with Matt and Daniel to Tiburon and Sam's

We took July 5th off napping, reading, showering, and in general getting ready for my the arrival nephew Daniel who ws going to be joining us for three nights on Mandala. We moved (motored) the boat from Ballena Isle, up to Clipper Cove on Treasure Island which also hosts a sister Almar marina, at which we can stay for free based on the reciprocity agreement with our Marina, Cabrillo Isle, in San Diego. We were surprised by how quaint and rustic Clipper Cove was, considering it's in the heart of S.F. Bay. There are slips for about 50 boats, most of them smaller 20-25 footers, and there were about 6 boats on the hook in the anchorage there.

Soon after we tied off, Daniel arrived and we had a nice lunch of burgers and sandwiches at the little cafe next to the marina. Then Matt drove over from Oakland to join us for the day/evening sail. We took our time showing off Mandala and talking about our adventure thus far. It took a little while to get Daniel settled in to stow the groceries Matt had so kindly brougt with him.

The channel out of Clipper Cove is kind of narrow, and there is a sunken sailboat with its mast showing to remind one of the danger of going aground, but with our FLS (forward looking sonar) and depth finder, we had no trouble traversing the channel and making our way out into the bay waters. By about 1:30 p.m. everyone was situated and ready so we motored out into the lee of Treasure Island and put up the sails.

Mandala at Treasure Island

To Tiburon for Dinner

We still had a reef in the mainsail so it was a nice lazy sail for about an hour as we entered the 'slot' around 2:30. Once we entered the slot, we picked up considerable speed in the 18-20 knot winds (there was still a small craft advisory in effect), and had soon crossed to the lee of Angel Island, where the winds rapidly calmed.

We turned in to Angel Island to get a better look at Winslow Cove and found ourselves becalmed for a bit. We motored perhaps 200 yards out of the lee until we had sufficient wind to sail again, and then had a very relaxing sail into the North Bay as far as the Corte Madera Channel, before turning around and beating back south. The Richmond Bridge was very visible and quite pretty.

It took us quite a while to beat back up to and thru Racoon Strait, but after many consultations of the chart and taking bearings on landmarks, we were able to determine where the famous Sam's Restaurant was located. We put down the sails and motored into Tiburon Bay and were quite pleased to find a parking place at the restaurant dock. As we arrived a tobacco boat fired up his engines and left us a space. He must have had quite a few martinis as he almost collided with another power boat at the harbor entrance. There were harsh words exchanged, but it was far enough away to not concern us.

We proudly tied Mandala off as the diners and condo-renters watched, and made our way up the gang-plank to Sam's where we were given a choice outdoor table from which we could dine while keeping an eye on the boat.

We had a wonderful dinner, including lots of appetizers and drinks, as well as delicious main courses and even desserts before leaving Sam's, and making our way back to Treasure Island.

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Back to Treasure Island

Everyone was wonderfully stuffed,so we decided to motor rather than do the labor involved with raising and dropping the sails for the trip back to Treasure Island.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way, and everyone remarked how warm it was, tho it did get chilly and bumpy as we crossed the slot again in 25 knot winds and 2-3 foot chop.

After we got tied off at Treasure Island, Matt bid us goodbye as he had an 8:00 am appointment the next morning, so we and Daniel made ourselves cozy for the night. Later that night, we took a walk up to the view point where we captured a few photos of the fabulous view of San Francisco, all lit up and sparkly in the clear cool night.