…..again! After 10 months in Sausalito we headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday morning. It was a bittersweet day as we said goodbye to family and friends, but also exciting to be underway. We turned left and headed south for Half Moon Bay, a lovely little sea town just 30 miles south of San Francisco. We were docked among the squid fleet who were in for the weekend provisioning for the next week of fishing. Tourists flock to Half Moon Bay every weekend and they love to stroll the docks. Jackie had a great time waving and making funny faces as they walked by especially because they couldn’t see us through the windows.

After two nights we headed to Santa Cruz. Under normal conditions the Santa Cruz Harbor is idyllic, however last week hundreds of thousands of anchovies entered the harbor, depleted the oxygen and died. The locals rallied and scooped up as many as they could and thousands of birds feasted on the remains, but unfortunately there are still so many dead fish floating in the water that the smell is absolutely unbearable. We toughed it out for one night, but our eyes and noses were stinging and watering so much that we abandoned Santa Cruz after one night and headed to Moss Landing Harbor to take refuge.

Just 20 miles away, Moss Landing Harbor is a working harbor and marine refuge in bad weather. Unbeknownst to us, it is also a favorite stopover for hundreds (yes, I said hundreds) of sea lions. Walking back to our boat tonight we had to scatter 20 sea lions who had sunk the dock below water. As I type this they are all around us barking at the top of their lungs and fighting for the top position on the docks. It is exciting and amazing and is going to drive us absolutely crazy! We are beginning to worry about what our next destination will bring. Locust?