Living like locals where we could never afford to live.
A week ago we left Marina Del Rey, sailed along the “marine layer” (aka smog) of LA toward Long Beach. My Great Great Great Grandfather Phineas Banning was the go-getter who put together funding to dredge Long Beach harbor and build break walls. He got wealthy had a great big estate, it was turned into a museum, and a century later the museum was closed from a plague and I took a picture by the gate.
Long Beach was awesome. $1.50 fish tacos topped the list. The Queen Mary was cool (also closed though), we got a lot of walking in, and figured out another city bus system.
Newport is a massive bay filled with yachts and mansions. This made for great dinghy rides. We spent hours on Scootie exploring the nooks and crannies of Newport. It’s also apparently the home of Duffy electric boats, my future competitor when I release my own custom cocktail-cruise-dinghy. There are 9,000 boats in Newport and I’m convinced 8,000 of them are duffy’s. We also put forth another attempt at surfing.
Dana Point was the most expensive marina in the world. Apparently, every boater has also read the same book I’m reading (Two Years Before The Mast, by Richard Henry Dana Jr.) and needs to stop and see the cove named after the famous sailor. Fortunately, we were able to anchor for free. It was just ok, but we were distracted by a diesel failure on the sail in. Greg, our engine, died off the coast of Dana Point. Luckily we had our sails up so Taylor sailed and I spent 3 hours troubleshooting. Eventually, we got up and running again. I’ve always enjoyed being an amateur mechanic, but it’s 100% more fun in a stationary garage. I was sick, frustrated, and covered in diesel which made it very gratifying to not have to call the towboat.
Greg has been amazing. Ole Reliable. Honestly one of Scooter’s best features.
Oceanside was nice. We had a long walk to the grocery store. Tay bought a “top-shelf liquor” for the first time in her life: a friend sponsored a nice bottle of scotch for an early Christmas present. I handed over the reins to the galley and Taylor cooked a bomb dinner. Polenta, pork tenderloin in a pan sauce, and roasted carrots. She also found a new appreciation for the timing required to serve 3 hot dishes with a 1.5 burner stove.
Mission Bay is a great big bay with tons of waterfront but Scooter is too tall to access most of it due to a bridge overhead. So we anchored just outside and explored via dinghy. Scootie has been carrying a heavy load this week, keeping us entertained.
The plan is to make San Diego tomorrow, and then it’s visitors and family for a few weeks before the next step, whatever that is.
If you’ve ever wondered what we eat on Scooter, here goes. It’s a 12 square foot kitchen and my favorite place to be. Here marks the start of a (perhaps) weekly series called Scooter’s Galley. Now that we’re in California, and are catching more of our own food I’d like to share how we eat and also hopefully encourage visitors to come see us for a cheap vacation.
I love to cook. I think if I could get paid to do anything for the rest of my life it would be to cook…buuuut cooking for money is a whole different game and I think it’d ruin the fun.
It’s been a fun challenge to adapt to cooking in the smallest kitchen but Tay and I (and hopefully some guests) can attest that it’s gone well.
Local Fare: Cooking what’s free
In the PNW we had ample access to blackberries. We picked and preserved as much as we could before we left. Blackberry Jam has been a staple on yoghurt, pancakes, Oatmeal and PB&Js. We’re finally on the dregs of the last jar, and need to find a new abundant fruit.
We were terrible at fishing in the PNW, and are only slightly better in California. To date, Scooter has hauled a meager 10 fish aboard in 2 years of fishing nearly every day. Of those 10, 4 have been big enough and legal to eat. But, they’ve been many days of delicious food.
Crabs have been on the up & up for us. We pulled 3 crabs up in the puget sound in 2 summers and things have been much better since. We’ve pulled crabs up in Oregon, and California and finally have our system down, which leads me to…
Budget Bites. (things we eat when we don’t have visitors)
I always bought chicken thighs and breasts. Kroger has them for 1.99/lb so it’s the cheapest meat by far, so I thought. Until I realized a chicken carcass makes the best Crab Bait. So killing 2 birds with one stone, we’ve started buying whole chickens, parting them out, and enjoying the 2 for 1 value. And in a short time, I’d like to think I’ve mastered the grilled chicken quarter.
For life on a budget, we eat a lot of oatmeal, PB&J’s and Ramen. Fortunately, 15 cent ramen with a couple soft boiled eggs, sundried tomatoes, and green onions feels pretty gourmet for under a dollar. We also got into the sailor classic of canned sardines. A little hot sauce and served with crackers, it’s actually a really good lunch. (see below image).
Preserved Provisions
Canned goods were vital. They say to estimate the worst-case scenario for how long a passage might take and provision for double. I’ve gotten pretty handy with a canned beet salad or spicing up beans and rice. Also, you can make a pretty bomb stir fry with canned chicken. Fortunately, I was always able to make something better than canned soup so the Progresso remains in the bilge. Canned beets, feta, and cucumbers never go bad as far as I’m concerned. Eunice appreciates canned fish as much as we do.
Canned beets, feta, and cucumbers never go bad as far as I’m concerned.Eunice appreciates canned fish as much as we do
Rice is key. We had 20 lbs of rice on board. Which might have been dumb to assume in a situation where we’re desperate enough, we’d still be able to cook rice…but whatever. We are still eating ample rice and stretching calories to maintain the budget. Also side note, one of the best meals of my life was plain rice… 36 hours into a pounding sea outside the Strait of Juan De Fuca, unflavored calories were a Godsend.
Local Fare Revisited.
We got a free tuna fillet in Half Moon Bay. Fresh Albacore is amazing. When it’s not canned, it isn’t horribly dry. It might be my favorite fish from this journey. We made Ceviche first which was glorious despite it being cold food on a cold night. Then the tuna steaks were as good as anything I’ve had in a restaurant, and the tuna tacos were a great way to finish the fish which at this point was like 6 days old so I wanted to make sure it was cooked.
Food safety might have been lost on this guy, but hey, free tuna amiright!
Clams were a blast. We haven’t found any in Cali yet, but the horse clams, and weekly batches of homemade clam chowder will be one of my highlights from the Sound.
Finally, we found out lemon trees are common in people’s yards and sometimes they are free for the snagging, dangling over sidewalks, or even left out in tidy piles for passers-by to have. So we made a batch of limoncello and got some little jars. We’ve been looking for something to give other sailors because people have been so generous to us!
Thanks for indulging me. Scooter’s kitchen gets more exciting every day, so follow along or come visit and get a taste.
Sunny Los Angeles lived up to the hype even though we never got more than a mile from the ocean. Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, and Malibu were plenty to keep us entertained.
My best man Troy flew in from DC for a week-long adventure. And a cherry on top was our friend Cynthia came in from Seattle for the first weekend. The last time Scooter saw Cynthia we were trapped on the hard in Gig Harbor. And the last time Troy set foot on board we lost our steering, the first time. So we had a lot of catching up to do. It took a substantial dinghy ride to cover the former largest small craft harbor in the world, but we were up to the task. Also, it was Halloween so the people in the electric booze cruise boats were in full regalia, and the people on the $400,000/week charter yachts were to the 9s and presumably drunk.
Eunice was unimpressed by the grandeur of Marina Del Rey.
A fresh day gave us a chance for an 11-mile walk to the Santa Monica pier. The highlight of the day was the Venice Beach skatepark. It was like watching a Disney movie. An 8-year-old was the main event, shredding, talking trash with the adults, and capturing the attention of the eclectically dressed skaters and spectators alike.
I suspect a fashion student could do a Ph.D Thesis on the outfits seen here in an hour, but I didn’t take those photos. Sorry fans.
Taylor’s mind was racing. Between her desire to do anything dangerous, her passion to teach all kids the athleticism and motor skills life requires, and her love of anything inspiring that could be a Disney film, she was in heaven. We’ll have to come back (Spoiler, we did), and we definitely need to budget to buy her a skateboard.
We also had a weeklong mission to have the best taco’s in LA, per a Letterkenny bit, but that turns into a tall order without a car. Still, we made a pretty solid effort. Given our budget, we often had to split tacos, or quickly get home for an actual dinner. In any case here’s the research.
Taco Libre was good but mostly because we were starving. (5/10)
Teddy’s Red Tacos was the LA experience we needed, beef tacos dipped in beef consume (9/10).
Valle, a recommendation of Tay’s Malibu cousin might actually be the best taco I’ve had in my life. Pork Belly perfection. (9.5/10)
Teddy’s Red Tacos…Tay gets embarrassed if I take taco pictures in fancy places, so no formal documentation of the others.
Off to Catalina! We spent one night in Avalon. The mooring field was nearly empty (15 boats) but was still hard to navigate in our sluggish boat. I can’t imagine trying to catch the mooring ball on a busy summer Saturday (200+ boats). Avalon lit up at night, and seemed cool but wasn’t for us. We shoved off around Catalina’s southern tip in search of some empty beaches. We caught 3 Bonito but didn’t know what they were without cell service. We had to send a detailed description via sat phone to our fish experts. Once confirmed they were edible and legal, we texted our chef friends for recipes. They turned out great, so thank you to our remote research team.
We stopped in Little harbor and surfed and swam at Shark Cove. It was mostly deserted so we got to surf poorly without being judged.
I can’t imagine it’s common to have two adjacent coves, one calm enough to anchor, one exposed enough to surf. Catalina has it all.We also took the opportunity to try surfing behind the dinghy…with limited success.
Then it was a quick jaunt up to Cat Harbor for the night and respite from the swell.
The next day, the swell prediction was stronger so we devised a plan to save Troy from turning green. He hiked the 6 miles across the island, and Tay and I sailed the 18 miles around to the other side. We met up with him at Emerald Bay, after he snapped some perfect shots of Scooter from above, and we hauled in another Bonito for lunch (fish tacos, 10/10). Scooter is officially the place to go for Tacos in LA.
As the sun set, I stuffed the bonito guts into the bait bag and the crab pot went over the side. Taylor talked a little trash to Troy about how feeble my attempt was, but she would soon come to eat those words, literally.
The water was so clear, with a flashlight we could see 15 dark smudges around the net, and when we pulled it up the spiny lobsters exploded and flapped their tails away, except for two that got tangled in the net. They’re freaky. Locals call them bugs which feels very appropriate. They rub their antennae against their skull like a guiro. They have no claws, just all sorts of legs, and antennae longer than Scooter’s radio antenna.
We arose with the sun, and motored back to LA hoping to beat the brewing Gale.
Our high energy crew on the crossing from Catalina.
We saw Humpback whales, a mom and calf feeding, which kept our streak alive of guests seeing whales and brought Scooter’s whale-count to 42. Back in the marina, we feasted on lobster tails.
For Troy’s last day in town, we hit the skatepark (as spectators), ate at the aforementioned taco joints, and were inspired to watch skate documentaries.
This was an unbelievable week. For those interested, stay tuned (sign up) cause this Thursday I’m going to dive into my favorite part of Scooter: The Galley!
Earlier this week we anchored at Santa Cruz Island. As we pulled into the cove, another sailboat motored in right before us, so we patiently waited while they set their hook. Eventually, we asked if they were going to stern anchor and he couldn’t hear us over his outboard but signaled “I’ll be back in 5 minutes”. He dropped his diver and came to chat. He said he doesn’t like stern anchors. He likes to spin around. He said they’re diving lobster but there’s enough sea life on the island no one will be hungry.
Inspired, we hopped in Scootie looking for spiny lobster.
Exploring the caves on the Island…Next time we need to bring a flashlight.The water was glowing and the caves were full of life. Crabs, fish, mussels, and plenty of mysterious animals.
We didn’t find any lobsters but eventually, the other anchorage residents motored up to us to check-in. He said, “We’d like to have you over for happy hour but we’re already 20 minutes late! Come over when you can!”
Approaching Santa Cruz Island
We went over with a bottle of wine expecting nothing. What we received was fantastic, and felt a bit like a culmination of our cruising experience.
The boat belonged to two Russian friends, sailing and diving. They spearfished, collected shellfish, and enjoyed what the ocean had to offer.
One was a doctor, avid SCUBA diver, and spearfisherman. He competed for the Soviet National Team in the Decathalon. The other traveled to America to explore, got temp work, flipped a house and put the profit into Apple at $1/share, and hasn’t worked since. It took him a while to get citizenship but luckily he doesn’t need to work anymore.
They shared conversation, advice, sailing stories, fishing details, and so so so so many seafood recipes.
We had sashimi scallops, fried scallops, sheepshead, and fresh sea urchin caviar.
Not too many wine bottles were opened, only 1 beer was cracked all night, and no one had a cocktail. But…we did drink an entire liter of vodka. Every 10 minutes, they filled the little brass glasses and we toasted. It was amazing. The best part was each toast was serious and heartfelt, such as, “Cheers… to the happiness of our souls!”.
That night might be a peak of our sailing adventure. It also doesn’t hurt that we collected 5 pounds of mussels and were able to have a mussel feast the following night.
The next adventure is another round of friend visits! Stay tuned for LA updates.
My parents and my Aunt Anita drove down to Morro Bay last week, and we set about the usual activities. Martinis on the boat, gourmet dinners (if I do say so myself), dinghy rides, beach picnics, hikes, and exploring the nearby towns. We had an amazing week!
It’s fun having access to a car for a few days. We did several down-n-backs to Avila Beach. A measly 30 minutes by car would be a 5-hour sail. This opened doors to a sunny beach picnic (Morro Bay is perpetually foggy).
The car also opened the opportunity to go to Costco. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any affordable surfboards so the search continues, but we were able to replenish our favorite hashbrowns.
We didn’t get to sail down to Avila beach due to large swell and a predicted southerly wind making the anchorage unprotected. Instead, we did our sailing trip in and out of Morro Bay.
It worked out because we got the full spectrum of wildlife. Sea otters, seals & sea lions, dolphins, every bird, and finally … a pod of humpback whales! Winds were light so instead of properly sailing we mostly had a controlled drift and drifted right over the feeding whales. This was the closest Scooter’s been to whales and it was fantastic. They’re huge, taylor cried tears of joy, Eunice didn’t notice, and my folks were impressed.
On the hike to Morro rock, Mark, a known Cairn aficionado,was in heaven. Cairns as far as the eye could see.
We wanted more hiking so we set off driving north. Of course, we had to stop at the thrift store hoping for a cheap surfboard. They didn’t have any but recommended a surf shop a short walk away. Tay and I wandered in with low expectations. The little warehouse was full of thousand dollar boards and even the one the guy tried to sell us was $300. But we found a foam board in the consignment section for $175 and negotiated to $150. They even through in a leash! We’re finally the proud owners of a Surf Board!!!!
We eventually got the second hike in and got some family photos.
They left Sunday morning with many miles to go back to the snow. They were kind enough to help us cast off as we left also, headed south, back to Avila Beach. We’ll be up bright and early Tuesday morning heading for the Cojo Anchorage, located right at Point Conception (the Cape Horn of California). We’ll miss our latest crew!
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)
Santa Cruz was a spectacle. Surfers, movies, a bunch of roller coasters, and a miserably rolly anchorage. We loved it but must press Southward.
Bizarrely, in 4 days in town and having watched a movie where the whole sub-plot was about paddling across the bay, we never saw the other side of the bay. The odd part is it was sunny and nice a lot of the time. Evidently, enough fog stuck above the water to obstruct the other side of the bay.
We pulled the hook, motored off into the mist, and expected an open water type jaunt down to Monterey. It never came. We had 4 hours of motoring, and no waves or wind. An astute viewer at this point might point out our reliance on our motor. To which I would say that may be an insult to a person born and bred by the saltwater, but as a land-lubber-couple in origin, we’re pretty proud of our house that moves on a half-gallon-an-hour of diesel from one city to the next. Sometimes we proudly tackle hundreds of miles with our cloth unfurled…but sometimes the wind doesn’t blow.
Anyway, the only boats out that day on AIS were whale watching boats. the “BlackFin” the “Ocean Experience”, and the “Spirit of Monterey”. The only one we got close to was the BlackFin. The whales surfaced between the boats with their plume of mist and their big flappy tail. We were excited to be a touch closer to the whales than the paying customers for a moment. Of course, they had a big ole motor and got real close to the whales for their next breath.
Scooter docked up in Monterey (we did our first stern in, and I was so proud of myself), settled in, did a boatload of laundry, and enjoyed being at a marina again. The mindset change is stark going from being at anchor for several days to being in a plugged-in slip at a marina. Either you’re on water rations, and monitor the battery before flipping the light switch, or you live in a regular house. The realities exist one day to the next in the same little space.
Tay’s family drove in the following day. Kim might be the most welcoming person I know. She called me one of her “muffins” on, like, day 10 of dating Taylor. Chris brings the fun and immediately grabs 5 Busch lights from the back of the car cooler to celebrate being together, and Zac is like a boy version of his sister. He’s so fun to be around and makes you feel like someone is paying attention to YOU.
Her family visit was the best 30 hours of Scooter’s life. Also, it’s worth noting they drove 18 hours each way for a 30-hour visit, but we made the absolute best of the time we had.
We sailed, fished, ate the local fare, celebrated a birthday (Zac’s eve-eve) met the new puppy ‘River’, and had the most fun couple of days.
Now we have to wrap up the Monterey week. On our task list is to expose Captain Eunice to a beach without crazy breaking waves and do more laundry because River (Tay’s parents’ puppy) isn’t entirely potty trained, peed on our blanket, and Eunice has since sought revenge by trying to mark her territory 10x over. We’ve got some projects left, and some hobo logistics to take care of…
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We left off, having just arrived in Half Moon Bay. The bay’s breakwall encloses a large anchorage so we were fortunate to not have to spend any money on marina fees.
Immediately after finding the free dinghy dock, Taylor set about making friends with a couple selling whole tuna off the side of their boat. We didn’t need a 20 lb tuna, and California doesn’t allow fishermen to just sell fillets. It seemed like we were out of luck, but they liked Tay’s enthusiasm the way we all do and invited us to find them the next morning.
We explored the town, resupplied, and had a beer at the local watering hole compliments of Tay’s friend’s generous sponsorship.
In the middle of the movie, Eunice was hyper as can be, and running as far and as fast as her 32-foot playpen allows. 32 feet proved too small. We were shocked when she darted into the living room soaking. Apparently, on one of her laps, she slipped, or misstepped, and took a swim. We didn’t hear anything to our chagrin, but to our relief, she climbed the rope ladder we have dangling in the water and lived to survive another day.
The next morning, Tay’s new friendship paid dividends!!
The fishing couple gave us a fresh Albacore Tuna Fillet. Probably 3-5 lbs of meat. We made Tuna Ceviche the first night, a few nights of tuna steaks, and finally tuna Tacos. Albacore cooked right (Rare, fresh, and filleted by an expert is one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever experienced).
We had more exploring to do in Half Moon bay now that we had seen the surfing movie. We hiked the rocky beach for a view of the breakers. Without any storm, they were tame, but still probably crested above 15 feet. A picnic on the beach is becoming a staple of the lifestyle, even if its just pb&js.
We tried our hand at rock fishing along the jetty after sunset at low tide. We had a great time, caught one fish and a chill, but were undeterred. We’ll figure out how to fish this ocean someday.
Here’s Tay posing with the bait squid, which we got from a vending machine.
The next morning we made the 10-hour sail down to Santa Cruz. It was a long day taking 8-foot swells on the beam and not much visibility. We pulled into Santa Cruz and were both feeling a little green (although Tay and Eunice managed to not look green at all).
The anchorage was not as protected as we had been lead to believe so the sickness persisted into the next morning. Finally, we made it to land and began exploring beautiful Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz marked the start of what I expected from California. It was sunny and the pier and the beaches were lined with restaurants, volleyball courts, and an amusement park (all empty, but still). We saw a youth surf lesson, dolphins, and a steady stream of paddleboarders and swimmers. We had a lot of errands to run in Santa Cruz so it felt like we made a new little home for ourselves for a couple of nights.
We even had time to make some fire-roasted salsa.
Santa Cruz was a great stopover, but I don’t think we can cross it off as visited until we see it with the boardwalks packed or the lights of the roller coasters on. Plus maybe we can determine a better anchorage next time.
Stay Tuned for part 2 of the Central Coast of California, sooner than you might think!
This was an all-encompassing week on the boat. Tay’s friends visited for 3 days, and we hit all the SF requirements. We had 20-knot winds for an afternoon sail (even had to reef the main), we hiked for some excellent views, swam in the breaking waves (which made us so excited for warmer water), and hosted Scooter’s largest dinner party: 9 people! The biggest regret of the week was not getting a proper happy hour dinghy ride in. Ladies, you’ll have to schedule a second trip. (For anyone who attended Tay and my wedding, they were the maids of honor who re-wrote “huntin, fishin, lovin every day” for their speech).
Next thing we know, we got hit by a wave of generosity. One follower sponsored a dinner at his favorite restaurant in Chinatown, one found & sponsored a breakfast spot, and a fan bought a round of beers. We’ve felt so incredibly blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.
The Voodoo Child is one of the boats we met in Newport. The two brothers, Nick and Coleman, have a month-long sublet slip in SF and we spent a couple of nights at that marina. We attempted to introduce our cats which ended with Eunice running off the dock into the water out of fear. The meeting later to talk about boat life, over a drink, was much more productive. Their cat, Bigfoot, had to stay behind. We discussed boat life, night shifts, cat sea-sickness, and dreams of continued cruising (this picture is back in Newport).
We popped back over to Berkeley. My high school friend Ben was so generous to drive us to the hardware store so we can get back into boat improvement mode. He also took us to get groceries and scrounged up a used computer monitor to replace our broken one.
Seeing old friends multiple times in our 3-week stint in the city made us feel like we had community again for a brief period. Community is something Tay and I have been hungry for over the last year, but that goes with the territory, and hopefully, down the road it’ll make us appreciate it more when we have it.
Anyway, we also got put at the same slip in Berkeley as last time next to the Chileans. They gifted is a jar of Caviar, an evening of wine and cheese, and tons of fishing gear. And tons of stories, advice, and conversation. They even offered to sell us their boat in 5 years.
Here are some highlights from their retirement:
They have a few acres of sand dunes on the Chilean coast. In the summer they build a plywood hut and fish every day. For a few months, they have everything they need by trading fish for wine and beer, and a trip into town for water every 2 weeks. Then they live in their motor home on a lake in southern Chile catching salmon. Then as the weather gets colder they fly to America to their boat, and cruise the Californian coast. Spring and summer, in alternating hemispheres, on repeat for 18 years and counting. Maria Elena and Ben were the perfect neighbors and an inspiration for a life well-lived.
We anchored one night in Sausalito and grilled a whole chicken. The seagulls appreciated the scraps but were shockingly wary of our captain.
We left early Saturday morning, following the US Warship 1001 under the bridge into dense fog. No wind, but swell on our beam made for a less than comfortable motor, but we made our anchorage at half moon bay by mid-afternoon.
Another week in the bay, and everyone is a doctor.
They officially gave us their bike. The Chilean couple. It’s awesome. We do need to get a bike pump, and we already had to get the brake cables replaced, but still, its awesome and we’ve been wanting one ever since we got into the boat life!
We were in Berkeley to see my high school friend Ben. Ben got his Ph.D from Berkeley in August and his girlfriend Katie will graduate in June. Ben lives in a Sprinter van, so it was fun to compare the experience of the land based version of our life. Plus it was fun to talk to doctors studying immunology in this day and age.
With all guests, priority #1 is taking a dinghy ride.
We motored out of the Berkeley marina for a spectacular view of the bay and the bridge, a group selfie, and a view of the “Chubby Girl”. If you want a half hour of entertaining reading, the blog explains everything – but basically an old dude wants to set the record for shortest boat to ever sail to Hawaii. It’s 9 feet.
The next day we got a tour of Berkeley. It’s a cool town with tons of amazing food.
We hiked the hill and saw down onto the Berkeley football stadium and saw over Oakland and the bay.
We collected lemons just walking down the sidewalk (mind blowing), and visited the Hispanic grocery and got back to the boat.
The next day we motored against a strong current to Angel Island. We hiked around the island, explored the abandoned buildings, and pulled up some crabs!
Then we wanted to save money so we motored to Richmond and got the cheapest marina yet at $24 a night. Plus they had free ice so that makes it the best marina ever.
Troy, my best man, had a childhood friend who also is a Berkeley grad who wanted to grab a drink so we invited him and his girlfriend to enjoy a dinghy ride picnic. We putzed around the marina looking at all the boats, gossiping about Troy, and talking about the future of batteries (their concentrations). So we’ve officially had 4 straight doctors visit Scooter.
The next day we got up early and motored to Aquatic Cove and met my childhood friend Annie and her husband Steve. She’s a nurse practitioner and he just finished his Ph.D so now we are up to 6 doctor visitors in a row. They have a tiny house in Santa Cruz so they were also interested in comparing tiny living notes.
The next couple nights will be with Tay’s high school friends. Although they aren’t doctors, their energy level is unmatched.
Also I’m sorry this was a day late. We were back at Angel Island last night, but this time had zero cell service (idk why they think this is the tech center of the universe).
