Charleston Harbor (Coos Bay, OR) to San Diego, CA

September 11 - October 18, 1008

The Captain's Log of our Journey,  Interpreted by "The First Mate"

After waiting another ten days for the weather to clear enough to get out of our home base at Charleston Harbor in Coos Bay, and despite that the small craft warning flag was flapping and reported winds were expected to be 30 kts, we finally cast off at 7:25 a.m. on Thursday morning, September 11, 2008.    

This was our second attempt to set sail.  We had actually taken off on September 1st, ten days earlier in near perfect conditions only to discover our alternator was not charging the batteries, so 25 miles down the coast we turned back.  The next day a new alternator and four new batteries were installed and we were all set to start again.  Not to be -- weather conditions deteriorated with gale winds up to 60 kts and so we sat and waited for ten more days.

September 12, 2008:  Now equipped with the new alternator and batteries we were confident all was well.  Again, not to be.....The batteries went flat again off Cape Blanco in foggy conditions, so we turned off the radar to be able to maintain minimum chart use.  We stood off Crescent City, CA from 3:20 a.m. until daybreak waiting for the fog to clear before entering the harbor, finally docking at 8:30 a.m.  The alternator was charging only the engine battery so Charlie made jumper cables to the house batteries and all was fixed, at least for the time being.  A more permanent solution to the problem would be addressed later.

Sunday, September 14, 12:25 a.m.   We arrived at the Eureka city dock and waited for daybreak to find the marina on Woodley Island.  We enjoyed a great two days with Kathy, Brad and grandsons, Curtis, Robbie and Leland. 

Wednesday, September 17:  The next stop would be Fort Bragg.  Charlie and Steve had been there before when they took the Tartan 30 to San Francisco and knew not to attempt to enter the harbor at night, so again because our timing got us there at 3:30 a.m., we stood off until daybreak at 6:30 a.m. to enter the tiny and dangerous opening to the harbor.  The Coast Guard had passed us going the other way so we headed in, keeping to the right as fishing boats were going out.  Much to our embarrassment we steered to the right just a little bit too far and touched bottom.  By this time the Coast Guard was coming back in and heading towards us, so I waved them to stop so we could back out of the situation.  They were kind enough to guide us in through the narrow channel and quaint setting that would have looked like "Pirates of the Caribbean" at Disneyland had it been night time.

Another narrow entrance led us into the docks	We docked amongst the fishing boats and pleasure crafts, but mostly fishing boats

Pictured below:  Thursday, September 18,  leaving Fort Bragg going under the bridge and back out through the tiny entrance. Weather is clear and and the water is shiny with only 3 kts of wind. 

The next port will be San Francisco.  We couldn't wait to get back into familiar territory.

Friday, September 19:  We did an overnighter and this time planned the grand entrance to the Golden Gate with perfect timing.  We set the course for the Golden Gate at 7 a.m. (pictured below) It took us two hours to finally go under the bridge under almost perfect conditions with swells at less than 2' and no wind or fog. 

It took us two hours to go from here	To here

We checked into the Grand Marina in Alameda and it was our intention to do a little routine maintenance for a few days and pick up Steve (Charlie's brother) and leave.  When Charlie was changing the oil he notice an unusual amount of oil in the bilge.  We took the boat over to British Marine in Oakland and it was discovered that the rear main seal needed replacing and the engine would have to be pulled out. 

This was not a pretty sight.  To get to the parts that needed replacing, the mechanic first had to pull the engine out and plunk it down right into the cabin.  Fortunately, we were still able to sleep on the boat at night, but had to evacuate during the day.   Steve let us use his pick-up so we could get around Alameda and let us stay on their boat during the day.

Wednesday, October 1  We finally made it out of Alameda.

With Steve at the helm........	and Charlie taking it all in with the pugs

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After spending so many days in Alameda, it was good to be back on the open water.  The wind was less than 5 kts. and the water was smooth, so the newly worked on engine was being given a good test. 

It was be a short trip, around 8 hours to the Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay.    Nothing exciting to report except it was nice to be back on our old stomping grounds.   We lived for 40 years in Moss Beach, CA, just 2 miles north of the harbor.

Thursday, October 2, we left Pillar Point for the next destination, Monterey, with high fog and again no wind.  We were treated with many sightings of whales, seals and even a sea otter.  Pictured below:  Seals were racing beside our boat with a whale in chase about 50 feet behind.  We hoped the whale was not looking for "seal" for his dinner.

 It took 11.5 hours to reach Monterey from the time we left Half Moon Bay.  The entrance to the Monterey harbor is very small.   There was a group of small racing sail boats that couldn't wait for us to enter.  They just kept coming and coming, even though we had gotten there before many of them, so we circled around for 15 minutes waiting for all of them to clear before we could continue. 

Racing fleet at the entrance to Monterey harbor	We lucked out and got an end tie for CaST Away

Monterey's Port Captain with CaST Away	A sea lion takes a break on a mooring buoy

Friday, October 3, we set off for Morro Bay, arriving the next day at 11:15 a.m. about 22 hours to get there.  We tried to sail, but most often there was not enough wind.  Sharon and Steve found a laundro-mat and Charlie fiddled with the boat.  Due to lack of dock space, we anchored out just a very short distance to the dock.  Pictured below is Morro Rock.

Sunday, October 5, our next stop would be San Luis Harbor.  It was a short trip, as we got into the harbor at 4:30 p.m. and again anchored out.  We pumped up the dinghy and tried to get the pugs ashore, but the surf was about 4' so we turned back and didn't attempt to land on the beach.  The next morning the surf was up again, so we still couldn't get the pugs to shore.  It was a major breakthrough because one or both finally did their business on the puppy pad I put out for them.  It's been a major concern because neither would "go" the boat, so this was, as Martha Stewart puts it......"A GOOD THING".

Monday, October 6, we weighed anchor at 7:45 a.m. and set off for Santa Barbara, arriving there at 12:30 a.m. the next day.  We were assigned a berth and the pugs were glad to get off the boat.  Steve's wife, Ann, arrived by car, took us shopping, and then left with Steve to go back to Alameda.  (Steve will be joining us again in San Diego for the trip down the Baja Coast to Cabo.)  We stayed two days in Santa Barbara for some much needed rest before taking off again, with Santa Cruz Island as the next destination.  Santa Cruz Island is in the Channel Islands.

Santa Barbara, California

Wednesday, October 8, we set off from Santa Barbara with winds at about 10 kts.   We hoisted the sails and arrived at Santa Cruz Island about four hours later.  We anchored at the south end of the island at Smuggler's Cove with the infamous olive grove in the background.  We rocked and rolled all night alongside two other sailboats and a U.S. Coast Guard boat.  Charlie had anchored at this very place when he was in the Sea Scouts at age 14.  Unfortunately, we were unable to go ashore because of the surf.  We woke up the next morning with the weather forecast advising that Santa Ana winds were expected to hit the Channel Islands with wind gusts up to 50 kts. so we quickly weighed anchor and got out of there.  We headed back to the mainland and found a beautiful brand new marina at Oxnard, CA.

Olive Groves on Santa Cruz Island

Oxnard:   We couldn't have picked a better spot to wait out the approaching Santa Ana winds that kept us there for five days.  We met some really great people there, including Nellie and Bonnie, on the boat next to us.  Each morning these ladies were up at daybreak and out in their kayaks.  It was so inspiring, we bought a sea kayak built for two.  It actually has an extra third seat in the middle so the pugs can ride along with us........that is, when we get to warmer waters in Mexico. 

Tuesday, October 14:    It took us 8 hours to get to Marina Del Rey, CA where we tied up at the guest dock to spend the night.  Nothing here to see so we were up and out of there the next morning at 8 a.m.

Wednesday, October 15:  It was a short sail and we arrived at Newport Beach, CA.  We checked into the Police Dock and they assigned us a mooring buoy.  The fee was only $10 so we thought that was great, considering Newport is a high-end place.  When we finally found the mooring buoy..... instead of just being one that we were familiar with,  there were two of them connected by a messenger line.  The current was a little swift and we couldn't snag either of the balls.  Instead,  we snagged the slimy green messenger line so we could pull the boat closer to the aft ball and slip our line through it.  We finally managed to get this done, then we moved on to the front mooring ball.  By this time, there was green slime all over us and the boat.  The front ball had a stick-like marker attached that kept us from attaching our line.  It must have taken 10 minutes or so to finally get our line to that buoy but at last it was done.  We later found out that these buoys are independently owned and that some owners don't do a very good job in maintaining them.  We got the dinghy pumped up to take the pugs to shore and there was not a green patch of grass to be found anywhere.  It wasn't until the next day we found some grass about five blocks away.  But in the meantime as we strolled along the boardwalk, we saw a small cottage on a 25' lot with an asking price of only $6 million dollars.  It's front yard was right on the boardwalk with no privacy at all.  We wondered who would buy such a place at that price.    After spending two nights we were ready to leave.  If we thought our problems of attaching the lines to the mooring balls was difficult, we didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to get unattached.    To make a long story short, the current took us in the direction of the messenger line and it got caught around our prop.  The engine quit immediately.  A young man in an adjacent boat saw what happened and he quickly jumped into his wet suit and came to our rescue.  After a couple of dives, he freed the prop and we were on our way out of there.    I forgot to mention that earlier that day we took the dinghy out to the entrance to the harbor (about 2 miles) and then turned around to go back when the engine ran out of gas.  Charlie had to row 1.5 miles against the current to get back to our boat, a good one hour workout! 

Sunset in Newport Beach, California	A very large container ship passed by and an oil rig in the background.  The oil rigs were beautifully lit up at night.

Friday, October 17:  Another short trip, 7 hours, and we were in Oceanside, CA.  This would be just an overnighter.  Good thing because this was the most expensive docking at $36 per night and to make matters worse, the space we were given had a faulty electricity connection so we went without power. 

Saturday, October 18:  Made it to San Diego!  Only 8 hours to get from Oceanside and we were relieved when we checked into the Sun Road Marina with 5 other Baja Ha-Ha boats on our dock.  Four of us had been on the same dock in Oceanside, and thanks to Mola on "Panasea" for doing her homework, it was the least expensive and one of the nicest marinas in San Diego.   As we would be in San Diego for eight days, we rented a car and each day headed out getting provisions and accessories for the trip down the Baja Coast.   The pugs got shaved and we got haircuts.......we filled our shopping carts at Costco and Wal-Mart and West Marine and attended presentations on the Sea of Cortez and parties sponsored by several marine shops.  Steve re-joined us on the 26th for the trip to Cabo San Lucas. 

The San Diego Welcoming Committee	These strangly colored ducks greeted us immediately after we docked in San Diego

	This was our view of San Diego from the Sun Road Marina where we stayed 8 days getting ready for the Baja Ha-Ha

The 2008 Baja Ha-Ha

San Diego to Cabo San Lucas

At last it was October 27.   At 7 a.m. the race was on.......about 135  boats at the starting line.   The sea was a bit choppy with scattered fog.  It would be three days and three nights at sea before reaching the next destination, Turtle Bay.  Please go to the next page "San Diego to Cabo San Lucas" for the next leg of our journey down the Coast of Baja California.