Articles
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Day 9
October 6, 2008
We went explored around Cuevo Valdez a bit - this part of Santa Cruz
Island is owned by The Nature Conservancy, so some parts are posted
off limits as private property. We were able to see a marvelous hidden
waterfall, accessed through a sea-tunnel, as well as the sea-cave for
which the cove is named. It is interesting for its three entrances
into a central cave; we took the skiff into one of them.The day was very nice and warm, and we even went for a swim after all our hiking around. Soon it was happy hour, and we enjoyed some snacks on deck and appreciated the calm air and pleasant sun. However, a breeze started coming up as the weather shifted around to the NW - pretty quickly, there was a stiff wind. We had put out both bow and stern anchors, to steady us against the previous night's swell, and now the anchor configuration caused the boat to turn sideways to the freshening wind. This caused the bow anchor to start dragging… We wouldn't be safe in the anchorage under these conditions, so we decided to pull up the anchors and go down to a more protected spot around the west end of the island.
Will started getting the skiff ready to go get the stern anchor picked up, as I motored Libertine to take the strain off the bow anchor. As Will cast off the skiff's stern line, the bow attachment fitting chose that moment to come undone… and the skiff started going rapidly downwind, much to our astonishment! Will dove in after it, and climbed aboard. Fortunately, we had left the oars on the skiff, so Will could get back to us… otherwise, he might still be on the island :-)
We eventually got both anchors, the skiff, and Will back on board and departed around 6 pm under increasing winds.
We made our way down the coast of the island, with big wind and following swell making for a wild ride; we finally made it to
Smuggler's Cove around 11 pm, wind blowing 30 knots but offshore.
There were at least a dozen other boats in the anchorage, not too bad
in the daylight but tricky to navigate in the dark. We put the anchor
out as close in to the beach as we could, and had some quick soup for
dinner and went to bed. -
Days 7 and 8
October 4, 2008
We sailed under delightful conditions from Cuyler Cove northeast around the corner of Santa Rosa island (catching our 3rd albacore along the way) to anchor at Ford Point. Even in the shelter of the anchorage, by afternoon the wind was howling 40-50 knots, blowing the tops right off of the wave crests. Fortunately, it was blowing off shore, so we weren’t too concerned, but it sure was loud. We left the next morning and crossed over to the northern side of Santa Cruz island. We stopped to look at Painted Cave, a huge sea-cave over 150 ft high and 600 ft deep. Conditions were too rough to take the boat in the cave, though, so we continued on to Cueva Valdez, a pretty little cove at the foot of a wooded canyon. We have it to ourselves; it is quite calm this morning, a bit gray and drizzly at the moment but we’ll go ashore later and explore.
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Day 6
October 1, 2008
We explored San Miguel Island a bit - took the skiff over to the beach, and hiked down the beach, then up a trail to the top of the bluff overlooking the bay. Discovered a marker on the bluff commemorating the Portugese explorer Joao Rodriguez Cabrillo, buried on the island in 1540. Many weird and wonderful plants there, and lots of seals sleeping on the beach. A volunteer ranger and his wife were hanging out on the beach, and we chatted with them for a bit. They come spend a few weeks on the island, and have it mostly to themselves.
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Day 5
September 30, 2008
We departed Port San Luis at 3 am, and headed out under brilliant starry skies… We found a pretty calm and relatively flat sea, and made our way down the coast. Chad caught a fish, but it escaped as we were netting it. Not 30 minutes later, though, we hooked another one and managed to keep this one - even bigger than yesterday's fish! We will be eating well
for a few more days now (not that we weren't eating well to begin with!)We passed by Vandenberg AFB and could easily see the space launch
facilities from an unusual perspective; we then passed several oil
platforms -there aren't too many left on the California coast, but we
saw most of them pretty closely. After passing point Arguello, we made
for San Miguel island. Along the way, the wind picked up, and we
regularly were seeing 8-9 knots as the swell helped us along.
Fortunately, the crew seems to have become inured to the motion of the
boat, and we could easily eat and tend to chores.Approaching the island, we saw whales (blue whales we think) up pretty close! We reached the anchorage around 5 pm, and while it's very pretty, the wind is howling – we'll be keeping a close eye on the anchor tonight.
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Days 3-4
September 29, 2008
Last we heard from the intrepid sailors, they had put in to Stillwater
Cove… The story resumes:We set sail in the morning, figuratively speaking; the skies remained grey, and winds very light. Mercifully, the swell was much smaller and easier, and the fog higher, so although we spent most of the day and the following night under motor-power, we were able to eat and function pretty well.
We caught a fish on Sunday, a nice albacore, who gave us a delightful dinner one night, lunch today, and another meal yet to come.
We saw lots of wildlife - some whales in the distance, many dolphins and porpoises came racing over to play, including some at night leaving glowing trails of bioluminescence in their wake.
This morning brought us past Moro Bay, and into Port San Luis by
lunchtime. We anchored and had the aforementioned fish for lunch, then
took the dinghy in to shore for a beer and a shower. We got the boat
ready after dinner for the morning's passage to the Channel Islands -
we will leave around 3 am, so as to arrive at San Miguel Island before
tomorrow night.