We left the Bay…More sightseeing, then our first passage with the kids!

We’ve had a busy week and a half – wine tasting in Napa, exploring Benicia, Julia’s birthday, Alcatraz and our first offshore passage as a family.

Wine Tasting in Napa!

We had a wonderful afternoon tasting sparking wines and pinot noirs at Domaine Carnaros winery. It is a beautiful estate in the midst of grape vines and expansive rolling hills in Napa Valley. The kids even sampled their own sparkling non-alcoholic chardonnay and blush. Wow! We then sampled some delicious Cabernet Sauvignons from local wineries in a tasting room in downtown Napa (Napa is known for their bold reds – Cabernet Sauvignons) before enjoying a pasta evening out. There are many more wineries and vinyards to explore in Napa of course but we were a bit limited with kids… Next time! We left our dinghy tied up at the Main Street dock for the afternoon which was very handy (about a 10 minute motor up the river from our anchor spot), then took a Lyft ride to the winery and back. Worked out perfectly!

Benicia

We motored back down the Napa River with me and the kids doing schoolwork while Gavin navigated the river channel. It was much easier on our return trip as we were confident in the river depths and clearances of bridges. We arrived in Benicia in the later afternoon. It is a lovely small Californian town that used to be the former capitol of California in the gold rush years. After taking some time to find a good anchoring spot – its a shallow area generally(ie 8 to 10 feet of depth) plus the afternoon westerlies of 25 kts made it a bit challenging. We anchored off of a public pier and dinghied to shore. The kids enjoyed skooting on their razor skooters and we walked the main strip. We had a fantastic workout in a lush green park while the kids played at the playground.

McNears County Park – Julia’s Birthday

The next day we motor-sailed back up the river to an anchorage off of McNears County Park. The kids and I did school while Gavin navigated. We anchored in 8 feet of water (very shallow in the Bay!) and spent the afternoon enjoying the beautiful park – playing tennis and walking. The next day Julia and Nathan made a cake and iced it for Julia’s birthday. The loved this! Then we spent the afternoon playing tennis and working out at the park. Julia had put in a special order of mac and cheese for her birthday dinner and we had a special evening celebrating in the cockpit.

Sausalito – Alcatraz

Then it was back to city front and Sausalito as we took care of some errands and enjoyed our day trip to Alcatraz. It was worth the wait! As tickets book up so quickly I had to book two weeks ahead. The kids were beyond excited when the day arrived to explore the Rock. It was fascinating and the audio tour of the main prison building was outstanding. I wondered whether it was going to be suitable for the kids and it was – they were full of questions and eyes wide with wonder as we walked through the various cells and passageways and learned about the many escape attempts and conditions the prisoners lived in.

San Francisco – Santa Cruz –80 Nautical Miles – Our first passage with the kids!

We set our alarms for 4am and Gavin and I rose in darkness. The forecast was for 15 to 25 knots with the next day calling for lesser wind (5 to 15 knots). We reasoned that we’d rather have moderate wind with a steady boat motion (our boat tends to get more comfortable when we are making good pace) as opposed to less wind with a less comfortable motion and slower progress so we made the decision to leave.

As we set out for the Golden Gate in the dark into a brisk breeze and choppy seas I was sorely missing our fantastic passage crew mates – Don and Jer. I am the number #2 now! We had a slight hic-up as we had forgotten to re-adjust one of the battens in the mainsail so we turned back and take the main down while Gavin balanced at the mast making the adjustment. We ended up departing an hour later at 5am.

With the engine noise and motion of the boat through the waves, the kids awoke so I gave them each another gravol tablet. I also had given them one before they went to bed the night before. They stayed warm in their beds as we motor sailed out under the Golden Gate.

More than once I was questioning why decided to leave in the dark as often conditions seem worse during the darkness than in the light. However I knew that leaving early would reap rewards later so we would avoid arriving at another new port in the dark. We’d already come through the Golden Gate once and had a good recollection of where and how to navigate our way out.

The tide was with us with the wind against us just off our bow – this made for a lumpy fast exit. We were doing 8 to 10 knots motor sailing just with a single reefed main. We launched off the steep waves which were enhanced because of the wind blowing against the current which was going with us and the relatively shallow depth.

Unfortunately this bumpy motion in the dark resulted in Nathan becoming quite seasick only a short distance outside of San Francisco. He was very brave and we are going to experiment with different medication options to see if we can improve things for future passages!

We lost our favourite dingy seat cushion overboard and decided not to head back. As it would have been very difficult to retrieve in the steep seas and narrow channel. We were thankful there were no large freighters entering at the same time we were leaving.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise with the golden gate in the background. September weather in the Bay is certainly more enjoyable than the foggy days in late August. Over dinner one evening we chatted with some locals.

We encountered some sea life along the way – a pod of humpback whales fishing together with a flock of birds overhead and heard their beautiful sounds even some distance away. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures! At the time we were going 9 to 11 knots with the spinnaker up with the wind freshening so they passed by rather quickly!

We arrived in Santa Cruz by 5:30 pm anchoring east of the pier off the Santa Cruz boardwalk, just in time to enjoy a front row seat to Wednesday night racing. We were lucky to anchor 50 meters from the weather mark and watched a number of Santa Cruz 50’s and a 70 race by.

All in all it was a great passage aside from Nathan feeling so sick. We have now purchased some new medication and are hopeful that it will help.

Santa Cruz

The next day we explored Santa Cruz walking and the kids on skooters, ending up with a shop at the nearby Costco.

The anchorage at Santa Cruz was lumpy the first night. Luckily Gavin made two flopper stoppers last winter (thank you Patrick!) which are hung on either side of the boat and ease the rocking motion of the boat. Thankfully these did a fantastic job and we had a much better sleep the following night.

Monterey

The next day we left for Monterey – a 20 mile jaunt across the bay. It was calm for the first couple of hours and we enjoyed seeing more wales and a shark fin! We enjoyed a beautiful spinaker ride for the last hour. Nathan felt better with his new medication so fingers crossed!

We have spent the last couple of days focusing on school and enjoying the beach and wandering through Monterey in the afternoons. We have set a stern anchor and with the use of our flopper stoppers have had peaceful nights.

We are gearing up for our next passage – 100 nautical miles to Morro Bay. The weather forecast is looking good for a Wednesday departure. We will leave early in the morning again. The entrance to Morro Bay has a bar and we want to arrive in daylight.

Tomorrow we are going to the Aquarium – it is one of the largest Aquariums in the US with a strong conservation and educational focus and comes highly recommended from folks we have met. The kids are excited to see the shark and penguin feedings!