Ventura to Cojo Anchorage to Morro Bay, pushing even harder to get north, some rough weather north of Point Conception

Our next leg was around Point Conception, one of the more dangerous sections of the California coastline. This is where we were almost struck by lightning and were warned about the half-mile diameter waterspout on the way south, so we didn't want to mess around. We sailed from Ventura along the Santa Barabara coastline to Coho Anchorage just before Pt Conception, anchored until midnight, and finished the rest of the trip to Morro Bay in the dark.

Cojo is 60-odd miles from Ventura so we left in the daylight! What a pleasure. Calm winds and easy motorsailing made for a lazy day.

The Santa Barbara channel is beautiful, with the exception of the pungent oil smell throughout. The LA basin has seeping petroleum deposits that release crude oil, methane, and tar, and there are dozens of oil platforms that pump oil from underground reservoirs (below the ocean), flare off some of the methane, and pump the rest to shore.

Calm lazy day

Flaring methane

Our path brought us right by one of these huge platforms! Right afterwards we saw a pod of white whales swimming by. The Channel Islands have a marine sanctuary that covers thousands of miles in the area. Some of the oil platforms are built right on the edge of the sanctuary boundary.

This is Platform Holly, about 2mi off the coast of Goleta (near UCSB).

Platform Holly

White whales

The coastline here is gorgeous.

Santa Barbara coastline

We arrived at Cojo Anchorage around 5pm and anchored while watching the whales spout all around us. The weather was so chill we thought about pushing on to Morro Bay without stopping, but we would have arrived in the middle of the night and the Morro Bay harbour isn't exactly easy to navigate.

An hour later a train rumbled past the anchorage on the tracks just above the beach. The train went on forever! There must have been hundreds of cars and several more engines mid-pack.

Whales spouting

Train heading along the coast

We managed to snag a few hours of sleep and left in the middle of the night. Easy trip around the point. We arrived in Morro Bay at 7am the next morning, slowly gliding through the marine layer. You can see the famous Morro Rock through the fog.

Entrance to Morro Bay

Morro Rock

We snagged a buoy (maybe we didn't pay) and slept the deep and peaceful sleep of mariners without concern. Just a few hours was enough for the fog to burn off, the sun to come out, and our sleep depravation to ease into dull throbbing headaches.

Fueling up

Morro Bay bakery

We filled up the diesel tanks and jugs, did a little reprovisioning at the bakery, and headed off for Monterey. No rest for the wicked.