dinner with a view

We spent our first night anchored in Richardson Bay, near Sausalito, and then moved the boat to the guest dock at Clipper Marine in Sausalito for the second night. It was good to get a shower on land and have an internet connection. Marin County has a reputation for being a bit expensive, and our 24 hours there validated it. We spent one night at  the dock, and the next day we headed south towards San Francisco. Towards the south end on Richardson Bay, the wind was on the starboard beam at about 8 knots, and Teri was at the helm. I asked her if she wanted to sail, and of course she said yes. So I unfurled the main and genoa, and away we went. Within 5 minutes, we were in San Francisco Bay with 20 knots of wind on the beam and were doing over 7 knots. It was a great sail across the bay, and as we approached the San Francisco side, we furled the genoa and then the main and motored into the Aquatic Park. The signs at the entrance say something like "Motorized Vessels Prohibited" and "Caution: Swimmers in the Water". After getting inside, we realized that we needed to pump out the black water holding tank, we started up and motored out and west a half mile to a marina with a pump out station. After pumping out, we headed back to Aquatic Park, and this we sailed in and anchored. It turns out that it is OK for a sailboat to use a motor in there, and also to use an outboard on a dinghy. They just don't want the place to fill up with power boaters. 

Aquatic Park is directly in front of Ghirardelli Square and adjacent to Fisherman's Wharf, and from the water we had a priceless view of the City. There is a sandy beach and lots of people enjoying the water on a nice day. Some swell runs through the anchorage, and we could see and hear the waves breaking on the beach. Just little ones about a foot high. Teri and I jumped in the dinghy and rowed to the beach. We wondered around Ghirardelli Square, and we did happy hour at McCormick and Kuletto's (everything inside said Schmick's). We headed back to the dinghy and were happy to find it there on the beach were we had left it. It is an 8 foot rubber raft. We dragged it back down to the water and talked about hour we could get out out past the breakers. They were now about 1.5 feet high. This was our first time ever doing something like this, and we both got soaked! Roxie, the boat mutt, didn't like it either. But we learned from it, and the next day we didn't get wet. Ed and I went through the Maritime Museum while Teri and Roxie explored Fisherman's Wharf, and then we met up for lunch and further exploration. We went back to the boat in the afternoon and hung out. For dinner Teri cooked a chicken and noodle pesto dish and I sautéed a skillet of swiss chard. We had garlic french bread and wine with it, and ate it in the cockpit while enjoying the view of San Francisco nearby. It was a perfect evening; warm, fun, great conversation and food. 

I awakened this morning to a chorus of very deep sounding and very loud horns. Some were closer and some were farther away, and they did not all have the same pitch, so it is a cool sound the hear. I laid in my warm bed and listened to them, and decided that it must be foggy outside and they must be fog horns. Sure enough, when I looked outside it was very foggy. I could not see Alcatraz,, and I could not see the Golden Gate Bridge. 

We are planning to leave today, although the wind is supposed to be from the south. We plan to go south about 20 miles to Half Moon Bay. Possible subsequent stops are Santa Cruz, Monterrey, Morro Bay, and San Luis Obispo. We will not stop at all of them. Then we will face the double capes of Point Arguello and Point Conception, and head east in the Santa Barbara Channel. But that's a few day to a week away, and I'm sure I'll be writing again before we get that far.