A daysail around Monterey Bay - 23 NM, 8.25 hrs moving, 6 hrs sailing

We had allocated a few days in Santa Cruz to recuperate from the long trip up the coast and before setting out for San Francisco, so we decided to do a little exploring by foot and to do a daysail to check out the waters in northern Monterey Bay.

We find that we're getting into the swing of this lifestyle. It's really neat having these great places to stay, as we almost always have a great view from the boat. Take our end-tie in SC harbor as an example. Above and below are some pictures showing the view from the boat.

Waterfront Property everywhere we go!

We availed ourselves of the showers here, finding that the public and marina showers are usually quite adequate, with plenty of hot water. After our showers, we went for an extended walk along the waterfront and thru a bit of residential neighborhood to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Amusement Park, and Wharf/Pier.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Pier

After strolling the boardwalk we stopped at the Stagnaro Brother's Fish Market and restuarant near the end of the pier for a clam-chowder lunch and lazed our way thru the afternoon. Then making our way back to the boardwalk, we took the sky-tram over the boardwalk and played a few carny games and tried some of the carnival food. I had a deep fried Twinkie with chocolate sauce that was quite unhealthy and correspondingly tasty!

When we got back to the boat, we had a nice bar-b-que on the boat consisting of grilled salmon and potatoes and a quite a few drinks. We noticed and chuckled at the above Wino Crossing sign on a walk out to the S.C. lighthouse.

The next day, our last in Santa Cruz, we decided to go out for a daysail. There wasn't much wind, so we ended up motoring for a few hours, but did manage to sail for 6 out of our 8 hours on the water as we made a loop out into the bay and a lazy downwind leg back along the North SC coast.

We've decided that, since we are a day ahead of schedule, instead of doing the full leg from here up to Oakland, we will instead do two shorter legs, stopping in Half Moon Bay on the way up. This way we won't have to sail all night, but can break the trip up into two day-sails of about 8 hours each.

Views while sailing

Next Stop: Half Moon Bay!