We left the rolly anchorage off the Santa Barbara beachfront after a quick breakfast, and set sail for Santa Cruz Island, one of the four (five?) northern channel islands in SoCal. Yes, you read it right folks, we set sail. Mike, we're so sorry you left! You would have loved it!
Santa Barbara is a cool happening place, and as soon as we had given up on fixing the head, we parked Wanderlust and went out for a night on the town. It was Sean's 30th birthday, and we did it in style.
We were up with the sunrise, happy in our protected cove. The head was still broken and no one onboard was unaffected. It was a crappy start to the day. (ahaha! Get it? Crappy!)
Even though the Port San Luis Security guy had promised to meet us at 6AM to escort us off the private mooring ball, we slept in. Everyone was exhausted. No one came knocking, and we took our time waking up. The weather forecasts had been continually revised since last night, and we later found out that the Coast Guard issued an all-stations warning for lightning strikes in the area.
We spent a few hours at one of the transient mooring balls in Port San Luis, but the swell and wind waves had us rocking back and forth severely. We all appreciated the break, but I think everyone was happy when we cast off and motored out of the bay. It was about 5PM.
After spending all afternoon at the Monterey Aquarium, we decided to press on and make the overnight passage to Morro Bay or San Luis Obispo. It's a long trip down the coast, probably 20 hours, and it's dangerous and difficult to come into an unknown port in the dark, so this section is best sailed overnight.
We slept in and awoke only to visit the world-famous Monterey Aquarium. It was as awesome as everyone says it is.
We were up before the sun for our long trip to Monterey. The forecasts again called for light winds and 3-4ft combined swell and wind waves, so we weren't looking forward to another day of motoring.
We were up early with the sun for a quick swim and shower. Only Sean and Will swam, and they didn't have much say in the matter. Mike and Sara were still smelling sweet. Sean and Will were not. They jumped in, but pushing was threatened.
Again we delayed our departure; we just hadn't had enough experience sailing together as a team, and it didn't seem to make sense to leave without testing ourselves and the boat in heavy weather. Luckily San Francisco Bay is the ideal location for heavy-weather sailing!