Tied next to the local riff-raff
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Tied next to the local riff-raff |
First thing upon our arrival in San Francisco we tied up in Schoonmaker Marina in Sausalito (next to Larry Ellison of Oracle software's Roanin of course) and headed out to breakfast with our friends on Rouser. We'd been eating pop tarts and canned chili and other easily prepared foods on the way down and were craving a nice big meal. Then, of course we headed to the showers.
The next day we tried to anchor out but our depthsounder decided that it had had enough. So, we stayed one more night replacing our ancient Datamarine with vacuum tubes for the display digits with a new Standard Horizon display. Amazingly, our old transducer still worked with the new display so it was a very easy project. We spent about a week anchored out in Richardson Bay exploring the hills of Sausalito, having dinner and visiting with other cruisers and running errands. One day we took the bus to downtown San Francisco and walked around the city for hours. Our favorite part was having Dim Sum in Chinatown for only $4 for the both of us.
Talking with other boats that had come down in the last several weeks from the Northwest we found that nearly all had the same nasty winds we'd had off Cape Blanco. Many hours were spent retelling each of our stories about the times we had coming down the coast. Each day various friends would come by the boat or we'd dinghy over to theirs and share what we'd discovered about getting groceries, showers, internet access, and fun cheap things to do in town. Aboard Merlin's Magic who we'd last met in Neah Bay we had our first cruiser potluck -- great fun! The cruising community is so fantastic to be a part of -- like living in a small town no matter when you go.
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Tourists in San Fran |
During one of our days anchored out, we awoke around 7 am with the wind suddenly howling. Outside we saw boats straining on their chain and buoys as the wind screamed down the Sausalito hills into the anchorage and many boats dragging off into the shallow mud flats. All day long the wind howled around 40 knots steady, with gusts up to 60 (verified with the harbormaster!). Luckily there were no waves as there was little fetch and we spent the day making chocolate chip cookies and talking with neighbors on the VHF radio. Around 7 that night the wind died as suddenly as it had started and we were finally free to go ashore. Every day has been interesting, and you never know what will happen!
The next week we sailed over to Angel Island a few miles away to explore the park. After spending the day hiking to the top of the island, we gathered with a number of other cruisers at the Park Ranger's beautifully restored house that used to be officer's quarters when the military was there in the early 1900s. With lots of red wine and good food brought by everyone it was a marvelous evening of laughter and telling stories and meeting new friends.
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Beautiful Angel Island |
Next we sailed over to Vallejo where we would keep the boat in an affordable marina for the next 6 days. After talking with Sara's parents the last time about how the cats were doing, we had decided it would be nice to have the kitties back on board -- first because the folks were still having allergies because of them, and second because we missed their sweet faces dearly.
So on a Thursday evening we picked up an economy rental car in Vallejo and left early Friday morning for Seattle. In a mere 12 hours, we'd arrived in Olympia and driven the same distance it had taken us two weeks to reach in Pelican. It was a crazy feeling to be traveling so fast all of a sudden! We visited with Michael's parents that evening then drove up to Camano Island the next afternoon to get the kitties. Typical of cats, they were not excited to see us but instead looked at us glaringly for leaving them so long I imagine. Early Sunday morning all of us loaded up into our little rental car and started the long trip south again. The kitties did great in the car sleeping almost the entire way in their little beds. It was great to get back to Pelican in Vallejo and have our whole family back on board again.
The last day with the rental car we drove with Eric and Angela of Rouser up to Napa Valley and spent the day tasting wine and cheese in that beautiful country. We were really enjoying being farther inland as it was sunny and very dry every day with temperatures in the 80s. It was especially nice getting the boat dried out after being on the damp coastal waters for so many weeks.
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Good cat! |
Ever since Crescent City, our new transmission had been acting up. With our single lever control, it would not immediately engage in forward anymore but would slip for a while before finally engaging. When Michael looked at the transmission fluid, it was very brown and suspected the clutch had glazed over somehow. When we told Westerbeke/Universal about the problem, they said they'd swap the faulty one out with a new one right away! So in Vallejo, two Westerbeke mechanics spent one morning installing a brand new Hurth transmission. We were extremely impressed with Westerbeke's customer service to say the least.
By this time we'd been in the Bay area for nearly three weeks and were getting anxious to continue heading southward towards warmer waters. We sailed back to Sausalito to begin our preparations to head out into the ocean again. With everything tied down, full water, diesel and food lockers we motored back out to the Golden Gate early one foggy morning.