Monterey to Morro Bay ft. the setting sun
With Tay’s family headed back to Colorado, we looked south on the weather maps. Steady 35-knot winds every night would’ve made an exciting sail down to San Simeon but we weren’t ready for that to be our first overnight with just the two of us. So we took to waiting on weather. We added two nights to our marina tab in Monterey and set about some projects.
We needed a better way to secure our spare diesel Jerry cans and had been wanting to advertise our blog to people on the dock. So we built some painted wooden planks that mount up on the side of our boat. They turned out great, and hopefully will draw some attention from the other sailors!
We also needed to explore Monterey. We went on a long walk on the beach, and had a sunset picnic. It was romantic but it was also a surprise 12-mile walk. You gotta be careful when Taylor plans ‘quick afternoon adventures’. It was beautiful.
We also have a dream of Eunice being the next great adventure cat so we had to introduce her to the beach. We planned another beach picnic, but this time close enough so I could cook a hot meal and serve a full dinner. The dinner was great, Taylor and I were loving it, but Eunice was not enthused. She doesn’t like her feet to touch anything but the boat or our shoulders.
We left Monterey at 5 pm. It was 18 hours to San Simeon and by leaving in the afternoon we ensured we’d have light for the marina departure and the anchoring process in San Simeon.
Lucky for us, it was the clearest night in months. The sunset at sea was spectacular.
Then the stars came out. Its obvious why sailors used stars for navigation. At night you can’t look at anything else. They’re astoundingly bright and along Big Sur, light pollution is nil.
We were doubly lucky to have good bioluminescence. The tail behind the boat glowed green all night, the current shifts created giant highlighter green paths crossing underneath us. It was magical. To add to our luck, I finally got to experience Secret night dolphins. They came swimming up like glowing green rockets and swam around the boat, streaking and splashing green. Tay had seen some on the passage from Seattle so she was excited I could share the experience.
We cant capture the nighttime stuff with our cameras but we did get a visit from some playful dolphins right before sunrise.
Here’s a picture of Eunice’s preferred location while underway. She likes the warmth of our vests, and we like knowing she won’t fall overboard or make a mess in the boat.
The rest of the night wasn’t as fun. I got seasick (shocker), couldn’t sleep, and the wind never came so the diesel continued to grind all night. The Sunrise was glorious so all woes were forgotten.
We dropped the anchor in San Simeon bay at noon and fell asleep. We napped, cleaned the boat, and started exploring. We somewhat successfully had our first surf-landing on the dinghy. We left the outboard on the boat in case we rolled it, and I’m glad we did. I think we need more practice before I’m willing to risk Grego(the outboard’s nickname). The Hearst Castle was closed due to covid but we found a hike and made the best of our time.
The next morning we had to weigh anchor at 5 am to time the Morro Bay bar crossing at high tide. Our sleep schedules are wacky but we got another sunrise out of the deal.
We’ll be in Morro Bay a few nights as we await my parents and Aunt Anita visiting!
In Morro Bay its more of the same…sunsets. (sorry this post was mostly sunsets)
