September 23, 2004


We are unexpectedly in Ventura and have access to the Internet, so I decided to write another chapter for the log while we can upload it.

September 15th found us saying goodbye to new-found friends and heading out to the Channel Islands again for a month of cruising before Dorothy jets to Michigan to celebrate her mother's 80th birthday. We recently met some folks from Seattle on Kittiwake and enjoyed hearing their experiences sailing south on the route we're planning to take north.

Prisoners' Harbor, Santa Cruz Island was our first destination and we had a delightful 3½-hour trip with gentle seas. Murray didn't think they were too gentle as he proceeded to get seasick within the first hour, but then acclimated nicely. He just needed to get his "sea legs" back! Dolphins and seals accompanied us for part of the trip and that's always a thrill. The Nature Conservancy and the National Parks Service own Santa Cruz Island and there is restricted shore access. It's a remote island, about 20 miles offshore from Santa Barbara and attractive to hikers & kayakers as well as boaters. We anchored successfully in 25' of water with several other boats in the harbor. Awaking the next day to beautiful weather, we decided to just stay on the boat and enjoy the nature around us. There was a shifting panorama as the tide changed, seabirds visited, a seal entertained us with his antics and we watched a young seal practice catching & eating a fish. A very peaceful, relaxing day! We are both avid readers and this life affords wonderful reading opportunities.

Due to Santa Cruz's remote location, we did not have cell phone coverage and attempted to use the SSB radio/Pactor email for checking in with our position & sail plans. Unfortunately it wasn't cooperating and we had to do some trouble-shooting. Gary's great at this and determined that the problems resulted when we didn't have an adequate charge on the batteries. Once this was rectified, all was well & we were able to check in with family. The inability to communicate "on demand" with our parents & friends is one part of "cruising" with which I still struggle.

The next day we put the dink in the water (We DEFINITELY tethered the boarding ladder to the boat.see the August log for the "rest of the story".) and went exploring along the cliffs and rocky shoreline around Prisoners' Harbor. It was wonderful to see the land from this perspective and we enjoyed seeing the local geology of the island, a variety of birds and other wildlife. We also tied up at the NPS pier and went ashore for a quick look-see.

Another joy of cruising is meeting other boaters. We met the folks on Carl William (from Ventura Isle Marina) and enjoyed a "cocktail hour" hearing about their sailing experiences. Gary also took pictures of their boat and another Hans Christian sailboat and gave the pictures to the folks on those boats. He's definitely enjoying his new Canon digital camera. He takes the photographs & I take snapshots!

Nighttime on the hook is an incredible experience as one sits in the cockpit gazing at innumerable stars! I was reminded of the thoughts I had sailing from Hawaii to San Francisco, looking at the stars and knowing that there is no way we are alone in this space. One evening we were treated to a seal swimming right up to, around & under the boat, making great white streams of bubbles in the water and a loud noise as he exhaled. It was amazing how quickly and gracefully he swam.

As idyllic as this all sounds, weather changes and so do the seas. Saturday evening NW winds picked up and we experienced winds of 20+ knots for several hours and the swells grew, making sleeping a little uncomfortable. Sunday morning brought increased wind and all the other boats in the anchorage hoisted anchors and left. Silly us, we thought they were just heading back in for the end of the weekend! We learned another life lesson .. When the locals leave, hoist your anchor and follow! Winds and seas continued to build and we too decided to head for Smuggler's Cove - a safer anchorage when the winds are from the northwest, on the other side of the island. Two of the boats that had been anchored with us were already there! The wind was gusting to 35+, but because it was coming from shore there were no waves or swells to deal with.just loud wind! Knowing what this wind felt like, gave me a greater appreciation of what the folks on the east coast & Florida dealt with during the hurricanes. Prudence dictated that we have an anchor watch overnight to make sure that our anchor didn't drag and change our position; so we took 4 hours shifts with one of us sleeping and the other monitoring the GPS to make sure we didn't move AND also monitoring the bilge due to the problem that brought us back to the mainland again.

Earlier in the evening Gary heard water running, (never a good sound on a boat!) and discovered that the packing gland on the shaft was leaking into the bilge at a substantial rate. Luckily the auxiliary bilge pump & automatic bilge pump were able to keep up with it, but we knew that it would require attention sooner than later. SOOO in addition to dealing with the high winds (now 40 knots), we also were taking on small amounts of water. The night progressed without incident and we hoisted anchor at daybreak, heading back to the Ventura Harbor Boatyard. Luckily, Mike had an open spot and we are currently tied up at the dock. The gland was repacked (Herb, the mechanic who did the job, even took the time to show Gary how to do it in the future and left extra materials with us!) Of course we thought of two more projects that needed to be done and those are progressing as I write. One of them is replumbing the water maker system, so it goes into our water tank. The water maker had not been used for at least 3 years and there was no way of putting the fresh water into the water tanks. We decided to have this fixed and hope to head back out to the islands by the weekend.

We'd like to thank all who sent us feedback/compliments on the website; it will continue to evolve as Gary learns more about website construction, so be sure to check back. Several additional pages are already in the works and will debut within a month or so.

I'm closing with two variations of a quote that was sent to me by friends this month.the thought is the same in each, just take your pick for the phrasing! Sending good thoughts and wishes to all, please keep in touch!

Happily,

Dorothy, Gary & Murray the Cat

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other,body totally worn out, and screaming WOO HOO - What a Ride!"

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a wellpreserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,totally worn out,shouting "Holy shit, what a ride!"

© Copyright 2004
Last updated on January 15, 2005