Morro Bay to Monterey, punished by strong northwest winds and waves, arriving in Monterey exhausted, meeting Amy and Holly for some much-needed relaxation, fixing the starter motor and solenoid

We weren't exactly feeling awesome about our six-hour stop in Morro Bay, but we had already arranged to meet Sara's sister Amelia in Monterey on Monday afternoon and those 120-odd miles weren't going to sail themselves. Sailing on a schedule is never a good idea.

The motor was starting to act up. It wouldn't start, we'd hear a whirring noise and no turn-over. I figured out it was the starter solonoid pretty quickly, and we were able to bash it with a wrench while cranking to get it to engage. Our plan was to motorsail through the night to not need to restart and figure it out in Monterey. Better to be stuck there with Amelia than in Morro Bay without her.

We left just after noon in warm sunshine. Once we got out of the protected harbour the wind picked up. The wind kept freshening and we got beat up a little.

Morro Bay harbour

Morro Rock in the sunshine

No pics of the punishment we endured over the next 20 hours. It wasn't fun. The waves were sharp and choppy the rest of the day and almost all night. Even with the wind the wave frequency was too high for a comfortable motion and it got worse when the wind calmed overnight, we didn't have the sails easing the boat over the crest of waves and we were slapped about fiercely. We arrived in Monterey early the next morning completely exhausted.

Sunshine peeking through the marine layer

Fog opening up over Monterey

We somehow found a huge easily-accessable dock that didn't cost a fortune (I think it may have been a mistake) with the cleanest water we've ever seen. We felt a little out of place with our yard-sale boat strewn with wet gear trying to dry out.

The starfish picture was taken right off the dock, just looking down!

Wanderlust with wet foulies drying

Starfish under the dock

I don't know how, but we rallied and walked around the beach and downtown for a few hours. The Monterey waterfront is SO CLEAN. It wasn't long before we were back at the boat fast asleep.

Pristine beach

Cannery Row in Monterey

The next day I pulled the starter motor and found someone in town who could fix it. Kevin came and picked it up! We did a bunch of other projects, cleaned up the boat, but also had a little time for walking around and exploring.

Exploring Monterey

Holly and Amelia arrive

Amelia and her friend Holly arrived that evening and took us out to dinner. Amelia was so happy to be able to join us, we'd been trying to make our schedules work since the wedding. We were going to do the last leg of the trip together.

Amelia

Sisters

Amelia goes hard

So do I

Kevin brought back the starter motor, repaired and repainted, and we finished a mini-refit with the help of the guys from Breakwater Cove, a marine store nearby. These guys were super pumped to hear about our story and helped us find all the little things we'd been missing in the last six months.

Kevin brings back the starter motor

Wanderlust fans

I got the rebuilt starter motor installed in just an hour and we were back in business. If we ever do this again we're gonna have a bigger boat with easier engine access, you can imagine what this kind of gymnastics would feel like if we were at sea rolling back and forth.

Rebuilt starter motor

Installing the starter

We were all set to head back to San Francisco. We buttoned everything up and left late that afternoon.

Ready to go

Amelia goes hard even when sleeping