on the coastal highway in some spots. Winds were super light so we (once again) motored with the main sail up. Seems we do that a lot! We had some areas with high waves but we just flowed up over them and were set down gently afterwards. I would say the swells were about 8 feet but because they were so far apart and had such a gentle motion, it was really cool. Now when we have had 8 foot swells in the Strait of Georgia – yikes – short, choppy and very uncomfy. So this was a nice experience. For most of the afternoon we sat out on the bow with the auto pilot remote with us and cruised along.
As far as sea life we saw our usual porpoises and sea lions and lots of birds. Still a bit early for the gray whales as they are heading down to Sea of Cortez in December, and we would need to be further out. They only travel close to shore on the way up the coast in the spring as the moms have the new calves. We might see them passing by late December when we are at the Channel Islands. How cool would that be?
We arrived just at sunset and it was beautiful looking back as they sky was glowing. A number of boats were out enjoying the sunny afternoon and we all headed towards the entrance to the harbor as the sun went down. Although we left before sunup and arrived at sundown it did not seem like a long day.
Approaching Santa Cruz harbor is a unique experience. As you round Pt. Santa Cruz you see the large commercial pier with the town in the background. As you go by the pier you see a large old style amusement park right on the beach, complete with an old wooden roller coaster, ferris wheel, and all the usual rides! The summer anchorage is off the beach right in front of the amusement park, sheltered by the point and the pier, but in winter it’s a little too rolly to be comfortable. The entrance to the small boat harbor is on the other side of the bay, it’s actually an old river mouth that was dredged and had breakwaters added on either side to turn it into a harbor.
This small harbor is split in two about halfway up by a bridge, so the lower half is where all the larger sailboats are and the upper half is mostly small powerboats and sailboats with masts that can be lowered. On your way in there is a large fuel dock on the right and the harbor police docks and offices are right after that. The harbor office is in charge of all the moorage and you call them to get space.
The end ties of each set of docks are supposed to be reserved for transient boaters however in practice many of them have boats that are there on a full time basis. You will almost certainly have to raft up to someone, which is required for all the end ties, and they still charge you full rate. However the rates are very reasonable as it is a municipal marina.
The fuel dock is also used for overnight moorage once it is closed for the day however it is very exposed as it is right at the entrance to the harbor. Unless there is nothing else available I would pass on the fuel dock and raft as far into the harbor as possible. The harbor is subject to quite strong surge that penetrates all the way in, as well as strong tidal currents in and out. We were rafted on an end tie 2/3 of the way to the bridge and were still bouncing around, tying to the other boat and leaving it proved to be quite a challenge to not damage either vessel!
We spent Sunday evening and Monday in Santa Cruz. We rode our bikes along the ocean (bike paths are super) and made our way to Capitola (about 5 miles). Funky town with shops, galleries and restaurants. Quite a tourist spot in the summer I would think. Very pretty on the ocean, surfers around, waves rolling in. It was neat passing by the guys in their wet suits and surf boards but what was great to see was that they weren’t all 20 year olds – these guys had grey hair! Surfing in your 60’s on a Monday afternoon on the last day of November- how incredible is that?
We found a great internet coffee shop over looking the beach in Capitola and another one in downtown Santa Cruz called Lulu Carpenter’s, outstanding cappuccino and food. We hung out there while Wayne checked emails and did work stuff. There is a mooring field and anchorage right off Capitola that is open in the summer and early fall months. It is very protected and has a public dinghy dock for access to the town, they close it for the winter due to storms but it was actually calmer there than in the Santa Cruz harbor when we visited.
Seas were very calm that week as a high pressure system was there. Air temps high teens, reaching 20 degrees and lots of sun. So a good time to be heading down the coast. A bit of wind to sail with would be our only request! We left for Monterey on Tuesday December 1, a short 24 mile trip across Monterey Bay.
