About two weeks ago, we did another passage. We left the 5 million barking sea lions on Monterey for the foggy Morro Bay, which is filled with adorable otters. It’s so quiet that it feels weird.
As crafted a sail plan in the Bay Area, we knew the leg from Monterey to Morro would be an overnighter at almost 24 hours. There are no spots to pull over along the Big Sur coast. What little we saw of it was dramatically pretty!
We left a few hours after another boat we know, Eventide. We also had another boat we know, Island Summers, departing at the same time as us. It was new and comforting to have known sailboats around. Therefore, we knew that it was a spicy ride out to the ocean around Point Pinos and down to Carmel-by-the-Sea. If you follow golf or have been alive during a sports TV weekend, you have probably heard of Pebble Beach and the famous wind-weathered trees like the Lone Cypress.
Well, there is a reason that area is epically ragged. We left during a very light wind and motored through it. The mainsail was out to steady the boat. I puked three times and Mark twice. This was my first ever bout of seasickness on MACH 5. No OTC meds helped. BTW – I have the Rx patch for next time. In the video below, I attempt to capture the sea state, but like most videos, it does not do the situation justice.
Eventually, we got to turn the engine off and just sail. Then the wind completely left us with just wave rolls. We departed about noon and had eaten before then. I didn’t eat again until 0200. I just didn’t want anything. Mark ate earlier in the evening, tho he, too, still felt yucky.
The fog started rolling in with the sun rolling out. It’s just like in the creepy horror movies when the fog rolls in. At some point before total darkness, we were socked in. Everywhere you looked was two shades of grey: soft, silvery grey fog to dark, shiny, cold charcoal grey water. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Overnight was total darkness (new moon and no stars) filled with motor sailing, taking turns on watch/sleep, and trying to hydrate and eat.
The highlight was the glowing torpedo dolphins zooming with us. Neither of us caught it, but here is a link to CNN and a short video. They are the coolest things ever!
By morning, the ocean was flat and calm as we approached Morro Bay. The picture above is not broken–just the view in the first hints of daylight. I find sailing in total darkness not that bad. We have radar and AIS, so we are safe from most other objects on the ocean. I am not a fan of the creepy, lit foggy time.
Around 0800, we entered the channel for Morro Bay. Famous Morro Rock was mostly obscured by fog. By 0900, we were hooked to a mooring buoy, and our very first sail plan was officially complete! Two hundred & nine (209) nautical miles in about 42 hours over 10 days.
Now, it’s Oct 9. We’ve been Morro Bay, Paso Robles, and San Miguel for 14 days. We have a slip in Morro Bay Municipal Marina for the month of October. This is the project list:
- Replace AGM house batteries with Lithium
- Upgrade the refrigerator
- Sew a bunch of things
- Maintenance for engine, stainless steel, and toe rail
- See Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (#12 of 21 Cali Missions for me)
- Hang out with friends
- Help out around the Ranch
After this stay, the next sail plan involves rounding Point Conception (the scariest part of sailing coastal Cali) and the start of SoCal, where the water is bluer and the layers can come off.